China court allows first pollution suit under new law News
China court allows first pollution suit under new law

China’s Qingdao Maritime Court on Monday ruled that a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips China and China National Offshore Oil [corporate websites] for a 2011 oil spill can proceed. The suit was brought by China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation [official website, in Chinese; press release, in Chinese] and it the first case to proceed since the country revised a law (Environmental Protection Law Article 58, PDF; LOC backgrounder) allowing NGOs to directly sue polluters in the public interest. The Chinese government has already fined [China Daily report] the companies approximately $258 million for the spill. Other cases are also pending under the law, which became effective on January 1.

China had long come under international criticism for lax environmental laws and enforcement, but has taken more protective steps in recent years. Earlier this month, China set a 60 percent per capita carbon dioxide emissions reduction goal [JURIST report] for 2030. That follows up a November agreement with the US to cut its greenhouse gas emissions [JURIST report].

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.