The Ministry of Environmental Protection rejects environmental impact assessments for 151 projects; total investment amounts to 760 billion yuan. Is New Sky’s coal-to-gas project still viable?

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The last edit to this post was made by 654262293 on 2015-10-16 at 10:29. On October 14, the Ministry of Environmental Protection made public the report titled \"Upholding the Banner of Ecological Civilization and Making Vigorous Efforts to Protect the Environment,\" delivered by Minister Chen Jining at a series of lectures on the \"Glorious 12th Five-Year Plan\" period. Chen Jining said, “During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, our task was to turn ****’s decisions and plans regarding the advancement of ecological civilization into a roadmap and detailed plan for environmental protection.” Focusing on the control of air, water, and soil pollution, a resolute campaign against pollution has been launched, resulting in significant achievements in ecological and environmental protection. ” It is understood that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the emissions of the four main pollutants continued to decline significantly, and the goals set out in that plan were achieved half a year ahead of schedule. The average concentration of PM2.5 in 74 cities dropped by 11.1%. Meanwhile, progress was also made rapidly in areas such as the development of wastewater treatment capabilities and the phasing out of vehicles with yellow license plates. It is worth noting that regarding project environmental impact assessments, Chen Jining stated that since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, **at various levels, environmental impact assessment documents for 151 projects that did not meet the requirements were rejected, involving a total investment of over 760 billion yuan. Reporters from the Daily Economic News have noticed that in recent years, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has become significantly stricter in its oversight of environmental impact assessments. Although authority for approving such assessments is being delegated to lower levels, there has been a clear increase in the number of environmental impact assessment documents that are not approved at the Ministry’s level. The persons in charge of 13 regions were summoned for discussions. Chen Jining summarized the achievements in ecological and environmental protection during the 12th Five-Year Plan period from five aspects, including: making every effort to address pollution issues, which led to improvements in environmental quality ； Adhere to a prevention-first approach and hold the bottom line, while promoting shifts in development patterns and structural adjustments ； Improve the policy and regulatory framework, and strengthen environmental protection through systems and the rule of law. The data show that the proportion of Class V water quality sections decreased significantly, falling from 44% in 2001 to 9.0% in 2014, a reduction of 80%. In 2014, the total emissions of five key heavy metal pollutants nationwide (lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and the metalloid arsenic) were one-fifth lower than in 2007. In 2014, the average PM2.5 concentration in the 74 cities that were among the first to implement the new environmental air quality standards decreased by 11.1% compared to 2013. “As the efforts to address pollution accelerate, our understanding of environmental protection is also deepening. ”Chen Jining explained that there are mainly two aspects: first, economic development and environmental protection can achieve mutual benefits; second, it is necessary to change the concept of performance evaluation and effectively implement local environmental responsibilities. At the same time, in terms of the enforcement of environmental laws, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has designated this year as the year for the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. Focusing on malicious illegal discharge activities such as secret dumping, as well as fraudulent practices like altering or fabricating monitoring data, it takes strict legal action to address environmental violations. It is understood that from January to August this year, a total of 405 cases involving daily consecutive penalties were imposed nationwide, with fines amounting to nearly 330 million yuan ； A total of 2,400 cases involving seizure and confiscation were carried out ； A total of 1,524 cases involving production restrictions or shutdowns were implemented. Comprehensive inspections for environmental protection were carried out on a large scale; across the country, more than 1 million enterprise inspections were conducted, nearly 23,000 enterprises were ordered to suspend operations, over 15,000 enterprises were shut down or banned from operating, and fines were imposed on more than 35,000 enterprises. Meetings were held with the principal officials of 13 cities successively to help resolve a number of prominent environmental issues. In the first half of the year, over 100 billion yuan worth of projects were rejected. “Pollution prevention is an important aspect of environmental protection efforts; it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive approach that includes strategic and planning-related environmental assessments, environmental assessments for individual projects, standard-setting, and adjustments to the industrial structure.” ”Chen Jining said. Chen Jining emphasized that in terms of strict environmental impact assessments for projects, since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, **at various levels, environmental impact assessment documents for 151 projects that did not meet the requirements were rejected; the total investment involved in these projects exceeded 760 billion yuan, covering industries such as transportation, electricity, steel and non-ferrous metals, coal, and chemicals and petrochemicals. According to information made public by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the ministry is becoming increasingly strict in approving environmental impact assessments for projects, and frequently takes action against those that do not meet the required standards. In August this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment reported that in the first half of the year, it approved 92 environmental impact assessment documents for construction projects, involving a total investment of 702.817 billion yuan. The 17 projects that did not meet the approval criteria were not approved, involving a total investment of 109.428 billion yuan. Meanwhile, in the second half of the year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will hold a kick-off meeting for the strategic environmental impact assessments of the “three major regions,” in order to firmly curb projects with high energy consumption and high pollution levels, as well as resource-intensive projects, along with low-quality repetitive construction and projects that lead to overcapacity. Reporters from the Daily Economic News have compiled a list of projects that the Ministry of Environmental Protection has rejected since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, and among them are several large enterprises and major projects. At the end of 2012, due to construction carried out without prior approval, a decision was made to reject the renovation project for the pre-ironmaking equipment at Wumine Yingkou Medium Plate Co., Ltd.; the total investment in this project amounted to 3.05 billion yuan. In December 2014, the Ministry of Environmental Protection decided not to approve 5 environmental impact assessment reports, including the second-phase expansion project of the mining area of Anqian Mining Co., Ltd. under Ansteel Group, and the modification project for the phosphorus-coal chemical complex of Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical Co., Ltd., which aims to increase annual synthetic ammonia production by 500,000 tons. In March this year, 4 projects were rejected for approval, including the first phase of the Qinzhou Thermal Power Plant and China Resources Power Holdings Limited’s new 2×350,000-kilowatt low-calorific-value coal power generation project. http://www.nmtech.com.cn/*nwen_hyyw_xx.asp?path=50&id=172374