Shanghai Daily
October 31, 2000

Twenty major factories, including 11 along the Yangtze River, must take immediate steps to address serious environmental safety problems, SEPA announces.

The projects were identified in a survey of chemical and petrochemical plants near major water areas that was conducted by the State Environmental Protection Administration in February. The administration ordered the survey after a major chemical spill polluted the Songhua River in northern China and threatened supplies of drinking water as far away as Russia. The administration’s deputy director, Pan Yue, said yesterday the survey revealed high pollution risks because of the improper location of chemical plants. He said poor planning had exposed the nation’s major waterways to serious pollution risks. “These environmental risks cannot be solved in a short time, as the cost of relocating the projects is too high,” Pan said. Inspectors checked 127 chemical and petrochemical projects worth 450 billion yuan (US$55.56 billion) near major waterways. The administration found serious environmental safety problems in spot checks at 20 big facilities, Pan said. The watchdog ordered local authorities to check the remaining 107 projects. The 20 offending projects, built with total investment of 60.57 billion yuan, included 11 along the Yangtze River and involved oil refining and ethylene and methanol production. The administration has ordered those in charge of the projects to take immediate measures to address the deficiencies. An additional 1.62 billion yuan has been allocated for environmental safety facilities for those factories. Pan said some of the polluters were located above city water sources or were near residential complexes, threatening human health. Some regions also were found to have expanded chemical and petrochemical projects without the proper environmental safeguards. He said the only effective way to prevent pollution is to improve environmental planning before factories are built rather than having to clean up problems afterwards. As such, China has tightened its approval process for new factories. In the first quarter of this year, the administration halted or delayed 44 construction projects, including chemical, power generation and coal plants, because they were located in sensitive areas. Those projects had a combined value of 149 billion yuan. In November, a petroleum plant in northeast China’s Jilin Province exploded, leaking benzene into the Songhua River, a major tap-water source for many cities.