The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection has ordered local governments in two major steel-producing cities to take tougher action against polluters from that industry as part of efforts to improve air quality.
The action could put more pressure on mills that are already struggling with weak growth as the Chinese economy loses momentum.
Inspectors from the ministry summoned the mayors from the cities of Linyi, in the eastern province of Shandong, and Chengde, in the northern province of Hebei, urging them last week to crack down on companies that have violated environment laws, the ministry said on its website.
The ministry must fully implement the law “to shut down those enterprises which haven’t taken any environmental protection measures and haven’t run environment protection equipment,” a ministry official, Gao Zhenning, told CCTV, the state television channel.
Thirteen of the 15 enterprises inspected in Linyi had violated environmental laws. Most were steel and coke plants, with some found to have provided fake environmental data.
Beijing is determined to tackle hazardous smog by imposing higher environmental standards and strengthening monitoring in high-polluting regions. Some unqualified steel mills have been closed permanently.
China put a new environment law into effect at the start of 2015 and can now impose unlimited fines and even prison sentences on officials who fail to conform with new standards.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection has already used its strengthened powers to take on local governments in Hebei and elsewhere. Local leaders were summoned to explain themselves when they failed to comply with emergency pollution guidelines.
Chinese steel mills, already suffering from persistently low prices as a result of overcapacity and slowing economic growth, are now paying an estimated 160 renminbi, or about $25, per metric ton of steel to comply with environmental guidelines.
Source: The New York Times
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