China closed down a total of 3,176 polluting enterprises amid a
campaign in which 720,000 companies have been checked for their
pollution discharges last year, according to the country's top
environment watchdog.
In the campaign, the State Environmental Protection
Administration (SEPA) and other departments investigated 28,000
cases violating related environmental laws and regulations and
settled 13,000 of the total.
Threats to the sources of drinking water, industrial parks
densely distributed with polluting enterprises and construction
projects likely to damage the environment were the major targets in
the campaign, according to the administration.
"Pollution by industrial parks has been curbed effectively,"
said an official with the administration.
A total of 1,981 industrial parks across the country,
involving29,890 enterprises, were subject to investigation, and
4,162 polluting companies got severe punishment, the official
said.
Other six ministerial departments, including the Ministry of
Supervision, participated in the campaign.
China failed to meet its energy conservation and pollution
control targets last year, and environmental degradation remains a
prominent problem stifling China's economic and social
development.
China reported 161 pollution accidents last year. The
administration suspended 163 projects that would damage the
environment with a total investment of 770 billion yuan (US$96
billion).
Many of the projects were highly-polluting and energy-costly,
such as constructions of steel and power plants.
This year China has made greater efforts to fight against
pollution. In March, SEPA published a long list of more than
6,000industrial polluters, including well-known companies and
factories such as Sinopec's Nanjing facility and a steel plant
owned by Beijing Shougang Company.
SEPA has required all the companies on the list to install
automatic monitoring and control systems which are directly
connected to local environmental protection departments.
It also orders local environment departments to make site checks
at least once a month and ensure the appropriate pollution
discharge fees are paid.
SEPA also issued a draft measure recently, requiring
environmental departments at all levels to make public 17
categories of environmental information including laws,
regulations, policies and standards regarding environmental
protection.
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2007)
