The first air pollution public interest litigation case in Beijing pronounced that polluting enterprises were awarded compensation of 894,000 yuan.
□ Our correspondent Fu Jin
On the morning of June 5th, the first public interest litigation case of air pollution filed by the procuratorate in Beijing was pronounced in the first instance of Beijing No.4 Intermediate People’s Court. The defendant Beijing Colorful Lianyi International Steel Structure Engineering Co., Ltd. was ordered to pay compensation of more than 894,000 yuan according to law for the protection, restoration and governance of the ecological environment. At the same time, it is forbidden to engage in related processing and production activities in the original production base before it is proved that effective environmental protection measures are taken to continue production in line with environmental protection standards.
According to the prosecution of the fourth branch of Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate, the prosecutor of public interest litigation, Colorful Company is an enterprise mainly engaged in steel structure processing. The company produced a large amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) waste gas during the painting process of steel structure processing, and did not paint in a closed space or equipment according to the law, nor did it install or use pollution prevention facilities or take measures to reduce waste gas emissions, resulting in the direct discharge of VOCs waste gas from painting into the atmosphere, which caused environmental pollution and infringed on social public interests. It is required to order Multicolor Company to stop infringing on the atmospheric environment, compensate 894,880 yuan for the damage to the ecological environment, publicly apologize to the public in the media at or above the provincial level, and bear the appraisal fee of 33,000 yuan.
After hearing the case, Beijing No.4 Intermediate People’s Court supported all four claims of the public interest litigation plaintiff, and ordered Colorful Company not to engage in steel structure processing and production activities involving painting, welding, etc., which produced paint mist and organic waste gas, until it was proved that effective environmental protection measures were taken to continue production in line with environmental protection standards, and at the same time compensated 894,880 yuan for the ecological environment damage caused by its actions, which was specially used for ecological environment protection, restoration and governance.
After the verdict, the litigation agent of Colorful Company said that at present, the factory building of Colorful Company has been demolished, the equipment has been removed and the workers have been laid off, and there is no plan to continue production at present.
According to Sun Li, president of Beijing No.4 Intermediate People’s Court, since 2015, Beijing No.4 Intermediate People’s Court has accepted a total of 16 cases of environmental civil public interest litigation, including 13 cases filed by social organizations and 3 cases filed by procuratorial organs. Judging from the trial process, environmental civil public interest litigation cases have the following characteristics: First, the types of cases are constantly enriched, including solid waste pollution, soil pollution, water pollution, campus environmental pollution, gas pollution from production and other disputes. Second, new types of cases are constantly emerging. For example, the public interest litigation case sued by Chongqing Green Volunteers Association accepted by the hospital involves the impact of disposable chopsticks, plastic products and take-away garbage on the Internet take-away platform on the ecological environment, which reflects the new requirements of environmental protection brought about by the development of Internet services and consumption transformation.
At the same time, in the trial of environmental civil public interest litigation cases, environmental appraisal has become a key link, in which the fact of destroying the ecology and polluting the environment, the damage consequences and compensation caused to the ecological environment and social public interests, and the restoration scheme or alternative restoration scheme for the ecological environment are the main aspects of appraisal, which are highly complex and professional.
The reporter learned that in view of the above-mentioned new characteristics of environmental public interest litigation, Beijing No.4 Intermediate People’s Court has established a "green public interest litigation channel connecting legislation, trial and enforcement" and adopted the "four synchronization" measures of environmental public interest litigation, that is, the case materials are transferred to the trial court simultaneously after the case is filed, so that the trial court can know the case from the plaintiff according to the case situation and take corresponding environmental protection measures in time; Announce the acceptance of environmental cases to the public and inform social organizations that they can participate in or support environmental public interest litigation; Issue a notice of public interest litigation to the administrative department simultaneously after filing the case, and urge the administrative department to take measures; After the case was filed, the preservation measures were taken simultaneously. The presiding judge went to the scene for investigation at the first time to preserve environmental evidence, and at the same time, property preservation and behavior preservation were taken according to law to prevent environmental damage from expanding.
Cartography/Li Xiaojun