The first case of air pollution public interest litigation in China was pronounced in the first instance

　　Jinan, July 20th (China Youth Daily, Zhongqing Online reporter Xing Ting, correspondent Zheng Chunsun) One year and four months after entering the judicial process, the first air pollution public interest litigation case in China finally ushered in the first-instance judgment.

　　On the morning of July 20th, the Intermediate People’s Court of Dezhou City, Shandong Province publicly pronounced the first-instance judgment on the case of public interest litigation between China Environmental Protection Federation and Dezhou Jinghua Group Zhenhua Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhenhua Company") in accordance with the law, and sentenced the defendant Zhenhua Company to compensate 21,983,600 yuan for the loss caused by excessive discharge of pollutants, which was used for the restoration of atmospheric environmental quality in Dezhou City, and publicly apologized to the society in the media above the provincial level; Reject the plaintiff’s other claims of China Environmental Protection Federation.

　　According to reports, this case is the first environmental public interest litigation case against air pollution in China after the introduction of the new environmental protection law. The plaintiff is the China Environmental Protection Federation, an environmental protection organization headed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

　　"Although there is still a gap between the verdict and our previous assumptions, overall we are quite satisfied." In a telephone interview with China Youth Daily and Zhongqing Online reporter, Wei Zhe, deputy director of the Supervision and Litigation Department of the Legal Service Center of China Environmental Protection Federation, said.

　　In Wei Zhe’s view, the case will help promote green production and green transformation of enterprises, and make polluting enterprises bear corresponding civil liabilities.

　　It is understood that Dezhou Intermediate People’s Court accepted the case according to law on March 24, 2015, and announced the acceptance of the case on the 25th of that month. In order to prove the loss caused by the defendant Zhenhua Company’s excessive discharge, in December 2015, China Environmental Protection Federation and the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection entered into a technical consultation contract, entrusting it to identify the amount of public and private property losses caused by Zhenhua Company’s discharge of air pollutants. On June 24 this year, the Dezhou Intermediate People’s Court formed a collegiate bench in accordance with the law to hold a public hearing.

　　Defendant Zhenhua Company was established in 2000, located in Decheng District, Dezhou City, surrounded by residential areas. The court found that the company’s business scope includes power production, flat glass, glass hollow brick, glass deep processing, glass products manufacturing and so on.

　　According to the monitoring of Dezhou Environmental Protection Monitoring Center Station, in November 2013, January, May, June, November 2014, and February 2015, there were excessive emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke dust from Zhenhua Company. In the meantime, Dezhou Environmental Protection Bureau and Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Department have imposed administrative penalties on Zhenhua Company five times. On March 23, 2015, Dezhou Environmental Protection Bureau ordered Zhenhua Company to stop production and rectification, and stop excessive emission of exhaust pollutants. On March 27th of the same year, all the production lines of Zhenhua Company stopped production, and another new site was selected, and the original factory area was ready to move.

　　In May 2016, the Environmental Risk and Damage Appraisal Research Center of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection made an evaluation opinion based on the evidence obtained by the court that had been cross-examined by both parties. The appraisal conclusion is that the defendant enterprise discharged 255 tons of sulfur dioxide, 589 tons of nitrogen oxides and 19 tons of smoke dust into the air during the appraisal period. The unit governance cost is calculated by RMB 5600/ton, RMB 6800/ton and RMB 3300/ton respectively. The amount of damage to the ecological environment is 3-5 times that of virtual treatment cost. In this report, parameter 5 is taken, and virtual treatment cost is 7.13 million yuan, 20.02 million yuan and 310,000 yuan respectively, totaling 27.46 million yuan.

　　During the trial of the case, Wu Qiong, an expert from the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, appeared in court upon the application of the plaintiff China Environmental Protection Federation and the permission of the court, and gave expert opinions on the atmospheric damage caused by excessive discharge of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke dust, pollutant discharge time, pollutant discharge, unit treatment cost, virtual treatment cost, the determination of compensation amount for ecological damage, and whether the defendant put into operation equipment would have an impact on virtual treatment cost.

　　The court held that the defendant Zhenhua Company was the eligible subject of environmental civil public interest litigation, and the plaintiff China Environmental Protection Federation could request it to bear civil liabilities such as stopping infringement, removing obstruction, eliminating danger, restoring to the original state, compensating losses, and apologizing.

　　The court held that the plaintiff, China Environmental Protection Association, demanded that the defendant Zhenhua Company immediately stop discharging pollutants into the atmosphere beyond the standard and publicly apologize to the public in the provincial and above media. According to the facts ascertained by the court, the defendant Zhenhua Company stopped production on March 27, 2015 and stopped using the original factory area, so it can be concluded that the defendant Zhenhua Company has stopped infringing. Environmental rights and interests have the attribute of public rights and interests. Because the defendant Zhenhua Company discharged pollutants into the atmosphere beyond the standard, it was in danger of causing environmental pollution damage, and its behavior infringed on the spiritual environmental rights and interests of the public, and it should bear the civil liability of apologizing.

　　Regarding the amount of compensation for ecological damage that Zhenhua Company should bear, the plaintiff, China Environmental Protection Federation, entrusted the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection to carry out appraisal and evaluation. Although the relevant appraisal and evaluation report was made by the corresponding agency unilaterally, the evaluation agency has legal qualifications, and the evaluation items are related to the facts to be proved. The evaluation basis has been cross-examined by both the original and the defendant, and the evidence is true, objective and relevant. Moreover, the defendant Zhenhua Company did not adduce evidence to refute the appraisal and evaluation report, and the court held that the report can be used as the basis for ascertaining the facts.

　　According to the relevant regulations, the environmental damage calculated by virtual governance cost method can be used as the basis for compensation for ecological environmental damage. According to the regulations, the amount of ecological damage in the second-class area of ambient air where the defendant Zhenhua Company is located is 3~5 times that of virtual treatment cost, and the court found that the amount of ecological damage was calculated according to 4 times that of virtual treatment cost, that is, 21,983,600 yuan.

　　After the verdict was pronounced, none of the parties verbally indicated whether to appeal, and now the judgment of this case is within the statutory appeal period.