The Environmental Protection Administration has lifted the \"approval restrictions\" in 5 more areas”

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　　 Following the lifting of the ‘stream basin production restrictions’ on 5 areas on September 23, the **Environmental Protection Administration announced on September 30 that, after on-site inspections by its inspection teams and evaluations conducted by the environmental protection bureaus of the relevant provinces, it had decided to lift those restrictions on 5 areas that met the requirements for rectification: Baiyin City in Gansu Province, Chaohu City and Bengbu City in Anhui Province, Handan Economic Development Zone in Hebei Province, and the Xin County Industrial Park in Shandong Province. 　　 It is reported that the aforementioned areas have addressed some pollution problems that have persisted for years through ‘regional approval restrictions’. For example, Baiyin City **extended the rectification efforts beyond the period specified for approval, including in those efforts all environmental violations identified during the previous phase by the Northwest Environmental Inspection Center of the State Environmental Protection Administration, as well as by the provincial and municipal environmental protection departments. The on-site investigation team from the Environmental Protection Administration found that the water quality in Dongdagou, where media reports had indicated severe pollution, had improved significantly. Driven by the quota restrictions, some long-standing problems at Yinguang Company, such as sulfuric acid mist pollution, have begun to be effectively resolved. Bengbu City has carried out comprehensive urban environmental improvement efforts, focusing on Baojiagou and Baliagou; small chemical and electroplating enterprises located along these areas have been shut down, and the problem of safe drinking water for the residents in polluted areas such as Baojiagou has been resolved. In addition, some enterprises that have caused strong public concern due to severe pollution have been punished and rectified as part of the corrective measures. For example, Chaohu City ordered Wanwei Group Co., Ltd. to suspend production for rectification, sealed off unnecessary sewage discharge pipelines, imposed a fine of 500,000 yuan in accordance with the law, and recovered 11.74 million yuan in sewage discharge fees and late fees. 　 　Industrial parks where environmental problems were once common have strengthened their environmental protection capabilities by carefully identifying regulatory gaps and improving their working mechanisms. For example, the environmental protection and supervision agencies at the provincial, city, and county levels in Shandong Province and Liaocheng City worked together to examine each project in the Xin County Industrial Park one by one and implement plans for them individually. All construction projects within the park that began construction without prior environmental impact assessment approval or were put into operation without passing environmental protection inspections were ordered to cease construction or production, and all local policies that violated environmental protection laws and regulations were completely eliminated. Handan City **issued an urgent notice canceling the development zone’s authority to approve environmental impact assessments for projects, and requiring that projects previously approved by the development zone’s economic development bureau undergo new environmental impact assessments.