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

Abstract

This research paper is an effort to compare the mining and water quality policy and regulatory framework of three countries: Vietnam, China, and the United States. Many relevant issues relating to mining and water quality protection will be analyzed, in order to meet three purposes: 1) Provide an overview of each countries’ legal framework, so the reader will better understand all three countries’ legal processes; 2) Analyze the most relevant laws and regulations of the mining sector, environmental law, and water pollution control and water quality protection; 3) Provide examples to underscore the legal and regulatory processes, and their effects, in the real-world. To summarize, there are many similarities between China and Vietnam’s legal framework and environmental protection mechanisms, simply 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 Environmental Impact Assessments and certain enforcement measures. This is true especially in China, where the EPA has actively consulted the Chinese government in water pollution and water quality matters. Research showed that all three countries lack effective enforcement measures either in reality, or in practice, to address mining pollution in surface water, and all three countries have degraded surface water quality despite implementation of regulations. Likewise, in all three countries, mining pollution that affects water quality is increasing, and water quality is diminishing as a whole. It is the opinion of this author that each country must develop better regulatory mechanisms that limit mining discharges into waterways, and that increase water quality across the board. That this isn’t the penultimate priority in each regulatory system speaks to the persuasive power of industry.