China's Ministry of Environmental Protection Thursday released a blacklist of two cities and 11 companies that have been penalized for failing to properly treat pollutant discharges.

Shuangyashan City, in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and Wenzhou City, in the southeastern Zhejiang Province, were banned from submitting environmental impact assessments for new projects requiring water discharges.

The suspensions would remain in force until levels of chemical-oxygen demand (COD), a measure of pollutants in water, in their discharges met ministry standards.

Hunan Lianyuan Steel Group Co. Ltd. was suspended from submitting environmental impact assessments for new projects requiring sulfur dioxide discharges.

Eight enterprises in Tianjin Municipality, Zhejiang, Shanxi, Jilin, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, mostly sewage treatment plants, were given deadlines to make their water discharges cleaner.

Operations of desulfurization facilities at Hubei Echeng Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. and Sichuan Dazhou Iron and Steel Group, Co. Ltd. were suspended until they meet standards set by the ministry.

Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environmental Protection, said local governments should fully implement administrative accountability to take responsibility for environmental protection and companies that violated environmental standards would face serious consequences.