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China gets serious about fighting pollution
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IN the latest move to crack down on polluters, the Shanghai government said from now on it will hold company managers and executives personally responsible for any environmental violations committed by the enterprises they lead.
A total of 44 companies were closed down or had their operations suspended in the final quarter of last year for illegally dumping pollutants, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau said on April 17.
The bureau also collected 16.5 million yuan (US$2.65 million) worth of fines and delivered warnings to another 210 local firms that breached environmental regulations.
Companies on the blacklist deserved the penalties. At almost the same time, a draft amendment to China’s Environmental Protection Law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) for its fourth reading on April 22, proposing heavier punishments for violations.
The new draft stipulates that enterprises will be named and shamed for breaking environmental protection laws. According to the draft, responsible persons will face up to 15 days of detention if their enterprises dodge environmental impact assessments and refuse to suspend production after being issued a ban; discharge pollutants without a permit, and refuse to suspend the discharge after administrative bodies issue a ban; or if they shirk supervision through means including forging monitoring data or improperly operating pollution-control equipment. The length of detention would depend on the impact of their violations.
The draft has reminded some corporate executives that laws are there.
A local firm has learned a costly lesson. As one of the worst offenders, Shanghai Xingyue Environmental Protection Co. was fined 2.4 million yuan (US$384,000) for the illegal dumping of solid waste in the Zhuanqiao area of Minhang District.
Decades of industrial growth has brought our city prosperity and wealth but also fouled the air and contaminated the water and soil. Even Dianshan Lake in Qingpu District is no longer pollution-free, as it was decades ago, but instead contains the highest readings of PM2.5 particles in the city.
According to the city watchdog, Shanghai has eliminated some heavily polluting and energy-intensive industries including electrolytic aluminum, and flat-glass industries.
“Lead-acid battery manufacturing and the brick and tile industry are under strict control and will gradually be phased out,” said Tian Jin, an official with the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau.
“Our bureau helped local enterprises restructure their businesses on 680 occasions last year and warded off heavily polluted plants from water sources or prevented hazardous emissions from entering the atmosphere.”
When industries with high energy consumption, pollution emissions and excessive production capacity but low efficiency are weeded out, we need more green products and new technology to replace them.
The city government could allocate more subsidies or issue preferential policies to encourage green lifestyle.
The Chinese government unveiled its Action Plan for Air Pollution Control (2013-2017) last year, with a plan to dedicate 1.7 trillion yuan toward pollution control over the next five years.
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