China to clear up polluters along Songhua River
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-05 21:56
BEIJING -- China's top environment watchdog expects to be closing down
serious polluters along the northeast Songhua River during a campaign this month
that will inspect every factory along the polluted waterway.
The campaign, which runs through September, will target all chemical plants,
paper mills, food processing companies, pharmaceutical factories and sewage
treatment plants, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) on Tuesday.
Both the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang will be responsible for the
campaign as the river runs through their jurisdictions. They have been ordered
to inspect all factories that discharge waste into the Songhua and its
tributaries.
The central government have also asked their provincial counterparts to
suspend construction projects and production activity that has not undergone an
environmental assessment. Companies can resume operations only after they have
followed due process of assessment.
The plan calls for companies that consume too much water and cause heavy
pollution to be replaced. Businesses with promising market potential but are
poorly equipped to handle their waste should have their pollution control
facilities upgraded.
Enterprises discharging more than 65 percent of a county's total industrial
wastes will be closely monitored.
Officials who attempt to cover-up or pass the buck during the clean-up
campaign will be charged with obstruction. Companies that violate environmental
laws will be exposed in the media. Their managers may be prosecuted and charged
with a criminal offence .
SEPA initiated the campaign following repeated chemical spills in the Songhua
and its tributaries.
Ten tons of a toxic chemicals were dumped into Songhua's tributary Mangniu
River in Jilin by two truck drivers from Changbaishan Jingxi Chemical Company in
August.
Last November, about 100 tons of polluted waste containing benzene spilled
into the Songhua River after a chemical plant explosion in Jilin. The incident
forced cities along the river, including Harbin, to temporarily cut water
supplies to 3.8 million people.
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