A curious look at Article 15 of the Law on Protection of Soil regarding the elimination and remediation of soil pollution sources

The Law on Protection, Restoration, and Management of Soils in Iran was approved in 2019. This law consists of 44 articles and 127 notes and aims to protect biodiversity, improve soil quality, and enhance environmental health. According to this law, the Environmental Protection Organization can issue warnings to polluters to take necessary actions to remove and remediate contamination sources, restore the soil, and compensate for the damage caused within a certain deadline. If stakeholders object to the warning or order issued by the organization, they can request an extension of the mentioned deadline from the organization once. The Environmental Protection Organization is responsible for identifying soil-polluting units and documents such as soil pollution tests, reports from industry representatives, and reports from the Environmental Protection Organization on the status and extent of soil contamination are admissible as evidence in court. Determining the deadline for removing and remedying contamination sources is difficult due to complex and variable factors in the process of discharging pollutants and their impact on soil and the environment. The type, chemical and physical composition, amount, type and characteristics of the soil, weather conditions, and environmental and geographical differences are all important in determining a specific deadline. For each type of pollutant, specific analyses must be performed to determine an appropriate removal and remediation deadline. Therefore, no specific deadline or time frame exists in the reviewed resources, and giving a specific time is impossible due to the frequency of factors. Ultimately, removal and remediation of contamination sources must take place in the shortest logical and practical time possible, and failure to do so will result in heavy penalties for the polluter.