A few days ago, the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of the autonomous region deliberated and adopted the "Regulations of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on the prevention and control of soil pollution" to prevent and control soil pollution through legislation and promote the sustainable use of soil resources.

"In recent years, our district has focused on the prevention and control of soil pollution on the land used by key industries and enterprises, strictly controlled the source of soil pollution, and the overall quality of soil environment is good. There is no problem that the quality of agricultural products exceeds the standard and the living environment is safe due to soil pollution. However, the prevention and control of soil pollution in our district started late, the work foundation is weak, and there is a lack of systematic and operable laws and regulations." The person in charge of the legal work committee of the Standing Committee of the people's Congress of the autonomous region said that on January 1, 2019, after the soil pollution prevention and control law was formally implemented, it provided legal guarantee for the construction of a beautiful new Ningxia with beautiful environment. The Standing Committee of the people's Congress of the autonomous region has carried out legislative research and carried out legislative drafting of the regulations on soil pollution prevention and control in Ningxia.

"At the beginning of the drafting of the regulations, we used strict systems and strict rule of law to protect the soil environment of our district in accordance with the requirements of 'legislating for problems and solving problems through legislation'." The person in charge of the legal work committee of the Standing Committee of the people's Congress of the autonomous region said that on the basis of fully learning from the legislative experience outside the region, the regulations highlight the characteristics of Ningxia and make the regulations more targeted and operational.

It is reported that at present, the soil environment in our region is relatively complete, and the "prevention" of soil pollution is more important than "treatment". Therefore, the regulations strengthen the prevention and protection, clarify the obligations of key supervision units of soil pollution, standardize soil pollution prevention and protection measures, regulate the prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution by classification, and strengthen the prevention of soil pollution in agricultural production activities. At the same time, in view of the characteristics of the soil environment in our region, the regulations provide for the protection of unused land such as deserts, tidal flats, saline alkali lands and swamps to prevent soil pollution.

The regulations specify the responsibility system for soil pollution prevention and control objectives and the assessment and evaluation system, and specify the management system for soil pollution prevention and control. Highlight the prevention and control of soil pollution, focus on the prevention and control of soil pollution in key industries and enterprises, strengthen the prevention and control of agricultural land pollution, and refine the relevant soil pollution prevention and control measures.

Another highlight of the regulation is that it clarifies the principle of "Whoever pollutes bears the responsibility", requires the person responsible for soil pollution to bear the obligation of soil pollution risk control and remediation according to law, and specifies the specific content of the obligation of control and remediation, and details the content of soil pollution risk control and remediation. Among them, it is required to investigate the soil pollution status of the construction land according to law, and establish the soil pollution risk control and remediation directory system; A classified management system shall be established for the soil of agricultural land, and the governments at or above the county level are required to classify the qualified priority protection arable land into * basic farmland according to law. At the same time, considering the heavy task, large investment, long cycle and slow effect of soil pollution control, the regulations specify the diversified investment guarantee measures of governments, enterprises and society at all levels, and take effective measures to prevent and control soil pollution.

In terms of legal responsibility, the regulations use the "Zui strict" accountability to ensure a good fight for the pure land.

Among them, "those who tamper with or falsify the monitoring data, or dismantle the facilities, equipment, buildings and structures without formulating and implementing the soil pollution prevention and control work plan", causing serious consequences, will be fined not less than 200000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan; "Industrial solid waste, domestic garbage, contaminated soil, etc. with excessive content of heavy metals or other toxic and harmful substances are used for land reclamation", "the person responsible for soil pollution or the land user fails to implement risk control and repair in accordance with the provisions" "If the implementation of risk control and remediation activities causes new pollution to the soil and the surrounding environment, or transfers the contaminated soil, and fails to report the transportation time, mode, route, quantity of contaminated soil, destination, disposal measures, etc. to the local and receiving ecological and environmental authorities in advance", if the circumstances are serious, according to the regulations, a fine of up to 1 million yuan may be imposed.

"The promulgation of the soil pollution prevention and control regulations has filled the legislative gap in the area of soil pollution prevention and control in our region. So far, our region has corresponding laws and regulations in the air, water and soil, and has established a relatively complete system of ecological environment laws and regulations." The relevant responsible person of the legal work committee of the Standing Committee of the people's Congress of the autonomous region said that the promulgation of the law will provide more powerful legal guarantee for Ningxia to build a leading area for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, to keep the lifeline of the ecological environment. (reporters Shang Lingbin and Yang Jie)

(editor in charge: Yan Mengjie, tolerant)