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Chapter Five Policy Recommendations
The following policy recommendations (split into two parts) have been drawn up by Greenpeace, with the aim of reducing the threat of coal ash pollution to public health and the environment.
June 201 0. A wet coal ash pond at the Fengzhen Power Plant, Inner Mongolia. © Zhao Gang/Greenpeace
1. Highlight and strengthen environmental law enforcement within the existing legal framework
1.The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress should incorporate the “Law on the Prevention of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste” into the law enforcement, supervision, and inspection plan. They should also supervise and urge all regions and government departments to actively perform their legal duties. The intervention of the highest organ of state can strongly highlight the importance of preventing coal ash pollution to all parts of society.
2.The State Council should conduct a nationwide specialized, targeted corrective campaign on coal ash environmental pollution. This campaign should include: to conduct a comprehensive audit on the coal-fired plants’ coal ash utilization rate to determine an accurate picture of the scale of coal ash waste; to focus on identifying deficiencies or weaknesses in environmental management facilities, as well as the potential causes of secondary geological disasters at coal ash disposal sites; and to set corrective deadlines for the above.
3.China should incorporate environmental management of coal ash into local government official’s performance evaluation criteria; promote and implement administrative and local government accountability mechanisms; and strengthen the administrative authority of coal ash pollution management in a similar way to the handling of mine safety and accidents.
4.The MEP should strengthen enforcement of the “Law on the Prevention of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste” as well as strengthen the monitoring and research of coal ash environmental pollution. They should provide the public with information on coal ash treatment that does not meet environmental protection standards through environmental information disclosure procedures; ensure proper investigation and punishment according to the law; and hold officials involved accountable.
1.Based on the existing “Law on the Prevention of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste,” the State Council or the MEP can take the lead on formulating an implementable “Coal Ash Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Measures.” They should also operationalize the general provisions of the laws through administrative regulations or directive orders. The above proposed “Measures” should work in concert with the “Administrative Measures on the Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Ash” (revised in 1994) in order to promote the guiding principle of paying equal attention to the twin problems of utilizing coal ash and managing its environmental pollution.
China should learn from the experiences of the U.S., the E.U. and other developed countries in handling coal ash environmental pollution. This include: the careful selection of coal-fired plant and ash impoundment locations; the planning and setting of standards for environmental impact assessments, as well as methods for public participation; the management of coal ash pollution that complies with the “three-simultaneous system” 32 requirement; impermeable layer design requirements; monitoring groundwater and soil pollution; standards on the environmental monitoring of comprehensive utilization; standards for the conditions and qualifications of recycled components; scope and legal responsibilities of the subject of duty in environmental protection; supportive financial and taxation policies; fines and standards on coal ash pollution discharges; law enforcement mechanisms and procedures; planning for regulatory adjustments during interim periods; the relationship between old and new regulations; and more targeted and practical systems and standards. Based on the above proposed “Measures,” China should draw up a complete new set of corresponding environmental standards on pollution prevention, or make existing voluntary standards mandatory, and ensure that each key part of the provisions has clear operational specifications and requirements.
2.The relevant legislation should increase the number of specialized provisions on coal ash treatment in order to break down tasks on coal ash pollution prevention and control and incorporate it into law. The following relevant laws are currently in the legislative process: “Land Management Law” (revised), “Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law” (revised), “Energy Law,” “Law on Nature Reserves,” “Environmental Protection Law,” “Coal Law”(revised), and “Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law,” etc.
3.In the revision of the “Measures on the Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Ash,” the experiences of the EU and other developed countries should be used as a reference point to explore the ways in which China can improve its handling of pollution prevention in coal ash utilization, implement a wideranging set of regulations to monitor the overall utilization production process, and fill the pollution and control legislative gap on coal ash utilization.
The MEP should be more actively involved in the revision of “Measures on the Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Ash” and other related legislation in order to ensure that pollution prevention and control objectives are reflected adequately in all policy legislation. At the same time, there is a need to establish a permanent information-sharing and communications mechanism between the NRDC and the MEP. Whenever it becomes difficult to automatically coordinate policy objectives between the two parties, they should immediately initiate an effective conflict-resolution mechanism.
4.China should take the next step in improving the coal pricing system through introducing a carbon tax, a resource tax or other relevant policies as ways to internalize the external costs of coal. At the same time, China should make great efforts to improve energy efficiency and develop the renewable energy. The government should promote the optimization of the national energy mix, and gradually move away from its over-dependency on coal as a surefire means of controlling coal ash pollution at its source.
