New normal of emergency supervision for severe pollution: 32 cities in red alert status; many enterprises named

This round of "post-year-end smog" is still ongoing. Ten inspection teams dispatched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection have been conducting inspections in the most severely affected areas of smog in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for a week. Local administrative departments and law enforcement personnel are also conducting "year-end" inspections in a "high-pressure, non-stop" mode.

On January 4th, according to the latest consultation results from the China Environmental Monitoring Center, due to unfavorable meteorological conditions, it is expected that from January 5th to 8th, the pollutant dispersion conditions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas will remain unfavorable, and the heavy pollution weather process will continue. Some areas may reach severe pollution levels.

Among them, from the 5th to the 6th, affected by the northerly wind and precipitation processes, the pollution situation in the southern part of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, most of Shandong, and the northern part of Henan improved, and the air quality of most cities significantly improved. On the 7th, affected by a weak cold air and precipitation process, the pollution situation in the northern part of this region slightly eased.

From the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it is learned that the latest scheduling situation shows that in order to reduce the impact of heavy pollution weather, currently, 72 cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas and Shaanxi Province have initiated yellow or higher-level warnings for heavy pollution weather, among which 32 cities maintain or issue red warnings, 27 cities maintain or issue orange warnings, and 13 cities maintain or issue yellow warnings.

On January 3rd, environmental protection inspectors from the Ministry of Environmental Protection inspected the implementation of the heavy pollution weather emergency plan at a coking company in Dongao County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province.

In addition, Beijing postponed the end time of the orange warning to the 7th and continued the secondary response measures.

The implementation of heavy pollution emergency inspections has become a "new normal".

This round of heavy pollution weather has lasted for a long time since December 29, 2016, and has passed the New Year's Day holiday. Local governments and environmental protection departments have been conducting inspections in a "high-pressure, non-stop" mode.

In fact, the Ministry of Environmental Protection did not only dispatch inspection teams during this round of heavy pollution. Since the onset of winter in 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has increased the frequency of dispatching inspection teams to relevant provinces and cities to inspect the implementation of heavy pollution weather emergency measures. This shows that in the winter air pollution prevention and control work, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has strictly grasped the implementation of heavy pollution weather emergency measures in all regions, and has become a "new normal". 

On January 4th, a relevant official from the Economic Development Zone of Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, said, "The provincial government asks the municipal government to take responsibility for implementation, and the municipal government asks the county government to take responsibility for implementation. Under the pressure of layer-by-layer transmission, the county directly supervises enterprises, and the pressure is the greatest."

Shandong's Dezhou and Liaocheng are cities along the pollution transmission channel of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. During this round of heavy pollution weather, the two cities implemented the responsibility system of municipal leaders supervising counties (districts), conducting on-site supervision of the implementation of emission reduction. However, enterprises adapting to this "new normal" still have problems such as abnormal operation of pollution control facilities.

During the implementation of the emergency plan, the Atmospheric Office of Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, used WeChat groups to promptly release notifications and problems discovered during inspections, urging relevant departments to implement. 

During the inspection by the sixth inspection team of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, it was found that the coking company in Shandong Province's certain coking plant directly extinguished the coke without treating the extinguishing water, and the pollutant concentration could not meet the relevant requirements. The coke oven body was damaged in many places, and some off-gas escaped without organization. The enterprise's flue gas denitrification system was not in operation, and the flue gas was directly discharged without denitrification during on-site inspection. 

In response to the above problems, the inspection team has urged local governments and relevant departments to further investigate, handle them seriously in accordance with the law, and implement the rectification requirements as soon as possible. Shandong Province also issued Lu Heavy Pollution Weather Emergency Office [2017] No. 1 document to notify the entire province.