Plants Closed for Excessive Pollution DischargeA group of ore dressing plants and paper mills in China have been shut down for excessive discharge of pollutants, according to an official with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).The factory heads responsible for the illegal discharge and some local officials who failed to exercise their duties in preventing pollution have been dismissed from their posts or given administrative disciplinary punishments, the official announced here Thursday. In Xunyang County, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, 13 ore dressing plants attached to a lead and zinc mine were found pouring waste water into the Hanjiang River, a tributary of China' s biggest waterway, the Yangtze River. During a nationwide drive targeting pollution-causing activities, inspectors also discovered that 12 paper mills in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hebei and Anhui were discharging waste water above the permitted level. SEPA and other related departments have been carrying out the campaign since late May this year, investigating more than 17,000 cases and handling 7,375 cases. Investigations were made of paper mills, chemical plants and other factories that cause heavy pollution, in an effort to prevent them from discharging more pollutants into the environment or leaving anti-pollution facilities idle. He Baoxiang, deputy director of the SEPA's Department of Pollution Control, blamed the companies' neglect of environmental protection and the regional protectionism of some local governments. SEPA will soon send investigation teams to Jiangsu Province and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where serious pollution cases have recently been discovered. |
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