County watchdog fired after illegal discharges exposed

The head of a county environmental watchdog in Hunan province has been removed from office after a media report that a pharmaceutical company in the county had discharged untreated wastewater into a major branch of the Yangtze River.

Cao Tiexiang, Party secretary and director of the Zhuzhou environmental protection bureau, was fired after China National Radio reported on Monday that a Hunan Sonbon Forestry Science and Technology Co factory had been discharging its industrial wastewater into the Xiangjiang River.

The factory is about 500 meters from the river. Residents had reported the illegal discharges to authorities through various channels, but the discharges continued for months, according to the report.

The white wastewater resulted in a heavy chemical smell and floating oil in the major branch of the Yangtze. The company’s permit for discharging pollutants had expired about half a year ago. The factory’s wastewater treatment facility was not operating when local environmental officers visited it in late May, the report said.

Testing by the local environmental authority found levels of several pollutants in the wastewater were beyond national standards.

After the media exposure, the Party committee and county government of Zhuzhou carried out investigations.

“The company has been asked to suspend operations and will be given an administrative penalty for its illegal discharges. The company’s executives held accountable for the illegal activities have been handed over to the public security authority,” the county government said in a statement provided to China Daily.

It also said local environmental officers have been asked to comb the whole county to root out environmental violations to “safeguard the lush mountains and lucid water” and promote green development.

The local discipline inspection commission has also launched an investigation into the case, it added.

A Sonbon company executive declined a phone interview with China Daily on Tuesday. But the company was previously quoted by China National Radio as saying it has asked a qualified environmental facility supplier to draft a plan for the company to rectify its problems, and would resume operations only after the wastewater it discharges reaches national standards.

The company also said it will move its factory, which has been in its current location for more than 60 years, to an industrial park in Youxian county, due to environmental protection concerns, and it will attach more importance to environmental protection when building its new factory.