Yesterday, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) made public its
investigations into four major cases of pollution in Chongqing
Municipality and the provinces of Jiangxi,
Hunan
and Sichuan.
More than 40 paper mills and goldmines involved have had their
licenses revoked or were shut down, said the SEPA, after severely
polluting rivers and damaging the surrounding environment,
eliciting massive complaints from local residents.
In Tongliang County in Chongqing, 30 paper mills dumped
wastewater into local rivers: 28 into the Xiao'anxi River and two
into the Fujiang.
The operation licenses of three that failed to meet
environmental standards were revoked; 14 that met standards have
been ordered to strengthen management; and all those ordered to
install pollution-reducing equipment will have to be reassessed
before restarting operations. The municipal government has sent
working groups to supervise the work.
In Lianhua County in Jiangxi, the local government closed down a
paper mill, the Lianhua Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd., that
discharged wastewater into the Lianjiang River. Its production
facilities and electrical supply has been demolished, and the
personnel responsible penalized, according to the SEPA.
In Guangyuan City, Sichuan, 37 illegal goldmines whose
operations have blocked courses of the Jialing River were closed
down.
One hundred and fourteen wellheads have been sealed and
equipment blown-up or demolished, said the SEPA. A number of local
government officials, including Li Peihong, director of local
environmental protection bureau, and Zhang Jiuzhong, director of
the city land resources bureau, were given administrative
punishments for dereliction of duty.
In Hunan, the municipal government of Changsha has been
instructed by the SEPA to handle 422,000 tons of chromium residue
left by the Changsha Dichromate Plant shut down in 2003.
Changsha pledged to completely resolve the issue by the end of
2008 while taking temporary measures, such as building walls around
the residue dumping ground, to prevent it from being carried by the
wind, according to the SEPA.
The SEPA vowed to continue its fight against polluters, warning
local governmental officials not to support them.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn June 24, 2005)
