China Environmental Law

A couple of weeks ago we reported on the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s EIA review and approval statistics for the first eight months of the year.  To recap:

January - August 2008

Total Projects seeking EIA approval: 439

Approved: 335 projects (total investment of 1.49 trillion yuan (US$218.2 billion))

Rejected or Postponed: 104 projects (total investment) 314.56 billion yuan (US$46 billion))

We expressed some concern at the time about the ability of MEP to handle the increased load of EIA filings that was sure to accompany the increased infrastructure spending outlined by the economic stimulus plan. 

In a report issued yesterday, it was announced that

On Nov 26 and 28, MEP approved environmental assessment reports for 93 projects, with a total investment surpassing 260 billion yuan, among which, 18 are about infrastructure construction, such as transportation and water conservation.

This number seems fairly high, especially in relation to the total number of projects approved in the first eight months of the year.  It could be a result of the fact that MEP is speeding  up the “approval process of environmental impact assessments of proposed economic boosting projects”, according to Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of MEP.  “MEP will set up a ‘green passage’ for boosting domestic demand,” says Wu.

I’m not sure what a “green passage” is.  Is that like a “green channel” at Custom’s; “no environmental problems to declare?”  I hope not.  All projects should be subject to a comprehensive review of their environmental impacts and the proposed mitigation efforts.

While the 300 or so employees at MEP Headquarters clearly have their hands full with the additional EIA load, an “expert panel of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development” (CCICED) is warning that “local governments’ poor environmental awareness [is] a ‘major risk’ during the period of increased investment.” 

Chinese local governments may speed up environmental degradation in the name of maintaining stable economic growth in order to launch investment projects to keep economy humming.

Consequently, the CCICED panel recommends that

“The central government should strengthen inspections to prevent the local governments from taking risks of stabilizing economic growth at the cost of environmental protection.”

Good advice, but with an increased number of EIA’s requiring headquarters’ approval, I don’t know where MEP is going to get the staff to increase oversight of provincial and sub-provincial actions.