The Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued a typical case of ＂Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation Helps River Basin Ecological Environment Protection and Governance＂
Cctv newsA few days ago, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released a number of typical cases, which provided norms and guidance for procuratorial organs to handle cases in the field of river basin ecological environment protection and governance.
The typical cases released this time include seven administrative public interest litigation cases, including six administrative public interest litigation cases and one civil public interest litigation case. The case involves illegal over-exploitation of groundwater, destruction of mangrove wetlands, illegal discharge of water ecological flow, ship pollution, aquaculture pollution, black and odorous water pollution and other issues. The illegality and basin nature of the supervised issues are obvious. The performance of duties and the effectiveness of handling cases reflect the unique value of the procuratorial public interest litigation system, which plays a normative role in guiding the procuratorial organs to handle cases in the field of basin ecological environment protection and governance, helps to improve the accuracy and standardization of handling cases, and promotes the implementation of the requirements of "running every public interest litigation case well with high quality and efficiency"
The protection and management of river basin ecological environment is holistic, synergistic and compound. In these typical cases, the procuratorial organs broke the inherent framework and regional regulatory barriers by handling cases in an integrated way, effectively played the synergistic role of procuratorial supervision and supervision of public interest litigation, and promoted collaborative governance in different regions and departments. At the same time, procuratorial organs also pay attention to protecting natural environmental factors and promoting the improvement of water ecological environment quality in river basins. For example, the Qinyuan County Procuratorate of Shanxi Province, in view of the problem that a coal mining enterprise illegally collected groundwater and destroyed the groundwater resources of the first-class tributary of the Yellow River, filed a lawsuit according to law when the procuratorial suggestions sent to the water conservancy department were not implemented, prompting the water conservancy department to urge the enterprises involved to pay back the water resource tax of more than 440,000 yuan and invest more than 3 million yuan to install water-saving equipment to achieve water saving and efficiency improvement. In addition, these typical cases also reflect the coordinated treatment of industrial pollution problems and improve the level of water pollution prevention and control in river basins; Adhere to the integrity of the ecosystem and promote the source management and comprehensive management of the basin.
The person in charge of the Eighth Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said that in the next step, the procuratorial organs will continue to thoroughly implement the strategic tasks and major measures for the construction of beautiful China, and help the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and other major rivers and important lakes to protect and manage; Continue to increase the intensity of cases handled by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and provincial procuratorates, focusing on helping to solve outstanding problems of comprehensive river basin management that need upstream and downstream linkage and effective connection between shore and shore; Continue to handle cases in key areas such as water environment, water ecology, water resources and water safety, and realize the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand; Firmly adhere to the strategic orientation of ecological priority and green development, pay attention to the methods of handling cases, and coordinate the ecological environment protection and economic development of the basin.
Procuratorial public interest litigationHelp protect and manage the ecological environment of the basin.Typical case
1.Procuratorial organs of Qujing City, Yunnan Province urged rectification.Administrative public interest litigation case of ecological environment in Nanpanjiang River basin
[Basic case]
Nanpanjiang River is the upper reaches of the Pearl River, which flows through 7 counties and cities in Qujing City, Yunnan Province, with a total length of 246 kilometers and joins Wanfeng Lake in Luoping County. In recent years, the downtown area of Qujing produces about 300,000 m3 of sewage every day. Due to the imperfect pollution interception and control system in the urban area, the serious shortage of water resources in the river basin and the serious endogenous pollution in the river course, the problem of seasonal black odor, direct sewage discharge and serious siltation, leakage and overflow in some river sections are prominent. In 2021, the water quality in the central urban section of the basin is inferior to V, which directly affects the downstream water quality.
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
In January, 2022, Qujing People’s Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as "Qujing Procuratorate") discovered the clues of cases of ecological environment damage in Nanpanjiang River Basin after field investigation, data access and investigation. Because Nanpanjiang River has a large area in Qujing Basin, with many branches and tributaries, involving many administrative supervision departments and different levels, Qujing City Procuratorate decided to "file a case by case", adopting the project mode of "up and down integration and cross-regional cooperation" led by the Municipal Procuratorate and followed up by all grass-roots procuratorates, and transferring more than 20 police officers from the municipal and county (district) procuratorates to form eight case-handling groups to promote the governance of the problems involved as a whole. Since March 2022, the relevant county (district) procuratorates have successively filed cases according to law for the problems initially identified.
During the handling of the project, each case-handling team found 12 water pollution points by drone verification, and produced more than 200 photos and video evidence materials; Entrusted professional institutions to monitor 45 water quality points and 30 soil samples, and issued 28 test reports; At the same time, organize an on-site inspection. Through the above work, the main problems of water environmental pollution and ecological destruction in Nanpanjiang River Basin are found out: First, direct sewage discharge. For example, many enterprises in the Sanbao Hot Spring Area illegally discharge domestic wastewater directly into Nanpanjiang River; Luliang county Damo Ancient Town Taiping Industrial Park pipeline damaged sewage directly discharged to Nanpanjiang, etc. Second, river maintenance is not in place. For example, there is private excavation and indiscriminate mining in Xiaobaihu Town, luliang county; Crops are planted in the spillway of Shangxishan Reservoir in the Economic Development Zone and the spillway of the intersection of Baishi Jiangnan River. River courses such as Panjiang section of Haihe River and Farm River in Zhanyi District are silted up; There are a lot of floating objects in many rivers, a lot of construction waste is discarded, and there is direct discharge of livestock and poultry breeding sewage. Third, the sewage treatment facilities are insufficient or not fully put into use. For example, the design sewage treatment capacity of the only sewage treatment plant in Qujing Economic Development Zone is less than the daily sewage discharge and is not running at full capacity; The sewage treatment plant of Songlin Community in Huashan Town, Zhanyi District has not been put into use. According to the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Environmental Protection and the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, the departments of housing and urban and rural construction, ecological environment, water supply, agriculture and rural areas and the local people’s governments are responsible for the supervision and management of water environmental pollution and ecological damage, but they have not fully performed their duties in accordance with the law, resulting in damage to social public interests.
Because the Nanpanjiang River basin flows through a wide area, the cases involved in illegal acts are different, and the responsibilities of the regulatory authorities are intertwined, Qujing procuratorial organs comprehensively use round tables, consultations, making procuratorial suggestions, and filing lawsuits to supervise. By June 2023, 118 pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions were issued to the local people’s government and the competent administrative organs, 7 were negotiated, and 1 administrative public interest lawsuit was filed, which promoted the joint enforcement and systematic rectification of the city, county and township governments and 20 functional departments. In view of the problem of direct sewage discharge, the administrative organs were urged to investigate and rectify 384 sewage outlets according to law, and to renovate and lay sewage pipe networks to prevent sewage from being directly discharged into the Nanpanjiang main runoff; In view of the problem of river maintenance, the administrative organs were urged to carry out regular inspections of river maintenance, dredging 110,000 m3 and salvaging 3,050 tons of floating objects and all kinds of garbage; Aiming at the problem of insufficient sewage treatment capacity, three sewage treatment facilities were put into use and expanded, and the daily treatment capacity was increased by nearly 100,000 m3. The procuratorate of Qujing City also filed seven civil public interest lawsuits against a company in Yunnan for environmental pollution and other issues, and recovered more than 400,000 yuan for the restoration of ecological environment damage.
Driven by the project, the city actively carried out comprehensive management of Nanpanjiang River Basin. At present, the excellent rate of water quality in Nanpanjiang River basin is 92%, and the water quality in Sanjiangkou at the entrance of Wanfeng Lake has changed from Class II to Class I.. In April 2023, Qujing City Procuratorate held a public hearing, and representatives of all parties fully affirmed the rectification effect of Nanpanjiang project.
[Typical meaning]
Cross-regional river water pollution control is due to the large water area and many branches and tributaries. Procuratorial organs adhere to the concept of system, give full play to the advantages of integrated case handling, proceed from the river basin system, adopt an integrated case handling mode, and comprehensively use supervision methods such as consultation, making and issuing procuratorial suggestions, and filing lawsuits, so as to promote the coordination of cross-regional departments in the river basin and the linkage of the whole river basin, and effectively strengthen the prevention and control of water pollution in the river basin and the systematic governance.
2.Suining City, Sichuan Province, the procuratorial organs urged governance.Administrative public interest litigation case of water environment in cross-border small watershed
[Basic case]
Small watershed refers to a relatively independent and closed natural catchment area with a catchment area of less than 50km2, which is bounded by the watershed and the downstream river outlet section below the secondary and tertiary tributaries, and its water environment quality has an important impact on the ecosystem of large watershed. Tongxin River is a small watershed of the third-class tributary of Jialing River, which originated in Shehong City, Sichuan Province, and flowed through Daying County, Sichuan Province and then flowed into Yongjiang River, a second-class tributary of Jialing River. In late November, 2021, there was a large area of water pollution in Tongxin River Basin, and many water detection indicators such as total phosphorus seriously exceeded the standard. Among them, the water quality at the junction of Shehong River and Britain was Grade V.
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
The People’s Procuratorate of Daying County, Sichuan Province (hereinafter referred to as the People’s Procuratorate of Daying County), after receiving the clues about the water pollution of Tongxin River reflected by the deputies of the county people’s congress, concluded that the polluted basin involved Shehong and Daying, and reported it to the People’s Procuratorate of Suining City (hereinafter referred to as the People’s Procuratorate of Suining City). Suining City Procuratorate initiated a cross-regional integrated case-handling mechanism, and transferred the backbone of case-handling at the city and county levels to set up a case-handling team. Shehong City Procuratorate and Daying County Procuratorate filed cases in administrative public interest litigation on February 17 and March 2, 2022, respectively.
Through on-site inspection, documentary evidence collection and interviews with nearby residents, the case-handling team found out that domestic sewage was directly discharged into the river in the upper and lower reaches of Tongxin River, water hyacinths and duckweeds were not cleaned up in time, three farmers illegally raised fish in cages, many agricultural pesticides and fertilizers were washed into the river, and solid wastes were illegally piled up on the coastline. As a result of the above situation, the indexes of chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus and permanganate in Tongxin River seriously exceeded the standard, and failed to meet the Class III standard of surface water stipulated in the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002). The polluted area reached more than 95,200 square meters, which harmed the public interests. According to the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, the Shehong Ecological Environment Bureau of Suining City, the Taiyi Town People’s Government of Shehong City and the Longsheng Town People’s Government of Daying County have the responsibility to supervise the water environment quality and the prevention and control of shoreline pollution, but they have not fully performed their duties. On April 19, 2022, the Procuratorate of Shehong City sent procuratorial suggestions to the Shehong Ecological Environment Bureau of Suining City and the Taiyi Town People’s Government, suggesting that the water environment on the Tongxin River should be treated, and the illegal activities such as solid waste pollution and aquaculture pollution on the shoreline should be strengthened. On April 29, 2022, Daying County Procuratorate sent a pre-litigation procuratorial proposal to Longsheng Town People’s Government, suggesting that it solve the problem of direct sewage discharge.
After receiving the procuratorial suggestions, the Shehong Ecological Environment Bureau of Suining City and the Taiyi Town People’s Government of Shehong City organized to clean up 12.5 tons of various pollutants in Tongxin River Basin, add 12 shoreline monitoring points, dismantle 7 illegal sewage outlets, repair and transform 18 sewage pipe networks, and jointly carry out the improvement and upgrading of aquaculture technology. The People’s Government of Longsheng Town, Daying County has built a new sewage pipe network and supporting facilities and incorporated them into the "Thousand Villages Demonstration Project" for rural sewage treatment, which has now been put into use. The city and county procuratorates and the River Chief Office carried out follow-up supervision to confirm that the illegal situation involved in the case has been effectively rectified, and the water quality of Tongxin River has met the Class III standard of surface water after testing.
In order to solve the problems of pollution source discovery and untimely disposal caused by the interweaving of small watersheds in the whole city, the procuratorial organ of Suining City and the river head office at the same level promoted the establishment of a grid management model of "pond head+reservoir head+patrolman". By August, 2023, 56 village cadres and the masses had joined the team of "pond leader+reservoir leader+patrol guards" to patrol the water environment of the ponds and reservoirs in small watersheds in the city, and found and transferred 143 pollution sources in small watersheds.
[Typical meaning]
Only when the river is clean can the river be clean. Small watershed is an important part of large watershed ecosystem, and water environment problems in small watershed will affect the ecological function of large watershed. In view of the difficult problem of cross-border small watershed management, the procuratorial organs urged the upstream and downstream administrative organs of small watershed to manage synchronously through integrated handling, and established a new grid management model of "pond length+reservoir length+patrol staff" to effectively control the pollution sources in the initial state and dispose of them in time, so that the water system of small watershed in the city was smoother and cleaner, and the rural living environment was significantly improved.
3.Jiangxi Anyuan County People’s Procuratorate urges protection.Administrative public interest litigation case of Dongjiang headwater water ecological environment
[Basic case]
Dongjiang River is one of the three major water systems in the Pearl River Basin, and it is the main water supply source for some cities in Hong Kong and Guangdong. Beiling water at the source of Dongjiang River is called Zhenjiang River in Anyuan County. In recent years, due to pig breeding and irregular agricultural production activities, the water quality in Zhenjiang basin has become eutrophic, resulting in a large-scale outbreak of water hyacinth, which has seriously damaged the water ecological environment and the habitat environment of aquatic organisms. After sampling, the total phosphorus content in the water of the exit section of the county is 0.11mg/L, which exceeds the evaluation standard of total phosphorus content in the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002).
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
The People’s Procuratorate of Anyuan County, Jiangxi Province (hereinafter referred to as the People’s Procuratorate of Anyuan County), relying on the cooperation mechanism of "River Chief and Procurator-General", found that water hyacinths breed in large areas in the Liwu Formation and Sheshan Village of Zhenjiang River, and the water surface in Anyuan County stretches over 7 kilometers and goes down the river. The problem of water hyacinths breeding is widespread in the lower reaches of Zhenjiang River. On March 27, 2023, Anyuan County Procuratorate decided to file an administrative public interest lawsuit. Through field visits, data collection and aerial photography by unmanned aerial vehicles, it is found that the direct discharge of aquaculture sewage in villages and towns along the river is the main cause of water eutrophication. Among them, there are problems such as raising pigs and direct discharge of sewage in Sanbaishan Town, which is located in Dongjiangyuan National Wetland Park.
After examination, Anyuan County Procuratorate believes that the County Ecological Environment Bureau failed to perform its environmental protection supervision duties in accordance with the law in view of the water pollution problem caused by illegal breeding of many farms in Sanbaishan Town. The county agricultural and rural bureau did not strictly perform the duties of delineation and supervision of livestock and poultry breeding areas; The people’s government of Sanbaishan Town failed to perform its territorial management duties according to law. On April 3, 2023, Anyuan County Procuratorate issued pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions to the above-mentioned administrative organs in accordance with the law, suggesting that the pollution problem of pig breeding in Sanbaishan Town should be comprehensively rectified, and the linkage and cooperation should be strengthened to rectify the eutrophication of the river.
After receiving the procuratorial suggestions, the administrative organ held a special dispatch meeting and jointly launched a special campaign for pig breeding and rectification in the county. After rectification, all the pigs in Sanbaishan town’s forbidden area have been cleaned up and transported; Towns and towns at the source of Dongjiang River shut down 97 "small scattered pollution" farms, promoted 248 farms to improve their supporting environmental protection facilities, and strictly implemented the matching standards of environmental protection facilities, prohibiting super-scale breeding beyond the carrying capacity of environmental protection facilities, and prohibiting the discharge of substandard breeding sewage into rivers; Formulate a long-term control plan for water hyacinth, allocate 4.2 million yuan for special cleaning and rectification, and focus on salvaging 18,000 tons of water hyacinth. In June, 2023, the Standing Committee of Anyuan County People’s Congress conducted an investigation on ecological environment public interest litigation, and specially inspected the ecological environment of Zhenjiang River. The real-time monitoring report shows that the water quality of the exit section of Zhenjiang River meets the standards of centralized drinking water and the first-class protected area of surface water source, the total phosphorus content in the water body is obviously reduced, and the eutrophication problem of the water body is improved.
In order to consolidate the effectiveness of rectification, Anyuan County Procuratorate carried out a "review" of aquaculture pollution, and visited various township farms in the county on the spot, and found that there were widespread problems of imperfect construction and irregular operation of environmental protection facilities. After investigation, it formed a "Investigation Report on the Operation of Environmental Protection Facilities for Pig Breeding in the County" and sent it to the county government to promote the sustainable and standardized rectification of pig breeding pollution in the county.
[Typical meaning]
Pollution from aquaculture at the source of the basin leads to eutrophication of the water body, which easily leads to the destruction of the water quality in the basin and the decrease of the stability and diversity of aquatic organisms, thus affecting the safety of drinking water, the protection of water ecological environment and the balance of water ecosystem. The procuratorial organ focused on the problem that the eutrophication of the water body in the lower reaches of the Dongjiang River source caused the water hyacinth to breed and spread, endangering the safety of drinking water, and traced back to the source to find out the causes of water pollution in the upper reaches. By putting forward procuratorial suggestions, the relevant departments are urged to carry out aquaculture pollution remediation and water hyacinth special cleaning, so as to promote the protection of the ecological environment and ecosystem of Dongjiang River system and ensure the safety of drinking water in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
4.Procuratorial organs in Yichang City, Hubei Province urged rectification.The shipbuilding and dismantling industries pollute the environment.Administrative public interest litigation series cases
[Basic case]
Yichang City, Hubei Province is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Thanks to the location advantage of the Yangtze River throat hub, the local shipbuilding industry is developed, and the manufacturing scale of new standardized ships and new energy ships ranks among the top in the whole province. In recent years, some enterprises have illegally carried out ship repair and dismantling business, resulting in a large number of industrial wastes and hazardous wastes, such as waste steel, ballast water, waste oil, rubber and asbestos, which have not been collected and effectively disposed of, threatening the ecology and water quality safety of the Yangtze River.
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
In December 2021, Hubei Provincial People’s Procuratorate handed over the above clues to Yichang Municipal People’s Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as Yichang Municipal Procuratorate). Yichang City Procuratorate quickly organized a field survey of ship repairing enterprises and shipping companies in the basin, and found that 11 companies did not take pollution prevention measures during the repairing process, 5 companies did not obtain the qualification for repairing, and 25 companies did not obtain the approval procedures for environmental impact assessment of ship dismantling. The above-mentioned ship-building enterprises carry out illegal repair and dismantling activities, which threaten the ecology and water quality safety of the Yangtze River and harm the public interests. According to the relevant provisions of the Environmental Protection Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Regulations on the Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Ship Scrapping, the ecological environment department has the supervisory responsibility for the prevention and control of ship pollution from ship repairing and dismantling, and the economic and information technology department has the supervisory responsibility for the behavior of operating the ship repairing business without obtaining the ship repairing license.
Due to the wide range of issues involved and the complexity of the situation, Yichang City Procuratorate decided to supervise by classification and promote the handling of cases as a whole. From January to May, 2022, Yichang City Procuratorate filed a case against the problem that the management committee of a new district of a municipal unit failed to increase the crackdown on illegal dismantling with relevant departments according to law; The People’s Procuratorate of Gezhouba (hereinafter referred to as the Procuratorate of Gezhouba) was appointed to file a case against the failure of the ecological and environmental departments of four counties to fully perform their duties of supervising the illegal dismantling of ships; The procuratorates of Yidu City, zhijiang city City and Zigui County respectively filed cases against the economic and information departments and the ecological and environmental departments within their respective jurisdictions in view of the fact that 16 ship repair companies have not obtained the repair qualification and the pollution prevention measures are insufficient. From January to August, 2022, the procuratorial organs of Yichang successively put forward procuratorial suggestions to 11 administrative organs, urged them to perform their supervisory duties according to law, urged relevant enterprises to operate in compliance, and eliminated potential environmental pollution; Strengthen law enforcement inspection of ship repair enterprises along the Yangtze River, and standardize dismantling behavior.
After the procuratorial proposal was issued, the relevant administrative organs attached great importance to it, and the letter department urged enterprises to conduct comprehensive self-examination and self-reform and operate in compliance with the law; The ecological and environmental departments investigate and deal with environmental violations, urge enterprises to standardize the disposal of hazardous wastes, go through the EIA procedures, organize the city’s shipping enterprises to conduct self-examination and rectification, and effectively promote industry rectification. In terms of ship building, five enterprises have obtained the license of ship building and completed the environmental assessment procedures according to law, and 11 enterprises with the qualification of ship building have increased investment in pollution prevention facilities; In terms of ship dismantling, for the 11 ship-building enterprises that can not handle the environmental assessment of ship dismantling according to law, timely guide the transformation, and the remaining 14 ship-building enterprises promise to suspend the ship dismantling business and actively promote the environmental assessment procedures for ship dismantling; A shipping enterprise that illegally transfers hazardous wastes such as waste engine oil shall be fined 100,000 yuan and ordered to correct the illegal act; The business operators who received and disposed of waste engine oil were transferred to the public security organs according to law, and a criminal case was filed in September 2022.
In order to do a good job in the second half of the article, Yichang Procuratorate and Gezhouba Procuratorate jointly carried out research and submitted a research report on "Problems and Suggestions in Ship Dismantling in Yichang Section of the Yangtze River" to Yichang Municipal Government. Yichang Municipal Government attaches great importance to it, promotes the promulgation of Several Opinions on Standardizing Ship Dismantling, strengthens the supervision of scrapped ships from the source, improves the qualification examination of relevant enterprises, and improves the safety and environmental protection capability of ship dismantling.
[Typical meaning]
The environmental management of ship repairing and dismantling industry is the industry epitome of ecological environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin. Yichang, as an industrial cluster of shipbuilding industry, has a large mobility of ships in the region, and the repair and dismantling industry has a high degree of mechanization and a fast construction period, which leads to the absence of industry supervision. Procuratorial organs give full play to the integrated case-handling mode of "designated jurisdiction+territorial jurisdiction", break the governance mode of multi-head governance and territorial management in river basin governance, promote the cooperation of multiple departments to carry out classified disposal of ship enterprises, and promote the standardization of ship repair and dismantling industry governance.
5.Qinyuan County People’s Procuratorate of Shanxi Province urges protection.Water resources administrative public interest litigation case
[Basic case]
Qinhe River is a first-class tributary of the Yellow River, and the water resources protection in Qinyuan County, its birthplace, has a direct impact on the water resources protection of the whole basin. Qinyuan County is a national key coal-producing county and a major coking coal base county in the province, with 85 large and small coal mines, all distributed along the Qinhe River. Coal mine production and domestic water consumption in mining areas are huge, and some mining enterprises have illegal acts such as failing to apply for water intake permits, not using water metering devices, overdue water intake permits, and exceeding the approval for water intake. In 2019 and 2020, A coal mine took a total of 602,000 m3 of water in excess of the license. Although Qinyuan County Water Conservancy Bureau made an administrative penalty decision of 80,000 yuan for its illegal behavior, it did not fully perform the supervision and management duties of ordering it to stop the illegal behavior, resulting in the continuous illegal behavior of the enterprise to take groundwater in excess of the license. As of August 2021, the water intake exceeded this year by 126,700 m3. The above-mentioned illegal acts are easy to cause problems such as groundwater decline, river drying up and ecological degradation, which seriously damages the ecological security of Qinhe River basin, is not conducive to the integrated protection and systematic management of landscape, forest, field, lake, grass and sand in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and infringes on public welfare.
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
In June 2021, Shanxi Provincial People’s Procuratorate handed over the clues of illegal exploitation of groundwater in Huoquan Spring Area to Qinyuan County People’s Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as Qinyuan County Procuratorate) for handling. After a preliminary investigation, Qinyuan County Procuratorate decided to file a case on August 17th of the same year. After on-site investigation, I visited the tax, water conservancy and other departments, collected information on administrative law enforcement, and asked the administrative organ and the person in charge of the company involved to find out the fact that the unauthorized use of groundwater in A coal mine damaged public welfare and the county water conservancy bureau did not perform its duties properly.
On August 18, 2021, Qinyuan County Procuratorate issued a pre-litigation procuratorial proposal to the County Water Conservancy Bureau, suggesting that it should deal with the behavior of the coal mine involved in the case of exceeding the approval permit to use groundwater according to law, and strengthen the management of water intake permit and the law enforcement inspection of water resources in the county. After receiving the procuratorial suggestions, the Water Conservancy Bureau filed an investigation on the unauthorized water intake in A coal mine, requiring enterprises to formulate rectification plans to carry out water-saving transformation. After the expiration of the rectification, Qinyuan County Procuratorate found in the follow-up supervision that A coal mine did not carry out water-saving transformation as required. After the county water conservancy bureau imposed a fine of 100,000 yuan on the unauthorized water intake in A coal mine in 2021, it did not take further effective supervision measures, and there was a situation of escrow by penalty, which caused the public interest to continue to be damaged.
[Proceedings]
On December 28, 2021, Qinyuan County Procuratorate filed an administrative public interest lawsuit with Qinyuan County People’s Court, requesting that the county water conservancy bureau be ordered to fully perform its statutory duties according to law.
After the case was prosecuted, the county water conservancy bureau immediately asked A coal mine to stop production and rectify, and urged it to invest more than 3 million yuan to install water-saving equipment to achieve water saving and efficiency improvement, and reported the water use situation to the county water conservancy bureau every day, and urged A coal mine to pay back the water resource tax of 441,000 yuan. In January, 2022, the daily average water intake and monthly average water intake of A Coal Mine were within the permitted range. On February 9 of the same year, the Qinyuan County Procuratorate followed up the investigation and found that the problem of over-exploitation of groundwater had indeed been rectified. After comprehensive judgment, Qinyuan County Procuratorate believes that the administrative organ has performed its duties according to law, and the purpose of administrative public interest litigation has been realized. After the court ruled that it was allowed, it withdrew the prosecution on February 23, 2022.
Qinyuan County Procuratorate took the handling of this case as a breakthrough, deeply explored the common problems behind water resources protection cases, independently developed a public interest litigation supervision model for water resources protection, screened out 433 abnormal data, handled 5 cases, promoted the closure of more than 10 self-provided wells, installed metering facilities in more than 30 enterprises, and invested tens of millions of yuan in installing water-saving facilities in more than 10 coal mines. The water consumption of special industries such as car washing and bathing decreased by 18% year-on-year, and urged the recovery of water resources taxes and fees of more than 3 million yuan.
[Typical meaning]
The shortage of water resources is the biggest contradiction in the Yellow River Basin. In order to effectively regulate the conservation, protection, development and utilization of water resources in river basins, procuratorial organs, after putting forward procuratorial suggestions and urging, filed administrative public interest lawsuits against administrative organs that failed to fully perform their duties according to law, so as to effectively solve the problem of illegal water intake by enterprises and update water-saving equipment. At the same time, the legal supervision model of big data is developed in combination with cases to promote the supervision of similar cases and help the intensive and economical use of water resources in the Yellow River Basin.
6.The People’s Procuratorate of Lianjiang City, Guangdong Province urged protection.Mangrove wetland administrative public interest litigation case
[Basic case]
Jiuzhou River crosses Guangxi and Guangdong, and flows into the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea from Anpu Town, Lianjiang City, Guangdong Province. Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve, the largest centralized distribution area in China, is located in this area. As an endangered (NT) rare mangrove tree species, Microtus parviflora is distributed here, especially in Yingzai River and Anpu reach of Jiuzhou River. The community area is close to 10,000 square meters, and the plant density is about 14 plants per square meter, with an average height of 1.1 meters. Its scale and quantity are rare in China, and it has high ecological balance, biodiversity and scientific research value. In recent years, affected by various factors, such as the invasion of other species in the upstream and man-made pollution, the community of Rattus parvifolius shows signs of gradual erosion and degradation, and its role as a "coastal guardian" as a marine ecological barrier is also affected.
【 Investigate and supervise the performance of duties 】
In April 2022, the People’s Procuratorate of Lianjiang City, Guangdong Province (hereinafter referred to as Lianjiang City Procuratorate) invited experts engaged in mangrove research to make a field trip and found clues to the case. After preliminary investigation, Lianjiang City Procuratorate decided to file a case on December 28, 2022. Relying on the mangrove public interest litigation procuratorate workstation and Gao Qiao Mangrove Management Station, the hospital conducted on-the-spot investigation on the Jiuzhou River basin around the small flower mouse-basket community. Use UAV aerial photography to collect evidence, sample alien invasive plants, investigate the source river section of the invaded water lily, and consult relevant professionals. According to the investigation, there is only one illegal aquaculture drainage outlet and three solid waste dumping sites within 3 kilometers around the wetland community, and the water quality in the basin is deteriorating, and the roots and water surface of the community are covered with a lot of domestic garbage, which affects its natural growth. Exotic species such as water hyacinth, Spartina alterniflora and Sonneratia apetala are scattered around the wetland of Lepidoptera parviflora, eroding the living space of Lepidoptera parviflora community and seriously affecting the ecosystem and biological safety of Jiuzhou River basin. Local people also pick it from time to time. According to the relevant regulations, Lianjiang Branch of Zhanjiang Ecological Environment Bureau and the local governments of Yingzai and Anpu are responsible for the prevention and control of solid waste pollution in mangrove wetlands, Lianjiang Water Affairs Bureau is responsible for removing floating objects on water, and Lianjiang Natural Resources Bureau is responsible for stopping and handling logging and picking.
On January 28, 2023, Lianjiang City Procuratorate put forward procuratorial suggestions to the above-mentioned administrative organs according to law, suggesting that all departments should perform their duties according to law, take effective measures in time to rectify pollution damage, strengthen daily supervision and publicity and education on the rule of law, and enhance public awareness of mangrove wetland protection.
After receiving the procuratorial suggestions, all administrative organs actively promote the construction of supporting pipe network for rural domestic sewage and improve the collection rate and treatment rate of sewage; Improve the online rate of "Guangdong Forest Resources Monitoring System" and intensify the patrol of forest rangers; Actively raise funds, organize personnel to remove alien invasive plants and solid wastes, clean up the garbage and floating objects on the water in Yingzai River and Anpu River basins of Jiuzhou River, restore the original appearance of the small mouse-grass community, and keep the water surface of the basin clean and tidy. At the same time, the administrative organs strengthened the tracing governance, actively carried out the normalization monitoring and law enforcement of watershed wetland protection, built a "Party Building+Grid" working mode, formed a "one party member is responsible for one section, one branch is responsible for one section" of the party member water ecological grid, promoted the coastal village committees to formulate village rules and regulations for watershed wetland protection, and carried out special publicity activities for mangrove wetlands.
In May 2023, Lianjiang City Procuratorate invited experts to check the rectification situation together. It was confirmed by experts that the solid waste in the community has been cleaned up, and exotic species such as water lily, Spartina alterniflora and Derris have been salvaged and eradicated. Water lily interceptors have been installed in the upstream to prevent them from invading again, and obvious warning signs such as no logging and picking have been set around. The overall growth of the community is good, and the ecological environment of the basin has been restored and improved.
[Typical meaning]
The endemic plant communities in the basin are the key groups to maintain the benign operation of the basin ecosystem, which have an important impact on the biodiversity and aquatic ecosystem of the basin. In view of the fact that the special species of mangrove in coastal wetland ecological community are threatened by upstream pollution, the procuratorial organs give full play to the procuratorial function of public interest litigation, build a communication and cooperation platform based on the mangrove public interest litigation procuratorial workstation, empower the case with the help of experts, put forward procuratorial suggestions according to law, urge multi-departments to jointly solve the problem of the destruction of rare mangroves in the estuary, maintain the stability of the growing environment of endangered plants, and promote the circular and sustainable development of the river basin ecosystem.
7.People’s Procuratorate of jiangkou county, Guizhou ProvincetellDestruction of a water resources management companyCivil public interest litigation case of river basin water ecological environment
[Basic case]
A hydropower station in jiangkou county, Tongren City, Guizhou Province, located in the middle and upper reaches of Min Xiaohe River in Yuanjiang-Jinjiang River system, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River basin, was completed by a water resources management company in December 2011. The hydropower station has been put into operation by diverting water and generating electricity through dams, among which the dams span the rivers in the reserve, but no fish facilities have been built according to law. Because Min Xiaohe belongs to conservation zone, a national aquatic germplasm of fish, there are more than ten kinds of protected species, such as Pseudobagrus fulvidraco, which block the migration and reproduction of protected fish and destroy the biodiversity of the basin. In order to increase water diversion and increase power generation during the dry season, the hydropower station failed to discharge water according to the regulations, resulting in some downstream rivers being cut off, dried up and exposed, and the flow velocity, discharge and water level of the rivers were obviously reduced. After testing, the discharged ecological flow of the hydropower station is 0.8m3/s, which is lower than the minimum ecological flow of river ecosystem stipulated in the Water Resources Demonstration Report of 1.2m3/s.. Since 2018, the downstream river has been cut off, dried up, and the riverbed has been exposed due to the interception of water diversion and power generation by dams, and the river ecological balance system has been destroyed.
[Investigation and Litigation]
On February 1st, 2021, the People’s Procuratorate of tongren city, Guizhou Province (hereinafter referred to as tongren city Procuratorate) found the clue of this case in the river patrol activity of "River Chief+Procurator-General". After preliminary investigation, it decided to file an investigation with a civil public interest lawsuit. Through on-site inspection, unmanned aerial vehicle evidence collection, access to project materials, letters asking the competent authorities to assist in the investigation, asking the person in charge of the hydropower station, and visiting local villagers, tongren city Procuratorate has found out the fact that the illegal behavior of a water resources management company has caused public welfare damage. As the place of violation and the place of result in this case are all in jiangkou county, and the jiangkou county court is the centralized jurisdiction court for environmental resources cases, it is more appropriate for it to be under its jurisdiction, and the tongren city Procuratorate intends to designate the jiangkou county Procuratorate to be under its jurisdiction. After the tongren city Intermediate People’s Court asked the Guizhou Higher People’s Court for approval, the case was submitted to the jiangkou county People’s Court for jurisdiction. On January 21, 2022, tongren city Procuratorate handed over the case to jiangkou county Procuratorate.
Upon examination, the jiangkou county Procuratorate held that the hydropower station violated the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Yangtze River Protection Law, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Water Law and other regulations, and failed to adjust the ecological flow, build fish facilities and implement the minimum ecological flow requirements, resulting in a sharp decline in the ecological flow of the whole downstream, serious damage to the ecological balance of the river and damage to social public interests. The experts entrusted by the professional institutions issued opinions, suggesting that the hydropower station should take measures to maintain the minimum ecological flow, build fish crossing facilities to ensure fish migration channels, and take ecological compensation measures to increase and release fry worth 300,000 yuan.
On February 15th, 2022, the jiangkou county Procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the jiangkou county court, suing for a judgment order: the defendant, a water resources management company, built fish facilities for the dam of a hydropower station according to law, took measures to maintain the minimum ecological flow of 1.2m3/s, adopted ecological compensation measures to increase and release the fry worth 300,000 yuan, and assumed the expert consultation fee of 10,000 yuan.
During the proceedings, the defendant had no objection to the facts and evidence prosecuted by the procuratorate, and hoped that the court would preside over mediation. On August 18th, 2022, jiangkou county Procuratorate invited NPC deputies, relevant administrative departments, local villagers’ representatives and experts to participate in the public hearing on whether the case could be mediated. After hearing, the hearing officers agreed that mediation can be carried out on the premise of ensuring the full realization of the purpose of public welfare protection. On November 9 of the same year, the jiangkou county court presided over the mediation between the jiangkou county Procuratorate and the defendant, and finally reached a mediation agreement. The defendant agreed to perform the civil liability specified by the procuratorate in the litigation request, and the court issued a Civil Mediation Book to confirm it according to law.
After the mediation agreement came into effect, the defendant has increased the discharged ecological flow to 1.2m3/s according to the agreement, and installed flow detection equipment to realize online real-time monitoring; Paid an expert consultation fee of 10,000 yuan. In March, 2023, the defendant signed a contract with a water conservancy engineering company in Guizhou for the construction of a fishway project of a hydropower station in jiangkou county, and commissioned the preparation of the Design Scheme of Fishery Migratory Passage, which was approved by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of Guizhou Province. The project was carried out in an orderly manner under the supervision of the local Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. From May 18 to July 20 of the same year, the defendant completed the proliferation and release of fry worth 300,000 yuan in three times. Up to now, the dam of the hydropower station has not been impounded yet, and it will be recharged after the completion and acceptance of the fishery migration passage. Through the proliferation and discharge and the improvement of ecological flow, the water-reducing reach has disappeared and the downstream water ecological environment has been restored and improved.
[Typical meaning]
Ecological flow is the basis of maintaining the structure and function of rivers and lakes ecosystem, and ensuring ecological flow of rivers and lakes is of great significance to the health of rivers and lakes ecological environment and the high-quality development of river basins. Adhering to the concept of system, the procuratorial organ, proceeding from the integrity of the ecosystem and the systematicness of the basin, initiated a civil public interest lawsuit in accordance with the law in view of the behavior of intercepting dams for power generation in the tributaries of the Yangtze River, failing to discharge water according to regulations and establishing fish facilities, resulting in insufficient ecological flow of the downstream rivers and damage to the ecosystem, so as to urge the violators to fully fulfill their obligations of ecological restoration and effectively guarantee the ecological security of the basin.