SEPA vows to investigate serious polluters
October 02, 2006 | BY
clpstaff &clp articlesThe State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), China's environmental regulator, has launched investigations into the nation's most notorious…
The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), China's environmental regulator, has launched investigations into the nation's most notorious polluters, including into the chemical spill in the Mangniu River at the end of August 2006. The Mangniu River was polluted with xylidine by Changbaishan Jinxi Chemical Co, sending a 5km slick of bubbly red water downstream. The government brought in more than 1,000 soldiers and firefighters to stop the pollution drifting and ordered the plant's closure.
Other targets of SEPA's investigations include the Harbin Gasification Factory, which has failed to conduct a single environmental impact assessment (EIA) since it opened in 1992 and has been discharging wastewater with a high content of pollutants; the Xin'an county government, which has allowed the construction of 100 factories since 1998 with no waste-treatment facilities; and the municipal government in Jinhua, which allegedly interfered with environmental law enforcement.
A SEPA inspection found that 22 of the 30 factories in the Yili prefecture failed to meet the government's environmental-protection standards. Jinmao Papermaking Co failed to pass the EIA test, due to inadequate sewage treatment facilities, but then attempted to start operations without permission in May 2006.
Sun Huaixin, the deputy director of the law department of the Ministry of Supervision, says that attempts by local governments to protect their lax environmental policies will be cracked down upon.
South China Morning Post reported another chemical spill on September 11 2006, in Hunan's Xinquiang River, which supplies 80,000 residents with drinking water. A chemical plant discharged arsenide into the river, which can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach pains and convulsions, and can lead to coma and death. In a recent report issued by the National Bureau of Statistics and SEPA, which quantifies the impact of increasing pollution on China's economy, the cost of environmental pollution and ecological damage was Rmb511.8 billion (US$64 billion) in 2004, which was 3.05% of China's Rmb16 trillion (US$2 trillion) gross domestic product for that year.
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