An environmental lawsuit bought by more citizens than in any other similar case worldwide has highlighted the conflict between environmental protection and economic development. And what role does local government play in this?

1am on the 18th of August, and 50 residents of Pingnan county in the Fujian city of Ningde board the bus they've hired to take them to the Fujian Supreme People's Court in Fuzhou, the provincial capital. In order to make sure they can attend the second hearing of an environmental lawsuit at 8.30am , they wait at the court entrance.

And back home there are another 1721 of them. They've been working for 13 years to stop pollution form a local chemical plant.

As far as we know, more citizens are participating in this lawsuit than in any similar case worldwide. In 2003 the case was named as one of ' China 's 10 Major Environmental Cases' by the State Environmental Protection Agency.

It has been a marathon. The villagers first filed in November 2002 and after almost three years, in February of this year, Ningde Intermediate People's Court produced a verdict that neither party accepted. Both parties decided to appeal and the case was sent to Fujian Supreme People's Court. As of going to press on the 3rd of September, there was no final verdict.

Economic growth's companion: Pollution.

Pingnan is in the north-east of Fujian , an average of 830 meters above sea-level in the middle of the Jiufeng mountain range. Forest covers three quarters of the county, and it is the world's only nature reserve for mandarin ducks and macaques.

45 year old Zhang Changjian, village doctor in the county's Xiping village says that the shady bamboo and clear mountain streams were a part of his childhood. But Pingnan is remote, and the first tarred road didn't arrive until 1994. The locals make puns on the county's name, which sounds similar to the Chinese for 'poor, tough'.

In 1992, Fujian launched a policy of "Mountain and Sea Cooperation" - that is, economically underdeveloped regions - often remote mountain areas - would be helped to grow by richer regions - i.e., coastal cities. And so, Fujian No. 1 Chemical Plant moved its energy-hungry production of chloric acid to Pingnan. In March of that year ground was broken in Xiping for Asia 's largest chlorate plant - Rongping Joint Chemical Plant, now Fujian (Pingnan) Rongping Chemical Co. Ltd. 70% of investment came from Fujian No. 1 Chemical Plant, and the remaining 30% from Pingnan County Government. On the 28th of December 1993 trial operation was successful, and the plant went into full production on the 28th of January 1994 .

The plant quickly came to account for one third of the income of the county. But economic development was accompanied by environmental degradation. Zhang Changjian's home is 200 meters from the plant, and he can see the worsening of air quality every day. The bamboo, fruit trees and flowers nearby have withered and died, and the fish and shrimp downstream have slowly disappeared.

Being the local doctor, Zhang also found the number of patients increased. Villagers often suffer from headaches, nausea, tightness in the chest and itchy skin. Cancer cases are also more common. According to villagers' statistics, there was only one case of cancer between 1990 and 1994. But from 1995 to 1998 there were four deaths from cancer, and seventeen from 1999 to 2001 alone. In the nine years from 1995 - the year after production started at the plant - to 2004, not one villager attempting to join the army has passed the medical test.

The villagers collected some of the water and waste discharged from the plant, and arranged for testing. They found that pollutants contained in the waste were much higher than permitted. In particular, levels of hexavalent chromium were ten times permitted values. According to environmental experts, chromium can cause diarrhea, skin allergies, damage the respiratory tract causing rhinitis, pharyngitis and bronchitis. It is also a carcinogen.

Realizing their lives had been damaged a succession of Xiping residents informed the plant of the problem and requested compensation. At the same time they made repeated complaints to local government and environmental protection agencies. The plant organized an investigation by plant, village and township leaders, as well as representatives of the villagers, and confirmed there was a pollution problem. On the 15th of January 1995 the chemical plant signed an agreement with the village committee, paying one-off compensation to some villagers for lost crops.

But after that, the villagers received no further compensation. In 1998 the second phase of the plant went into operation, further damaging surrounding vegetation. Houlong and Shadi villages also started to suffer from pollution. Bamboo in Shadi, more than seven kilometers to the southwest of the plant, started to wither and die. The local forestry department confirmed that this was not caused by disease or pests.

The Slow Arm of the Law

Eventually the villagers decided to use legal methods to protect their interests.

On the 7th of November 2002, 1643 villagers from Xiliu, Houlong and Shadi formally lodged a lawsuit about the damage caused by pollution from the chemical plant with the Intermediate People's Court of Ningde, and later a further 93 villagers joined them. Eventually, 10 dropped out of their own accord and 9 died during the course of the case, leaving a total of 1721. They are represented by Zhang Changjian and four others.

After two long years of waiting, the court heard the case on the 24th of January, 2005 .

The villagers asked the court to order the chemical plant to cease harming the environment, clean up the waste inside the plant and on the surrounding mountain side, pay compensation for lost crops, bamboo and wood of 10,331,440RMB, and for emotional damages of 3,203,200RMB, a total of 13,534,630RMB.

During the case, the defendant stated that its environmental protection facilities were comprehensive and up-to-date, with all discharges meeting national standards, and that there was no environmental pollution. If there was a problem in the area, it was not the fault of the plant, but of some other source.

On the 15th of April, the court found that the plant was responsible for the pollution, and ordered it to immediately stop causing damage to the plaintiffs, pay compensation for loss of timber, orchards, bamboo and fields of 240,976.30RMB, and set a time limit for the cleaning up of waste inside the plant and in the surroundings. The plaintiffs' other claims were rejected.

The plaintiffs felt that the 240,000RMB was pitiful in comparison with the 13,530,000RMB requested and that the judgment was too unclear. The order to 'immediately stop causing damage' should have clearly stated what the plant should do. The defendant, meanwhile, thought there was no pollution issue. And so, both parties appealed to the provinces Supreme Court.

On the 28th of August the case was heard again in an open session of the Fujian Supreme Peoples Court. Both during and after the hearing the judge asked both parties if they would be willing to accept mediation. But due to the disagreement between the two parties, mediation was unsuccessful.

The villagers would only accept mediation if the chemical plant agreed to plant bamboo near the plant and place fish in the surrounding rivers as a way of checking the pollution levels. If it was shown that pollution was still present, the plant would have to stop production and make amends. Also, the plant would have to establish a buffer zone between residents and the plant and relocate residents within the zone, and clean up pollution within the plant. If these conditions could be met they were willing to accept the court's judgment.

The plant, meanwhile, maintained that there was no pollution, but that as the plant had had an effect on the villagers' lives it was willing to pay a certain amount of compensation.

According to the court, mediation between the two parties is continuing.

A tragic trade

As early as 2002, the China Politics and Law Universities' Center for Victims of Pollution became involved in this case, offering legal assistance to the villagers. When asked why the case has dragged on for so long, Chairman Wang Canfa points the finger at local government. The center has dealt with many similar cases, and in his experience, polluting businesses are often major sources of tax for local government. For the sake of economic growth, local government will often side with business and make it harder for the locals to protect their rights. Meanwhile, local environmental protection bureaus often act in accordance with government wishes, making it even harder to solve the problem.

Wang Canfa believes that in dealing with pollution, external pressure is more important than raising awareness of environmental protection. This relies on national legislation and strict enforcement.

He once took a group of environmental specialists and reporters to Fujian to investigate. They found that the chemical plant did have very advanced environmental protection facilities - but they cost money to run.

For example, it's cheaper to produce clean water than it is to treat water contaminated with hexavalent chromium. So if local environmental protection is weak, businesses can very easily pass the 'formalities' of testing by simply discharging water as 'treated waste'.

Local residents are even more effective at detecting illicit pollution than environmental bureaus. But in this case the samples collected by the villagers were not accepted by the local environmental protection bureau and testing was denied.

The chemical plant is a major taxpayer and financial pillar for the area and has always had the government on its side. According to Zhang Changjian the court case was expensive, but when the villagers carried out fundraising and environmental awareness activities, local government accused them of 'illegal fundraising' and even confiscated their donation boxes.

In 2003 CCTV reporters visited Pingnan to make a program about the pollution. When the show was broadcast, the entire area suffered a 'power cut', making it impossible to watch the report.

Who comes first? 1700 villagers or the business that accounts for one third of the county government's income? The local government's action makes the answer clear.

(Source: Caijing Magazine, by Duan Hongqing, 14th Sept, 2005)

Translated by Roddy