On the morning of November 4th, the 24th meeting of the 12th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) held a joint meeting to ask about the implementation of the environmental protection law. Wang Mingwen, a member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), said that since 2011, incidents such as "arsenic poisoning", "blood lead" and "cadmium rice" have occurred frequently, making heavy metal pollution one of the most concerned public events. Soil pollution and the food security and national health problems caused by it have caused public concern and even panic.
"What is the overall situation of soil pollution in China at present? What are the difficulties and problems in the management and use control of polluted agricultural land, especially cultivated land polluted by heavy metals and industrial polluted plots? What measures have been taken? What are your plans for the next step? " Wang Mingwen asked questions.
Chen Jining, Minister of Environmental Protection who participated in the inquiry, introduced that from 2005 to 2013, the State Council made a preliminary survey of soil pollution in China. The survey results show that the over-standard rate of soil pollution sites in China is 16.1%, of which the proportions of slight, mild, moderate and severe pollution sites are 11.2%, 2.3%, 1.5% and 1.1% respectively. The over-standard rate of farmland soil points is 19.4%, which is a little higher. The proportions of slightly, slightly, moderately and severely polluted points are 13.7%, 2.8%, 1.8% and 1.1% respectively.
"The over-standard rate of points is not the actual over-standard rate of areas." Chen Jining explained that the over-standard rate of points refers to where there will be soil pollution problems, what kind of problems and what causes, and does not mean that 19.4% of the soil is completely polluted.
Chen Jining said that the current difficulties and challenges in soil pollution prevention and control mainly include: First, the base number is unclear, and China has not yet established a list of agricultural land and a list of contaminated land classified according to pollution degree. The second is the lack of laws and regulations. At present, there is no special law for the prevention and control of soil pollution in China, and the departmental regulations for environmental supervision of polluted plots and agricultural land have not been promulgated, so there is no basis for supervision. Third, the corresponding technical standards and specifications are not sound enough. There is a lack of operational standards and norms in the investigation, risk assessment, treatment and remediation of soil pollution, and the technical system needs to be improved urgently. Fourth, the regulatory capacity needs to be strengthened. Local environmental protection departments are not strong enough in soil pollution supervision, especially the lack of professionals, which urgently needs to be improved.
Chen Jining said that on May 28th this year, the State Council issued the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution (namely "Ten Soil Articles"), and the next step will be to promote the implementation of the "Ten Soil Articles" and do a good job in five aspects.
First, accelerate the promotion of legislation. Cooperate with the Environmental Protection Committee of the National People’s Congress to do a good job in drafting, revising and demonstrating the law on the prevention and control of soil pollution, and at the same time formulate departmental regulations such as the introduction of soil management measures for polluted plots and agricultural land.
The second is to carry out a detailed survey of soil pollution in the country. In conjunction with the land, agriculture and other departments, on the basis of existing relevant investigations, we will carry out a detailed investigation of soil pollution with agricultural land and enterprise land in key industries as the focus. Complete the investigation of agricultural land pollution by the end of 2018, and master the distribution of contaminated land and its environmental risks in key industries by the end of 2020.
The third is to establish and improve relevant standards and norms. Revise the quality standard of soil environment for construction land, and revise the technical specifications of soil environment monitoring, investigation and evaluation, risk control, treatment and restoration for construction land, as well as the technical guidelines for environmental impact assessment.
The fourth is to strengthen the environmental management of construction projects. In the examination and approval of environmental impact assessment involving hazardous chemicals, heavy metals and other construction projects with significant environmental risks, it is clearly required to increase the content of soil environmental impact assessment, strengthen environmental access, and prevent construction projects from polluting soil and groundwater. Study and carry out environmental risk assessment of closed and relocated enterprises, and further strengthen environmental impact assessment management of soil environmental quality.
The fifth is to urge local governments to improve the soil environmental management system. Guide local governments to establish a system of soil environmental investigation and risk assessment for construction land, gradually establish a list of contaminated plots and a negative list of their development and utilization, establish an information communication and sharing mechanism between urban and rural planning, land resources and environmental protection departments, and establish a linkage supervision mechanism.
Jiang Daming, Minister of Land and Resources, said that the Ministry of Land and Resources will strengthen the control of the use of contaminated land, accelerate the establishment of a departmental linkage mechanism for the identification, remediation, planned use control and land access management of contaminated sites, gradually establish a list of contaminated plots, and determine the negative list of development and utilization to prevent improper use of contaminated sites without remediation; At the same time, it is necessary to do a good job in source control and resolutely curb the generation of new soil pollution. The Ministry of Land and Resources will cooperate with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environmental Protection to strictly control the access of the "three high" projects and strictly control the pre-examination of construction land and land approval.
Chen Zhenggao, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that the tasks undertaken by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development are mainly "two strict controls" in the implementation of the State Council’s "Ten Articles of Soil": strictly control the industrial sites that have been polluted, and the use of these sites must be guaranteed; Strictly control the spatial layout to prevent new land pollution.
Zhang Taolin, Vice Minister of Agriculture, said that the quality of agricultural products is not a simple correspondence with the environmental quality of cultivated land. Generally speaking, the main agricultural products in China are safe and secure. At present, the soil pollutants in cultivated land in China are slightly over-standard, and the proportion of severe pollution is relatively small. Some measures can be taken to control and make safe use of them. Generally speaking, most of the polluted cultivated land in China is preventable, controllable and treatable, and the serious pollution is irreversible.
Beijing, November 4 th