TOXIC RIVER: Fish killed by thallium and cadmium contamination are retrieved from the Hejiang River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on July 7 (LU BOAN)

"Currently, because the public is not consulted before projects are launched, many projects elicit protests with very serious consequences. If the public is allowed to participate in the early stages of planning and able to monitor the process, we can completely avoid such protests," Wang Xi said.

Environmental protection in rural areas was also highlighted in the draft. County governments were required to install waste processing facilities in the countryside.

Besides harsher punishments, the draft introduced measures to encourage law-abiding and eco-friendly enterprises. The government was urged to offer preferential taxation and financing policies to enterprises that have a clean record in reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

Calls for change

While acknowledging great improvements in this draft from the previous version, lawmakers were not satisfied, especially with the definition of the government role in protecting the environment and the severity of punishment.

"We need a law with teeth that can bite," said lawmaker Wang Yifu. "The law should ensure polluters pay a sufficiently high price."

According to the draft, companies and other organizations, which intentionally escape supervision and discharge pollutants, will be prosecuted if they violate the law. Those whose activities are not serious enough for criminal prosecution could be put under administrative detention.

Zheng Gongcheng, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and professor at Renmin University of China, said that such regulations are still too weak to stop polluters.

"The law should more clearly define what the government must do and what legal liabilities they would bear if they fail to act or breach their duty," said Zheng.

In quite a number of cases, environmental problems occurred as local governments focused more on economic growth than environmental protection, said Yin Zhongqing, another NPC Standing Committee member.

The draft stipulated that "Local governments at all levels should be responsible for the pollution and environmental problems in their own administrative regions." Irresponsible local leaders who fail to enforce environmental laws may be marked down, demoted or even removed from their posts.

Yin suggested the Central Government adopt a system to supervise and assess the performance of local officials concerning environmental protection.

The draft should also help the country adopt effective and standard criteria to assess environmental protection. "Without such criteria, how can we tell whether a local government does a good job in environmental protection or not?" he noted.

Wu Heng, also a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said that the new law should require the government to inform the public about environmental risks and interact with them so that the public can actively engage in these issues.

Another focus of arguments is on the right to file class action lawsuits. The draft introduces class actions by authorizing the All-China Environment Federation and its local affiliates, which are supervised by environmental protection authorities, to initiate lawsuits against polluters on behalf of the public.

The federation lodged dozens of lawsuits against polluters on behalf of victims since 2009 and had won several of them according to its official website.

But Xia Jun, a lawyer with the Environment and Resources Law Committee of the All China Lawyers Association, warned that the clause, if adopted, would "effectively close the door on civil efforts to fight polluters."

"Designating a single claimant by law is unprecedented," Xia said. "It is acceptable for a government-backed organization to take a lead or demonstrate such litigations for other NGOs, but monopolizing the practice is going too far."

Xu Xin, Director of the Judiciary Research Center at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said that the clause would have a "direct impact on the feasibility and enthusiasm of environmental groups and individuals, thus stopping the public from environmental protection efforts.

Wang Xi argued that aside from improvements in legislation, it is of vital importance to ensure existing laws and regulations be thoroughly implemented.

"Now the most important thing to do is to work out how to avoid local governments and the MEP from turning a blind eye to some instances of environmental pollution and how to implement a system under which fines and punishments are carried out."

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