Yesterday, the State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA)
released an update on four environmental accidents that took place
last week.
Xinhua News Agency today contrasted the quick
reactions to them with the delayed response to the Songhua River
contamination that led to last Friday's resignation of SEPA chief
Xie Zhenhua.
"Under the direction of the SEPA, environmental
protection agencies in relevant areas immediately activated
emergency response plans and took effective measures to address the
accidents," the SEPA bulletin said.
It called on its local offices to prioritize
environmental safety and conscientiously prepare for environmental
emergencies to ensure public safety.
According to the administration, 500 liters of
electroplating solution flowed into the drains of Xiaolan Township,
Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province on November 28,
polluting a river in the town.
As the solution contained 12 kilograms of cyanide,
the local environmental protection agency blocked the river and
poured chemicals into the water to reduce the pollution.
"So far, no humans or animals have been reported
poisoned," said the bulletin.
On Thursday, an explosion set 6.6 tons of
acrylonitrile on fire at Jiangdu Chemical Plant in east China's
Jiangsu Province.
Local environmental protection agencies immediately
organized monitoring of the surrounding environment and blocked the
river to contain the possible spread of pollutants. It also asked
nearby residents to take protection measures.
The same day, a laboratory at Tianjiu Chemical
Plant in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, reported a
benzene leak after the explosion of an LNG tank.
Local environmental protection staff rushed to the
site and conducted monitoring work, which found the accident had
not polluted the environment outside the plant.
On December 2, a tanker was caught in a traffic
accident in Jiangsu's Huai'an City and emptied nine tons of
formaldehyde into ditches on both sides of the road.
Local firefighters and environmental protection
staff used detergents to neutralize and dilute the pollutants and
prevent the contamination of a nearby river.
(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2005)