Vietnam, China, and the United States: The Regulatory Framework of Mining Pollution and Water Quality

Heather Whitney, Vermont Law School

Abstract

This paper compares the environmental, mining, and water quality policy and regulatory framework of three countries: Vietnam, China, and the United States. There are many similarities between China and Vietnam’s legal framework and environmental protection mechanisms, by virtue of the fact that they are both socialist countries, both authoritarian governments, and both in the midst of an industrial revolution. The United States intersects in some areas of water quality standards and technological controls of effluents with both countries, as well as certain enforcement measures. This is true especially in China, where the EPA has actively consulted the Chinese government in water resource and water quality matters.

Research revealed significant intersections between each country in terms of the lack of effective enforcement measures either in reality, or in practice, to address mining pollution in surface water. Research also showed that all three countries have degraded surface water quality despite implementation of regulations. Likewise, mining pollution that affects water quality is increasing, and water quality is worsening as a whole in each country. This is due, in part, to policy and statutory declarations that simultaneously strive to foster clean water and a clean environment and socioeconomic growth. It is also due to corruption and “crony capitalism” that places personal relationships and advancement through bribery over actual policy-making and enforcement. Thus, in each country, environmental laws, regulations, and water quality enforcement have not met overarching conservation goals.

This Article attempts to break down the processes in each country to better understand problematic legal mechanisms that prohibit high water quality with regard to mining pollutants, and to highlight intersections in law and policy that could exacerbate or help attain such high water quality.