The situation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Liaoyuan, Jilin Province is grim： Who is giving the green light to the illegal construction of ＂two high＂ projects？
Xinhua News Agency, Changchun, September 18th Title: The situation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Liaoyuan, Jilin Province is grim: Who is giving the green light to the illegal construction of "two high" projects?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Tan Xiaoxiao and Zhang Jian
The amount of coal in coking projects is not real, the projects with high energy consumption and high emissions are illegally built against the wind, the construction of pollution control facilities for large energy consumers is lagging behind, and coking waste gas is discharged directly for a long time … … All this happened in the first batch of pilot projects of economic transformation in resource-exhausted cities in China — — Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province.
Recently, the reporter of Xinhua Viewpoint followed the inspector of the First Ecological Environmental Protection Inspector Group of the Central Committee and found that the economic growth of Liaoyuan City is highly dependent on energy consumption, the illegal construction and illegal production of the "two high" projects are prominent, and the situation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is extremely severe.
Pillar enterprises are large energy consumers, and the violation of the wind increases the ironmaking capacity.
Walking into the factory of Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., located in Dongfeng County, Liaoyuan City, the smoke is rolling, the smell is pungent and the pollution is very serious. This company is not only a local pillar enterprise, but also a big energy consumer. In 2020, the total industrial output value will reach 9.09 billion yuan, and the energy consumption will reach 1.91 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 36.7% of the total energy consumption in the city.
The reporter learned that Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel, as a major energy consumer, has been illegally building "two high" projects for a long time, and the environmental protection facilities are ineffective. Although the punishment continued and the local people reacted strongly, the pollution caused by the company became more and more serious.
Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Factory. Photo courtesy of inspector group
Since 2018, the company has been punished by relevant departments for many times, paying tens of millions of yuan in fines, involving environmental protection, water conservancy, housing construction and many other aspects.
The punishment did not stop Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel from illegally building the "two high" projects. Inspectors found that since 2018, the company has built 14 new steel supporting projects, all of which have problems of illegal construction or production.
Taking the coking project as an example, the project failed to build facilities for dry quenching and flue gas denitrification as required, and the dust removal and desulfurization facilities have not been put into operation since it was put into production, and coking waste gas has been discharged directly for a long time. During the on-site inspection, the inspectors found that the emission concentration of sulfur dioxide was as high as 1928 mg/m3, which was 18.3 times higher than the emission limit of the Pollutant Emission Standard for Coking Chemical Industry.
The reporter learned that Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel still committed crimes against the wind and illegally increased ironmaking capacity under the situation that the state repeatedly applied to resolve the excess capacity of the steel industry. In April 2017, the company used the overhaul machine to expand a 450 cubic meter blast furnace to 660 cubic meters without authorization, and illegally added about 200,000 tons of ironmaking capacity.
Inspectors also found that since 2018, Jilin Xinda Iron & Steel has illegally produced molten iron for steelmaking by leasing three 225m3 small blast furnaces that Jilin JD.COM Pipe Industry Co., Ltd. should have eliminated long ago, with a cumulative consumption of 2.066 million tons of molten iron. In Jilin JD.COM Pipe Industry Co., Ltd., the production site is very chaotic, the pollution control facilities are crude and abnormal, and the main production equipment is illegally built.
Jilin JD.COM Pipe Industry Co., Ltd. production site. Photo courtesy of inspector group
The relevant person in charge of Liaoyuan Industry and Information Technology Bureau admitted that the current steel price remains high, and enterprises are driven by interests, playing hide and seek to avoid inspection, perfunctory rectification and delaying rectification.
Supervision fell, and illegal projects turned into key projects.
Experts said that although the problem lies in enterprises, the source lies in the lack of ideological understanding and supervision of local party committees and governments and relevant departments, which led to some projects being launched in violation of regulations, and some even resorted to fraud, resulting in more and more prominent problems.
The inspector found that the 1.2 million tons/year coking project of Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel started construction in April 2019 without obtaining the procedures of energy-saving review and construction permit, and the coking capacity of 600,000 tons was built in December 2020 and officially put into production in January 2021.
At the same time, four projects of the company, including 18.8 square meters shaft furnace and 200H steel with an annual output of 800,000 tons, were built and put into production without the approval of environmental impact assessment or environmental protection acceptance, and nine projects, including 1.8 million tons of hot-rolled strip and lime double-chamber kiln, started construction or put into production without obtaining construction permits and other procedures.
Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Factory. Photo courtesy of inspector group
On the eve of the inspector’s arrival, Jilin Provincial Energy Bureau and Jilin Provincial Development and Reform Commission successively approved the coal substitution scheme and energy-saving review opinions for the 1.2 million tons/year coking project of Jilin Xinda Iron and Steel. However, the inspector found that the coal substitution plan reported by Liaoyuan Municipal Government was obviously untrue, and it was planned to realize the substitution of 435,600 tons of coal consumption by adjusting the statistical data of coal consumption of a coal production enterprise. In fact, the annual coal consumption of the enterprise has not decreased, which is purely a digital game.
The reporter saw in the relevant documents of Dongfeng County that in order to promote the project construction, Dongfeng County set up a project promotion package group led by the main leaders. However, this group only pays attention to the construction of key projects and turns a blind eye to the illegal activities of enterprises.
In addition, the data show that from January to August this year, there were 12 projects approved by the provincial and municipal development and reform departments, with a total energy consumption of 484,000 tons of standard coal, which has exceeded the new energy consumption control index that Jilin Province intends to issue to the city in the 14 th Five-Year Plan.
Resolutely curb the blind launch of the "two high" projects
The inspector group believes that there is a gap in the implementation of the new development concept in Liaoyuan City, and the dual control of energy consumption is weak, and the attitude of curbing the blind development of the "two high" projects is not firm; Jilin Province’s development and reform, energy and other departments are not strict with the approval of Liaoyuan’s "two high" projects.
Under the failure of supervision, the illegal construction of "two high" projects has become popular, and the situation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Liaoyuan City is extremely severe. The data shows that in 2020, Liaoyuan’s energy consumption was 5.205 million tons of standard coal, up nearly 20% from 2015. The energy consumption of the six high-energy-consuming industries is 3.043 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 90.7% of the industrial energy consumption above designated size from 76.9% in 2015.
According to the inspectors, Liaoyuan City is the only city in Jilin Province that has not completed the two targets of energy consumption double control in the 13th Five-Year Plan, and it is also the only city where the carbon emission intensity has not decreased but increased in the first four years of the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in the 13th Five-Year Plan of Jilin Province requires that the energy intensity of Liaoyuan City will be reduced by 15% during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, and the increment of energy consumption will be controlled within 650,000 tons of standard coal. However, in the 13th Five-Year Plan of Liaoyuan City, the energy consumption intensity increased by 5.47%, and the energy consumption increased by 860,000 tons of standard coal, exceeding the control target. According to the Work Plan for Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan of Jilin Province, the carbon emission intensity of Liaoyuan City should decrease by 18.3% in 2020 compared with that of 2015, but the carbon emission intensity of Liaoyuan City increased by 8.57% in the first four years of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan.
New accounts have been added to the old accounts. Faced with such a grim situation, the impulse of Liaoyuan City to stimulate GDP growth with "two high" projects is still strong.
Inspectors found that in March, 2021, Liaoyuan City still reported 14 key energy-using projects to be put into production during the 14th Five-Year Plan, with a total energy consumption of 3.31 million tons of standard coal, despite repeated requests from the state and the province to further reduce the "two high" projects.
In view of the "two high" projects launched against the wind in some places, experts believe that it is urgent to cultivate new green and low-carbon kinetic energy under the background of "double carbon" goals, and the extensive development model that relied on high input and high consumption at the expense of resources and environment should be completely changed. It is necessary to establish working mechanisms such as informed criticism, early warning of energy use, and accountability for interviews, and compact the main responsibility of local governments to curb the blind development of the "two high" projects, double control of energy consumption and pollution control.
The relevant person in charge of Liaoyuan City said that it will promote green transformation and development, speed up the progress of rectification, improve and perfect the monitoring mechanism of the whole process of enterprise operation, production and construction, and put an end to illegal production. At the same time, strengthen the supervision, review and normalization management of new projects, prohibit unapproved construction, and punish violations according to law.