【Haichuan Chemical Salary Updates】The Yunxi area of the Hunan Yueyang Green Chemical Industry Park has been cited by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment for violations
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On the evening of November 14, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that the Yunxi area of the Hunan Yueyang Green Chemical Industry Park was facing issues such as illegal occupation of lakes, illegal discharge of wastewater, and lax environmental management, all of which severely affected the local water quality. The Yunxi area of the Hunan Yueyang Green Chemical Industry Park is located near the Yangtze River. It was originally known as the Yunxi Industrial Park in Yunxi District, Yueyang City. In August 2003, it was established as a provincial-level economic and technological development zone with the approval of the People’s Government of Hunan Province; its approved area is 3.72 square kilometers, and it is about 5 kilometers away from the main course of the Yangtze River. On October 30, the Fourth Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection Team arrived in Hunan Province to carry out a follow-up inspection. In accordance with the requirements of the special inspection, on November 8, the inspection team conducted a surprise inspection of the park. The inspector found that Yueyang City began implementing the \"Regulations on the Protection and Management of Water Systems in the Urban Area of Yueyang City\" on September 1, 2010, which explicitly prohibited land reclamation by enclosing lakes, aquaculture using barriers, and other activities that encroached upon the urban water systems. However, the park ignored the requirements for waterway protection and, in 2014 and 2015, illegally filled in two areas of Songyang Lake on the western side of the park without going through any planning procedures.
Illegal occupation of lakes. Image source: The official Weibo account of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment
Currently, the total area of the two fill sites is 92.5 mu; one of them has been designated as the site for Jinhan Company, while the other is being approved by the Yunxi District Housing and Construction Bureau for use as a waste soil disposal site for the Yueyang Colorful World Commercial Plaza project. After the illegal filling of the lake became a fact, both the \"Overall Land Use Plan for Yueyanglou District, Yunxi Industrial Zone, and Junshan District in Yueyang City (2006–2020)\\" (revised in 2015) and the \"Controlled Detailed Planning for the Yunxi Area in Yueyang City’s Central Urban Area\" implemented in 2016 classified the illegally filled areas as part of the planned construction land, thereby allowing Songyang Lake to be gradually encroached upon. The drainage facilities in the park were constructed in a chaotic manner; within an area of less than 3.5 square kilometers, 13 rainwater discharge outlets leading to Songyang Lake were installed. No rain was falling at the time of the on-site inspection, yet 10 out of those 13 outlets were discharging wastewater with a distinct chemical odor. Sampling tests showed that the pH value of the rainwater drain on the right side of the entrance to Shanying Chemical was as low as 2.08, while the COD concentration in the rainwater drain of Yueyang Coriflu Synthetic Materials Co., Ltd. was as high as 614 mg/L. The company had serious problems with illegal and unauthorized discharge of pollutants, which severely affected the water quality of Songyang Lake. Monitoring shows that the COD concentration in Songyang Lake is as high as 85 mg/L, classifying it as water of poor quality, Category V. Furthermore, in the same area on the west side of the park, along the east bank of Songyang Lake, there are two plots from which black water is seeping out; sampling tests showed a COD concentration of 483 mg/L and an ammonia nitrogen concentration of 10.38 mg/L. Although the park has taken temporary measures to collect the black water and pump it to the Yunxi Sewage Treatment Plant for treatment, it is difficult to prevent this black water from reaching Songyang Lake.
Not only that, but the environmental management in the park is also rather lax. Since 2009, the chemical production wastewater from the industrial park has been indirectly discharged after being treated at the Yunxi District Sewage Treatment Plant. The franchise agreement stipulates that for industrial wastewater discharged by chemical enterprises into the Yunxi District sewage treatment plant, the allowable COD concentration is 1000 mg/L, while the allowable ammonia nitrogen concentration is 30 mg/L. However, the inspectors found that, due to the lack of industrial wastewater pretreatment facilities, some enterprises in the park, such as Yueyang Puerma Chemical Co., Ltd., diluted production wastewater with a COD concentration exceeding 1000 mg/L before discharging it into the park’s industrial wastewater network. Data from the automatic online monitoring of pollution sources show that the ammonia nitrogen and COD concentrations in the wastewater discharged after treatment by the Yunxi District sewage treatment plant occasionally exceed the allowed limits. In accordance with the relevant requirements of Hunan Province, this sewage treatment plant was supposed to complete its upgrading and renovation by the end of 2018 so that its wastewater discharge could meet Class A standard, but the work on this upgrading project has not yet begun.
The inspection team believes that Yueyang City has failed to handle the relationship between development and protection properly; in order to attract projects, it has resorted to violating relevant regulations by filling in and occupying lakes in order to obtain land from them； The Yunxi District ** and the Management Committee of the Green Chemical Industry Park turned a blind eye to illegal filling of lakes, made improper decisions, and failed to take effective actions to address the serious environmental problems existing in the park; there were issues of inaction, slow response, and reckless actions ； The water resources, land management, planning, and environmental protection departments in Yueyang and Yunxi have an insufficient understanding of ecological protection issues and have failed to fulfill their regulatory responsibilities effectively. In response to the above issues, the inspection team stated that it will conduct further investigations and verifications, and carry out subsequent inspection work in accordance with relevant requirements and procedures. In cases of dereliction of duty, it will require Hunan Province to carry out proper investigations and hold those responsible accountable.
In response to the issues identified in the follow-up inspection by the central environmental protection authorities regarding the illegal occupation of lakes in the Yunxi area of the Green Chemical Industry Park, the district party committee and the district government took immediate action to accelerate the excavation of soil and return the land to the lakes. On November 17, Li Zuofeng, the vice mayor of Yueyang City, supervised the work of transporting soil away and returning land to the lake. Liu Zhengren, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee and Acting District Head, and Zhou Yongjun, Deputy District Head, accompanied him. Li Zuofeng emphasized the need to strengthen ideological understanding and raise the political awareness, to ensure safe construction, accelerate progress, and advance work in an orderly manner, so as to complete the tasks of transporting soil away and returning land to the lake on time and to the required standard.
On November 17, the Green Chemical Industry Park conducted another round of inspections of the rainwater and wastewater discharge outlets of all enterprises in the park, and deployed resources to address the issue of mixed discharge of rainwater and wastewater.
The leakage fluid from the seepage points was collected and treated, and experts from the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment were invited to locate the cause of the leakage on site.
“\"Green Chemical Industry Park\"? Just hearing such a name gives the impression of something that is a facade, meant to deceive people. Environmental protection needs to be pursued step by step in a serious manner, not by simply putting a \"green label\" on something.
Localism, regional protectionism, and a distorted view of political achievements are at work! Responsibilities of the local administrator