AGAINST

Feng Haining

Stcn.com

After searching all of the laws related to natural resources like the Constitution, Civil Law or Renewable Energy Law, it is easy to discover that there is no law specifying that wind and solar energies are owned by the state. I also do not agree with the elaboration of the Heilongjiang authorities that the "other natural resources" in Article Nine of the Constitution include wind and solar energy. In my opinion, the reason why the law didn't specify whether the ownership can be classified as state-owned is because doing so can be controversial. Because they are different from mineral resources, forests and land, which are limited resources, wind and solar energies are infinite ones that cannot be used up.

I'm also skeptical of the purpose of stipulating such infinite resources as state-owned. If the regulation is approved, the local authority will have legitimate power to impose resources taxes on exploiting wind and solar energy. 

Wang Xi

Professor of law

The regulation is against the principles of market economy. Firstly, it harms enterprises' legal rights to exploit meteorological resources based on China's Meteorology Law. The regulation brings unnecessary extra costs to energy companies and may also lead to the abuse of administrative power.

Second, the entry barriers set by such regulation will discourage enterprises from investing in developing wind and solar energy, which will go against the shift toward developing low-carbon economy. The field will also be monopolized because of these regulations.

In the market economy, what governments should do is to build a fair and orderly competition environment for all of the enterprises, not to place obstacles for them, especially private enterprises, and stop them from getting involved in the competition.

Li Kejie

Procuratorial Daily

It is inappropriate to stipulate the ownership of wind and solar power according to legal principles. Objects in legal relations (including ownership) have to possess three traits at the same time. Firstly, they should meet the people's demands or be useful to people. Secondly, they have to be scarce, not inexhaustible. Finally, they should be governed and controlled by human beings, the most fundamental feature in a legal relationship.

However, given people's current knowledge about nature and their ability to transform it, we have to admit that human beings are still unable to completely govern or control the meteorological resources like wind and solar energy. Therefore, it is unreasonable to claim the ownership of wind and solar energy in the name of law now.