On May 26, the Supreme People's Court delivered a notice of response to the Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association in response to Ye Qinglu and the Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association's environmental public interest litigation (EPIL). This case went through the first instance of Fujian Xiamen Intermediate People's Court and the second instance of Fujian Higher People's Court. Ye Qinglu, a major farming polluter, lost the lawsuit. Due to the high prices of pork in recent times, some regions have eased the control of pollution from the pig industry, which has allowed them to see opportunities for reversal. Not long ago, Ye applied for a retrial by the Supreme People's Court on the ground that did not accept the final judgment of the Fujian Provincial High People's Court. The case has now entered the retrial procedure.

At the invitation of the Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) Legal Work Committee and many well-known legal experts have stepped in to follow up.

The focus of the dispute in this case mainly involves three aspects, namely:

1. Whether the plaintiff main body of Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association is qualified;

2. Whether Ye Qinglu's pig breeding practices have caused the consequences of environmental pollution damage;

3. How should Ye Qinglu's pig breeding behavior bear the responsibility of infringement compensation if it causes environmental pollution consequences.

First trial of Fujian Xiamen Intermediate People's Court and second trial of Fujian Higher People's Court both judged that the plaintiff Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association was qualified as the subject of environmental public interest litigation, the verdict ordered the defendant, Ye Qinglu, to apologize to the public in Fujian media above the provincial level. And the judgment confirmed Ye's "large-scale pig farming behavior caused the consequences of environmental pollution damage, infringed the public interests of unspecified people, and should bear the liability for tort compensation."

However, the second trial of Fujian Higher People's Court changed the amount of environmental pollution compensation borne by Ye from RMB 91,7520.3 to RMB 34,407.95, and judged the plaintiff to bear part of the litigation costs (total of RMB 12,472 in the first and second instance). This is obviously not strictly enforced relevant provisions in the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Environmental Civil Public Interest Litigation Cases", obviously not conducive to encouraging and supporting social organizations to actively carry out environmental public interest litigation.

According to the pollution facts confirmed by the judgments of the first and second instance in this case, Ye Qinglu's large-scale farms had serious illegal activities, including:

1. The farm area is located in a forbidden area, large-scale pig breeding in restricted areas, violated the relevant provisions of the Regulations on Pollution Prevention and Control of Livestock and Poultry Scale Farming;

2. The farm has not gone through the examination and approval procedures for environmental impact assessment and has not built supporting pollution treatment facilities. The excrement of live pigs, sick and dead pigs, etc. are randomly discharged and discarded, causing environmental pollution;

3. According to the Urban Management Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau of Tongan District of Xiamen City, Ye Qinglu's side illegally occupied 16.2 mu to build a pig farm, which caused the destruction of 13.85 mu of land and did not have the conditions for farming and planting.

The CBCGDF Legal Working Committee will fully assist the Fujian Environmental Protection Volunteers Association in responding to the retrial of this case, to resolutely win this EPIL case and effectively safeguarded the environmental public interest.

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4857/12831.html

By / Maggie, Jiahui (Intern)