Ministry slams air polluters in Henan, Shaanxi

A series of air pollutant emitters, including some State-owned enterprises, have been criticized following recent high-profile, surprise inspections by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Minister Huang Runqiu and Vice-Minister Zhao Yingmin were among the heads of the inspection teams to cities that have experienced air pollution rebound in Henan and Shaanxi provinces, according to the ministry. 

Monitoring data falsification, abnormal operation of air pollution control facilities and nonobservance of the government's instructions for emergency air pollution reduction are some of the major violations that were found.

Henan was targeted because of a "grim situation for air pollution control", the ministry said in a media release on Wednesday.

"Since the end of 2022, long-lasting, cross-year smog have occurred in vast areas in southern Henan. Some of them were even consistently hit by heavy and even severer air pollution events," it said.

In a move to supervise and support local air pollution control work, the ministry said, Huang carried out surprise visits to seven companies in Pingdingshan and Xuchang cities in Henan from Monday to Tuesday, and six of them were found with outstanding violations.

Wuyang Steel Co Ltd in Pingdingshan, a State-owned company, for instance, was found to have been emitting waste air directly without removing sulfur as required, it said. The company also ignored local authorities' demand to reduce emissions in case of heavy haze.

According to Aiqicha, a financial information service provided by Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine company, the Wuyang company has been punished because of environmental violations for 11 times since 2017.

In an inspection by local environmental authority in 2020, for example, law enforcement officers found that 19 heavy-duty, diesel-powered trucks in the company were not fixed with necessary air pollution control apparatuses.

In Tianrui Coal Coking Co Ltd, also in Pingdingshan, inspectors from the ministry found heavy air pollution that happened because of waste air leakage. The enterprise is also suspected to have interfered with the operation of online monitoring facilities to cover up the violation. 

Huang stressed maintaining "zero tolerance" to environmental violations, especially collusion between emitters and third-party environmental monitoring companies to falsify monitoring data.

Such data falsification is "extremely vile in nature" and will result in "extremely bad influence". "We must resolutely crack down on it," the minister said.

He also emphasized the demonstration role of State-owned companies, saying they should set good examples and standards in their industrial sectors.

According to a separate release from the ministry on Friday, a team headed by Vice-Minister Zhao carried out surprise visits to some emitters in Xianyang, Weinan and Hancheng in Shaanxi from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The team found violations in four companies. In Hancheng Yulong Coking Co Ltd, for instance, inspectors discovered that the company diluted the waste air passing the automatic monitoring apparatus to interfere with the facility's operation, it said. 

In Xianyang, Shaanxi Heli Thermal Insulation Material Products Co Ltd was found to have cut off the pipe for collecting waste air samples. 

The ministry has asked local environmental authorities to further investigate these violations. "Those prominent violations concerning data falsification and modification should be transferred to public security organs for handling," it said.