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Green strategy shifts responsibility to local governments
Source: Xinhua |
June 18, 2010, Friday
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CHINA'S environmental watchdog has bared its teeth after it fined another city government for failing to curb water pollution in a tributary of the Yellow River.
The Baoji City government has become the third local authority after Xi'an and Xianyang, all in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to be penalized by the provincial environment regulator in the past six months after the density of pollutants in the Weihe River topped allowable limits.
Baoji was fined 200,000 yuan in May after monthly checks by the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Department showed excessive chemical oxygen demand in local waterways in February and April.
Although Xi'an and Xianyang both passed recent checks after being fined 400,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan respectively in January, environment officials said last week it did not mean the problem had ended.
SPEPD deputy chief and spokesman Li Xiaolian warned it was too early to be optimistic as summer rains had raised the river's water level, which could dilute pollutant densities and help local governments look good.
"A fine of hundreds of thousands of yuan might be small money compared to the fiscal revenues of local governments. But our ultimate goal is to use economic leverage to put local governments on the forefront of environmental improvement," Li told Xinhua. "Local governments should be the first to be held liable for environmental deterioration."
All fines will be deposited in a special account of the provincial treasury. About 60 percent of the total will be appropriated to local governments at the end of the year as environment preservation funds. The remaining 40 percent will be awarded to cities where local river water quality has markedly improved.
Shi Ying, deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the provincial environment watchdog had taken a "very significant move" by fining local authorities.
"After years of crackdowns, few factories now violate environment rules," Shi said. "The emphasis of environmental protection work must shift from companies to local authorities."
In the past five years, Shaanxi has closed 134 paper mills that accounted for 25 percent of total waste discharges in the Weihe River. Moreover, 50 sewage treatment plants had opened in the river valley as of April.
"These measures have definitely helped, but they are far from enough," said SPEPD deputy chief Li. "Combating water pollution in the Weihe River will be increasingly difficult."
With industries pumping in wastewater laced with heavy metals including chrome, arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, the river was dark and foul smelling in 2004.
The Weihe stretches 818 kilometers through Xi'an, Xianyang, Baoji and Weinan and at one time provided water for 56 percent of the province's arable land.
The river valley, home to 64 percent of Shaanxi's population, generates about 80 percent of the province's annual gross domestic product.
Calling the penalty "an alarm bell at the right time," Shi said he hoped that local governments will come to realize that closing polluting plants is only a quick fix.
"A long-term approach should be to restructure industries in the river valley," Shi said.
The Baoji City government has become the third local authority after Xi'an and Xianyang, all in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to be penalized by the provincial environment regulator in the past six months after the density of pollutants in the Weihe River topped allowable limits.
Baoji was fined 200,000 yuan in May after monthly checks by the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Department showed excessive chemical oxygen demand in local waterways in February and April.
Although Xi'an and Xianyang both passed recent checks after being fined 400,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan respectively in January, environment officials said last week it did not mean the problem had ended.
SPEPD deputy chief and spokesman Li Xiaolian warned it was too early to be optimistic as summer rains had raised the river's water level, which could dilute pollutant densities and help local governments look good.
"A fine of hundreds of thousands of yuan might be small money compared to the fiscal revenues of local governments. But our ultimate goal is to use economic leverage to put local governments on the forefront of environmental improvement," Li told Xinhua. "Local governments should be the first to be held liable for environmental deterioration."
All fines will be deposited in a special account of the provincial treasury. About 60 percent of the total will be appropriated to local governments at the end of the year as environment preservation funds. The remaining 40 percent will be awarded to cities where local river water quality has markedly improved.
Shi Ying, deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the provincial environment watchdog had taken a "very significant move" by fining local authorities.
"After years of crackdowns, few factories now violate environment rules," Shi said. "The emphasis of environmental protection work must shift from companies to local authorities."
In the past five years, Shaanxi has closed 134 paper mills that accounted for 25 percent of total waste discharges in the Weihe River. Moreover, 50 sewage treatment plants had opened in the river valley as of April.
"These measures have definitely helped, but they are far from enough," said SPEPD deputy chief Li. "Combating water pollution in the Weihe River will be increasingly difficult."
With industries pumping in wastewater laced with heavy metals including chrome, arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, the river was dark and foul smelling in 2004.
The Weihe stretches 818 kilometers through Xi'an, Xianyang, Baoji and Weinan and at one time provided water for 56 percent of the province's arable land.
The river valley, home to 64 percent of Shaanxi's population, generates about 80 percent of the province's annual gross domestic product.
Calling the penalty "an alarm bell at the right time," Shi said he hoped that local governments will come to realize that closing polluting plants is only a quick fix.
"A long-term approach should be to restructure industries in the river valley," Shi said.
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