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The All-China Environment Federation and Zhu Zhengmao, a resident of Jiangyin city, filed a court appeal on July 6 challenging a cargo logistics company's iron ore unloading operations without an environmental impact assessment and approval from authorities. The Intermediate People's Court of Wuxi City reviewed the case, marking the first civil environmental lawsuit with a civil society organization named as plaintiff accepted by a court in China.The project of Jiangyin Container Port Operation Co., Ltd. (Jiangyin Container) caused particulate pollution, discharged waste water containing iron ore powder directly into the sewage system and produced noise pollution in the surrounding neighborhoods. Authorities received complaints from local residents several times. In mid-May 2009, the Jiangyin government requested that the port container operator adopt measures to reduce pollution. However, the pollution was not completely eliminated, forcing residents to turn to legal proceedings.
The court ruled on July 7 that Jiangyin Container should immediately terminate actions related to the negative environmental impacts cited in the case. During the legal process, the logistics company took further steps to control the pollution and the case ended in mediation. The defendant was ordered to apply for an official environmental impact assessment and for administrative approval of its project within 15 days, during which it had to comply with a prohibition on discharging pollutants into neighboring rivers and lakes, carry out a particulate-free iron ore unloading operations, and keep noise levels below the state standard.
On July 28, the People's Court of Qingzhen city in Guizhou Province accepted the country's first environmental lawsuit against a government agency. The All-China Environment Federation brought forth the lawsuit to challenge the commercial development of a piece of state-owned-land designated as a natural scenic area. On September 1, the plaintiff withdrew the lawsuit because the defendant abandoned the land development plan.
Both cases are regarded as breakthroughs in environmental law. Existing laws require that plaintiffs of civil cases have direct interests in the case they put forth, which under the current interpretation excludes public interest environmental activism.
However, the significance of the case remains to be seen, due to the fact that the All-China Environment Federation is a semi-official organization, with several former and incumbent high-ranking party or government officials serving as executives. Chinese courts have yet to review an environmental civil case with an NGO as the plaintiff and under China's political system, social organizations need to be approved by the governmental authority in its domain and register at an office of civil affairs.
A non-governmental grassroots environmental organization in Chongqing filed a public interest environmental litigation shortly after the Jiangyin case, which has yet to be accepted by a court.
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