Teams widen search for pollution issues

Pilot effort yields positive results; public invited to aid in supervision

The central government has dispatched high-level environmental inspection teams to eight provincial-level regions to scrutinize local authorities' efforts in tackling pollution.

They are the Inner Mongolia, Guangxi Zhuang and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions, and Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Henan and Yunnan provinces.

Inspections have already begun in seven of the regions and are expected to start soon in Heilongjiang.

This first batch of inspections follows a pilot that was completed in heavily industrialized Hebei province in February. Inspectors will cover 14 provincial-level regions this year and expand to the whole country within two years.

During the pilot, the inspection team exposed 2,856 instances of problems related to pollution, ranging from ineffective enforcement of laws and regulations to rapid ecological degradation. In total, 200 companies were shut down and 123 people were detained.

Hebei has also released a targeted plan to tackle the problems and sources of pollution exposed by the inspection. It said in an official statement that the inspectors' visit facilitated its environmental improvement efforts.

Wu Xinxiong, who led the inspection team in Yunnan province, said on Friday that the experiences of inspectors in Hebei will help with future inspections.

All teams have been staffed with ministerial leaders, including three deputy environmental protection ministers.

They will focus on pollution problems reported by the public and supervise the provincial and city governments' efforts to control environmental degradation, according to statements made by the team leaders.

Li Jiheng, the top official of Yunnan, promised to fully support the inspectors' work and treat the experience as an opportunity to reexamine the province's pollution-control measures.

Hotlines and mailboxes have been set up to receive reports from the public. The inspection teams will carry out field investigations and talk to concerned individuals and companies.

Their findings will be submitted to the central government, and form a key aspect of senior officials' performance assessments.