현행 매체별 오염물질 배출 관리 법제의 문제점과 개선 방안

Korean environmental law on the regulation of industrial pollutant emissions consists of separate laws for each pollutant medium. This fragmented regulatory system is limited in that it cannot sufficiently reflect the complex nature of environmental problems such as the flux of pollutants between different media. Consequently, current laws have been criticized for its inadequate prevention of environmental pollution. A recent lower court ruling on the Hyundai Oilbank wastewater reuse case sheds light on another limitation of the current multiple environmental law system. In said case, the court ruled that when wastewater exceeding the pollutant emission limitations set by the Water Environment Conservation Act evaporates and releases water pollutants into the atmosphere, it constitutes a violation of said Act and is subject to criminal punishment, thus stretching the regulatory scope of the Act beyond precedent. However, since each medium law has its own definition of pollutants and emission standards, whether an act constitutes concrete endangerment under the Water Environment Conservation Act should only be judged according to said Act. Thus, this study points out that punishing acts that release water pollutants into the atmosphere under the Water Environment Conservation Act may be unjust, and that the cause of this unjust stems from the unclear relationship between each medium law. This study proposes reworking the regulatory framework by defining pollutants comprehensively across media and specifying emission standards for each terminal medium, thus clarifying the relationship between each medium law. Furthermore, administrative, interpretive measures can be taken to tackle the aforementioned problems before legislative measures can be fully implemented.