中国影响 China's reach
© Perú The launch of operations at the Toromocho copper mine in Peru
formance, says Liu Xiang, head of litigation at the CUPLbased Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. China’s recently revised environmental protection law is its toughest yet – but it was already tough, just not adequately enforced, says Liu. Companies have usually been able to pay small fines if they were caught polluting, and closures have been rare. However, there are promising signs of tighter enforcement.
Tougher stance In June, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) handed out its biggest fines yet, with 19 firms fined a total of 410 million yuan for not properly using sulphur scrubbing equipment. Those punished included two huge power generation groups, Huadian and Datang. Fines covered the cost of electricity saved by scrimping on scrubbers, and compensation for the resulting pollution. But there is no word on what follow-up action the MEP is taking, and the response from some companies has been sluggish. Huadian Group promised to make quick changes, but did not specify what they would be. Datang Group said it was unclear about the actual situation. Despite Chalco’s cautious approach in Peru, a toxic spillage in March led the authorities to order a halt to production. Chalco quickly upgraded its environmental protection
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equipment, and back in operation two weeks later. Chalco initially said the incident was not serious; Chinese media site People.com.cn described it as “relatively minor.” The Peruvian environmental authorities disagreed. The head of the Peruvian environmental monitoring bureau’s supervision and investigation office, Delia Morales, told Xinhua that the problem identified was a serious environmental protection issue. Investigators found that Chalco had not installed the required waste water collection and treatment systems. Ms Morales explained that the bureau found strongly acidic liquids in two waste stores, with PH values of 4.8 and 3.25. Those liquids were being discharged into two nearby lakes, one in a wildlife reserve. Ma Jun, director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), told chinadialogue that the IPE’s pollution database includes a number of records of homegrown pollution by Chalco. He hopes to see the company apply its overseas approach and clean up its record. IPE’s pollution database shows the most recent incident for Chalco was on June 10, 2014: A judgment against Chalco Zhongzhou Mining found the company had started operations at a mine without obtaining the necessary environmental approvals. The IPE’s data allows the public to check records of pollution by almost 100,000 Chinese companies. If those firms want to be removed they must first clean up their act