China Environmental Law

There have been additional stories about the vanadium oxide smelters in Hubei.  The most recent articles have focused on the ailments suffered by local farmers, but they have given a few extra details concerning how these smelters were dealt with from an administrative perspective.

In June of this year, the government got a “tip-off” that 10 vanadium oxide smelters were operating in “remote towns and villages” in Jianli county.  The government launched an investigation and discovered that

None of these plants had applied for an environmental assessment as required by law and most were using outdated technology that emits chlorine gas, chlorine hydride gas, waste water, and slag, all of which cause serious pollution.

So, in September “the county government cancelled the business licenses of the 10 plants, cut off electricity supplies and sealed their premises.”

These few facts are actually quite revealing.  First, they point out how understaffed and toothless the local environmental authorities are.  These smelters are pretty hard to hide (check out the stack height on in the picture we published with our previous post)  Yet it took a “tip” to bring them to the attention of anyone who cared.  In addition, they apparently did have “business licenses” which should not have been issued without a demonstration that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been performed and approved by the appropriate authorities (I’m sure they did not meet the necessary worker health & safety prerequisites either).  I have to assume that some elements within the county administrative structure were involved in the ultra vires issuance of the business licenses.  They obviously were not concerned about the missing EIA’s or the local environmental authorities.  

Given the horrible maladies suffered by the local farmers, saner higher ups within the county must have realized they were going to have a public relations disaster on their hands so they moved rather quickly to shut the plants down once the press got ahold of the story, I suspect.  

Apparently counting on the ability to employ superior forces (be they political or physical) to countermand the local government’s shut down order, the owners of “four of the plants tore off the government [closure] seals and restarted production.” 

The local government was not cowed

In the afternoon on September 14, the Jianli government held an emergency meeting and decided to demolish the four illegal factories. Lin Zhixiong, the vice magistrate of Jianli county, said managers of the four plants had been arrested and their bank accounts frozen.

Well that serves ‘em right!

The suffering of the neighboring farmers sounds horrendous

“Since the Vanadium plant opened there has been a vile smell in the house. When the wind comes from the south it makes you vomit. The kids cough every morning. And it’s not just the coughing, my face is always inflamed and itchy after working in the cotton fields,” said villager Zhu Yan.

However, the local  ”health department said that experts had so far not proven a link between the Vanadium plants and the local farmers’ skin infections. Investigations into the cause of the skin complaints are ongoing.” 

We’ll try to keep you posted on this one.