Polluting companies confront the new environmental protection law

“The pollution has caused 60,000 people to become unemployed.” - The report of the media on the "consequences" of pollution in Linyi, Shandong Province has attracted much attention. Linyi pollution control, the true situation in the end, why caused so controversial? The relevant responsible person of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and related experts responded accordingly.

Among the 57 companies that have stopped production, 31 have completed rectification

According to some media reports, Lincang's emergency shutdown of the company was due to the Ministry of Environmental Protection's interview with the mayor. This is not the case.

In 2014, Linyi City issued notices of deadline management to 57 enterprises during the air pollution control action, and ordered the enterprises to improve the pollution control facilities. The deadline for the deadline was 2014. As of February of this year, these companies did not complete their governance tasks on schedule.

Zou Xianmin, director of the Environmental Supervision Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the East China Inspection Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection this year selected 15 of the 57 companies to carry out on-site inspections. It was found that there were 13 companies in the environment such as stealing, leakage, and environmental violations. In violation of the law, the problem of regional environmental pollution is serious.

“Not only the problems found in the inspection, but also in the daily management, Linyi is also the area where the environmental complaints of the masses are more concentrated. Several factors superimposed. The East China Supervision Center interviewed the main person in charge of the Linfen City Government.” Zou Shoumin said that Linfen City inferred inferences. The 57 enterprises that have not completed the deadline management task are ordered to stop production and rectification. Prior to March 10 this year, all 57 companies had stopped production and were put in place.

With the implementation of the new environmental protection law, “limited time management” has been abolished. According to Article 60 of the new environmental protection law, enterprises, institutions, and other production and business operators exceed the pollution discharge standards or exceed the control standards for the discharge of key pollutants. The department of environmental protection of the people's government at or above the county level may order it to take measures such as restricting production and stopping production and rectification; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be reported to the People's Government with approval power to order it to be closed down or closed down. The East China Inspection Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that Linyi City shut down the company and it is based on law.

It was the closure of 57 companies that caused a lot of controversy. In fact, as of July 1, 31 of the 57 companies have completed rectification, of which 10 companies have officially started production and 21 have started trial production. The remaining 26 companies are still suspending production and rectification.

At present, the overall operation of the Linyi economy is stable. The indicators of fiscal, tax revenue, investment, consumption, and exports that reflect the structural benefits and stamina have all maintained a good level in Shandong Province. Zou Shoumin stated that whether the specific unemployment situation is as true as reported by the media requires the analysis of the local government. Some companies leave on vacation during the summer vacation. Employees temporarily “waiting for jobs” do not mean they are unemployed. In addition, local governments have provided corresponding social assistance for the difficulties caused by the suspension of production to enterprises and people.

On the other hand, the effectiveness of rectification in environmental quality has been shown: from March to June this year, Linfen City, PM2.5 concentration decreased by 27.8%, PM10 concentration decreased by 23.5%, sulfur dioxide concentration decreased by 41.4%, and the concentration of nitrogen oxides decreased. 25.4%, excellent days increased by 31 days.

Polluting companies confront the new environmental protection law

According to some experts, the reports of several media outlets and one-sided opinions are due to the non-cooperation of polluting enterprises with law enforcement. Some people questioned why the news media didn’t agree with them.

In the Ministry of Environmental Protection's briefing, Jiangquan Industrial Park in Luozhuang District was named. This place had caused cross-border pollution disputes with pollution in Xuzhou, Jiangsu several years ago. The industrial park has concentrated many high-energy-consuming and high-polluting enterprises such as Lincang Jiangxin Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Linyi Hua Coking Co., Ltd., and Linyi Jiangquan Pipe Co., Ltd., which have a large number of pollutants, such as coking, steel, building materials, and thermal power. There are serious violations such as theft and discharge. At the time of the on-site inspection visit by the East China Inspection Center, the surrounding residents generally reflected serious air pollution in this area. It is these named companies that have complained several times in relevant media reports.

“Last year's rectification notice was issued, why did the company not change in February this year? A word, companies are waiting to see if they can mix in the past.” Du Shaozhong, former deputy director of Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, asked.

"Environmental protection law enforcement must not be lost to being wide and weak," said Zou Shoumin.

Wu Yuze, the deputy director of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that some polluting companies have long been relying on stolen rows to produce economic benefits and shouted when they were punished. Only strict enforcement of laws can correctly transfer the concept of compliance to the bottom line to the enterprise, and companies can have lasting development.

Wang Zifa, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated that after the law is implemented, it must maintain the authority of the law. Once compromised, the environmental protection work will surely fail.

“We must maintain a high pressure on environmental violations.” Xia Guang, director of the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that when the Pearl River Delta pollution forced enterprises to transform, some companies also shouted loudly. In fact, they already have reserves for retreat, or upgrade. Or do not do it. Today's Linyi is quite similar to the Pearl River Delta in the past. We must adhere to the legal authority and believe that the company's ability to regenerate.

Experts suggest setting up an exit mechanism for heavily polluting enterprises

In any case, the suspension of production of enterprises will result in certain losses to the society. However, pollution is like a cancerous tumor. Indulging in one day has deeper poisoning. Scratch treatment drugs, pain is inevitable.

Xia Guang said that Linyi is a model for sacrificing the environment in exchange for economic development. This model should first be attributed to the subjective reasons for the weak awareness of environmental protection laws of the local government and enterprises and the one-sided pursuit of economic interests. In addition, there are certain objective reasons: In the past two or three decades, while the country was strengthening its economic strength at the central level, it also strongly encouraged local development of industrial production capacity, resulting in a unique regional economic competition. In this process, serious backward production capacity has also grown. Linfen lacks geographical advantages, lacks technical capabilities and high-end talents, has little capital accumulation, and has no ability to engage in the clean industry. It can only engage in development with backward production methods. Today, the old path of Linyi has come to an end and it is time for a green transformation.

"It must be made clear that pollution control and improvement of environmental quality come at a price." Jia Feng, director of the Environmental Protection Ministry's education center, said that the environmental protection quick-win theory and environmental protection and low-cost theory are all ignorance. Every progress made in environmental protection is based on funds. Manpower and support for various social costs. The controversy over the consequences of Linfen's pollution control actually teaches everyone that it must be understood and that the destruction of the environment requires a price.

All day complained that law enforcement is not strict, and someone who has just strictly enforced the law has shouted out loud. In response, Wang Jinnan, deputy dean and chief engineer of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that starting from the “10th Five-Year Plan”, we are talking about paying off old accounts and not owing new accounts. In many places, not only the old debts have not been repaid, but they still owed a pile of money. The new account, the most important thing is that some local governments' "support" for pollution. Linfen is a new account of the old account piled together, so the pain of the account has been intensified.

At the same time as strict law enforcement, Yang Chaofei, deputy director of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, also pointed out that when solving environmental pollution, it is necessary to pay attention to protecting the rights of investors. All enterprises that attract investment from the government are legal enterprises and must protect their legitimate interests in accordance with the law. Can't change it. At the same time, we must establish an exit mechanism for heavily polluting enterprises, and the government should provide preferential policies to completely solve pollution problems in 5 to 10 years.