Recently, a ruling by the Beijing High People's Court brought good news: filed by China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), known as the "Beijing Miyun Poisonous Land Case", sued a Beijing Brake System Co., Ltd. and an environmental protection technology limited liability company in Beijing , was ruled by the Beijing Higher People's Court to revoke the original sentence and sent it back for retrial.

This case goes back to the beginning of 2009 to September 2011. In the 60 acres of basic farmland in the west of Daxinzhuang Village, Xitiangezhuang Town, Miyun County, the companies dumped solid hazardous waste illegally, causing tree death on the ground and soil pollution incident. On April 3, 2013, under the organization of the Miyun County Environmental Protection Bureau, the two defendants cleared the hazardous waste dumped on the land. After testing the soil and solid waste, it showed that heavy metals were seriously exceeded, the soil was seriously polluted, and it lost its function as a basic farmland. Among them, the content of copper and antimony is huge. Antimony is toxic and carcinogenic to humans and organisms. It has been scientifically proven that soil is contaminated with antimony. Antimony can enter the food chain through the soil and cause harm to the human body. When antimony is present in the form of a solution, it is easily absorbed by plants and causes toxicity. At the same time, the dumped hazardous waste can compact the soil, reduce fertility, and poison the soil. It can also be leached through rainwater, and the toxic heavy metals in the hazardous waste can be introduced into the groundwater or surface water from the soil, causing water pollution and deterioration.

Before the lawsuit was filed, CBCGDF conducted a field visit in May 2016. After inspection, it was found that the content of heavy metals such as copper and antimony there still exceeded the standards for three types of soil. Obviously, the ability of the soil to purify itself cannot absorb heavy metal pollution. What is more serious is that heavy metals such as antimony, copper, chromium, arsenic, lead and strontium in that plot exist through runoff and wind erosion, causing pollution of the surrounding soil and surface, as well as pollution of rivers and reservoirs, formed by rainwater infiltration, groundwater pollution, human health effects through the food chain and through human and animal contact, and other significant ecological damage risks.

The case was accepted by the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court in July 2016. In November 2018, the first trial verdict rejected the CBCGDF's lawsuit on the ground that there was no evidence to prove that the defendant's behavior had caused environmental pollution damage to soil pollution. During the second instance, the attorneys conducted a detailed analysis of many errors in the factual determination and legal application of the judgment of the first instance.

The Beijing Higher People's Court held that the CBCGDF had fulfilled the corresponding burden of proof, and the defendants should bear the burden of proof between the act of stacking solid waste and soil heavy metal pollution of the land involved, but the defendants did not fulfill the duty of proof, and further held the court of first instance found that the facts were unclear, and decided to send it back for retrial.

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4857/10921.html

By / Maggie