6 sewage treatment plants fined US$3.3m
Print Edition
THE operators of six sewage treatment plants in north China’s Hebei Province have been fined a combined 20.5 million yuan (US$3.3 million) under new legislation designed to get tough on those that break state rules on discharge levels.
The penalties are the first to be issued in the province since a revised version of the country’s environmental protection law came into effect this year.
The plants were alerted to their high discharge levels in late January and given 26 days to rectify the problem, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
When they failed to do so they were fined on February 25, it said.
A treatment plant in Zaoqiang County was given the largest fine, of more than 6.8 million yuan, while a facility in Wanquan County was ordered to pay 6.7 million yuan, the report said.
China amended its environmental protection law in April last year, vowing harsher penalties for those that fail to conform with tighter standards.
The revised legislation came into force on January 1, and according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, as of April 10 had been applied in 26 cases, with offenders charged 12.4 million yuan, the report said.
An earlier version of the law put a 200,000 yuan ceiling on fines, but now there is no such limit, making it more of a deterrent, it said.
Zou Shoumin, director of the ministry’s supervision bureau, said the new law has shown its “formidable force” thanks to the joint efforts of environmental protection agencies and the police.
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