China's environmental watchdog has urged local authorities to
suspend four companies and five industrial parks that defy
pollution limits.
Three of the companies -- a cement factory, a steel company, and
a foundry -- are in east China's Anhui Province. The other company is a dairy
company in Cangzhou City, north China's Hebei Province, according to the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
These companies have not carried out environmental impact
studies, nor are they equipped with proper pollution control
facilities, the administration said.
China's environmental law stipulates that companies must design,
build, and use pollution control facilities in new production
projects.
The administration urged local governments to fine these
companies, halt their production, and collect fees for pollutants
already discharged.
It also pledged heavy punishment for five industrial parks in
the provinces of Henan, Hebei, Gansu, Shandong, and Shanxi, which
have defied environmental rules by allowing heavily polluting
companies into their parks.
A recent investigation by SEPA showed 87 percent of 126
industrial parks in 11 provinces had violated environmental laws
and regulations.
It also showed half of the 75 waste-water processing factories
in these provinces failed to properly process water or were not
operating at all, and 44 percent of the 529 companies that SEPA
inspected broke environmental rules.
On July 12, the administration unveiled a set of tough new rules
to tackle worsening lake and river pollution. The Ministry of
Supervision has also ordered administrative punishments of local
officials who neglect their supervision duties.
By June 30, more than 220,000 firms in China had undergone
environmental checks, with more than 8,000 companies and 170 people
punished for over-discharge of pollutants and other illegal
practices.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2007)
