China Environmental Law

The CELB offices are closing early today because of the approach of tropical storm Kalmaegi (Korean for seagull).  Dark clouds have been scudding by since about 10am this morning. No rain yet, but it’s predicted, and we don’t like the thought of our employees (who always use public transportation, of course) slogging to the Metro [...]

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It would be hard to imagine a more sanctimonious organization than the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  China has played the IOC like a fiddle, yet the IOC claims, with an apparent straight face, that its “quiet diplomacy” has extracted significant concessions from China.  Let me be clear, I think the entire concept of the Olympics [...]

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The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has cracked down on several “polluting cities” and “thermal power projects.” Xinhua reports  that “China meted out penalties to four cities and 10 power firms for their failures in meeting anti-pollution requirements.”
Here’s the news with respect to the cities:
Pre-construction environmental evaluation was halted for all new projects that can [...]

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If you haven’t heard of JUCCCE before, check out this post at The Green Leap Forward.  If you can’t read the invitation reproduced below, you can get a bigger version here, but this is all the critical information:
What: Helping China’s Mayors Develop an Energy Plan: Learn how companies can work closely with Mayors on city-level [...]

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Beijing’s efforts to manage its way out of a potential electric power crisis are becoming more bizarre.
That real trouble is brewing is becoming more obvious.  All Roads has been following this issue for a longtime and China Law Blog carried an on-the-ground report yesterday.  The needs of the Olympics are often cited as a reason for [...]

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In the first tangible sign that The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) is gaining some clout after achieving full-ministerial status, it was announced on July 10 that MEP is setting up two new departments and has been authorized to hire 50 additional staff. 
The English report provides very little detail concerning these developments, and I have not [...]

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China tweaked its plastic bag ban on Thursday with a joint announcement of supplementary provisions from the Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, and State Administration for Industry and Commerce.  The new provisions

make it clear that the ban on free plastic bags extends to restaurants, bookstores, clothing stores, and building materials stores. The original [...]

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The Ministry of Environmental Protection on July 1, 2008 issued a circular (Chinese only) designed to strengthen the implementation of clean production audits.  These audits are addressed in Article 28 of the Clean Production Law (effective January 1, 2003)(copy in right sidebar under “Laws & Regulations”). Two categories of “enterprises” are required to conduct clean production [...]

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Completely off-topic, but worth your while nonetheless is a post on The Big Picture  which features 14 “big pictures” of “a week-long series of anti-terrorist drills called ‘Great Wall 5′, in preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games.” The pictures include the infamous “Jinan precision Segway assault squad” featured on Imagethief, plus some additional ones [...]

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The coal business in China is completely dysfunctional, and it is no wonder that China’s power plants are living on razor thin inventories and blackouts are predicted.  The Economic Observer Online has a fascinating article, “Battling for Coal,” which profiles a coal buyer for a Hunan Province power generator holed up in Shanxi Province for two [...]

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