China Focus: Chinese court accepts first lawsuit from environmental organization

A commonwealth organization has demanded an industrial polluter in Shandong province receive hefty penalties when filing the country's first environmental lawsuit under a new law that came into effect on Jan.1.

On Wednesday, the Intermediate People's Court in Dezhou City, east China's Shandong Province, confirmed it accepted the lawsuit lodged by the All-China Environment Federation. In it, the federation demands 30 million yuan (4.8 million U.S. dollars) compensation for damages from air pollution discharged by the Zhenhua Co. Ltd., an affiliated branch of Dezhou Jinghua Group.

The case arose after Zhenhua Co., which produces glass, neglected warnings by environmental watchdogs that they were emitting excess sulfur and dust.

The company was placed on a blacklist by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in October last year after failing to treat the emission.

Experts from the federation received several strong complaints from residents living near the company's plant, which regularly discharges foul-smelling yellow smoke.

"Neither fines by the local environmental watchdog nor the blacklist warning by the ministry pushed the polluter to take effective measures in the pollution control. The litigation is a new attempt to check headstrong violators like Zhenhua," said Ma Yong, a litigation director with the federation.

It is the first case after amendments to the environment protection law were enacted by China's national legislature in April 2014. The new law makes it much easier for environmental NGOs to file lawsuits against polluters for public good.

The new environment law must be a powerful, effective tool to control pollution instead of being "as soft as cotton candy", Premier Li Keqiang said while speaking at a press conference following the annual national legislative session which concluded last week.

Fu Qiang, a lawyer with the Shandong Pengfei Law Firm, said big industrial polluters are often protected by the local government, which makes pollution control difficult. Non-governmental organizations will play a bigger role in representing public interests for environmental cases in the future.

The federation's involvement has also triggered more government efforts.

The Dezhou municipal government urged Zhengzhou Co. to immediately overhaul emission treatment facilities to meet pollution control requirements before the end of the month. Otherwise, it would be ordered to suspend production on April 1. Endi