Industry commentary: It is not a wrong place for a chemical project
From now on, 127 key chemical and petrochemical projects with a total investment of 450 billion yuan will fully accept the environmental risk investigation of the national environmental protection department. At the same time, there are also 10 oil and chemical companies that have been ordered to close down due to environmental issues or have been under supervision. Since the concept of environmental protection has entered China's social and economic life, the petroleum and chemical industries characterized by high energy consumption and high pollution face environmental protection challenges from time to time. However, this time the environmental protection challenge is unprecedented and the impact is far-reaching. It is indeed not too much to call it a "storm."
It is understood that apart from the 10 companies that have been dealt with because they clearly violate environmental regulations, 127 projects were investigated not because their environmental protection facilities failed, nor because their pollutants were not discharged, but because they were distributed in rivers. Near the sensitive areas such as the coast of the lake, densely populated areas, and nature reserves. It seems that these projects were built in the wrong place.
Zhou Shengxian, the new director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, admitted that at present, many chemical companies have problems with improper siting. According to his introduction, among the more than 21,000 chemical companies above designated size in China, more than 50% are distributed along the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. If calculated according to this ratio, almost all larger chemical companies are mistakenly built along the coast of the rivers, lakes, and seas. When the Huaihe River's thousands of miles of sewage contaminated the fleet, when the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal smells like it can only take a boat, when all seven major rivers are seriously polluted, especially when the Songhua River water pollution incident last year represented a series of When serious environmental incidents cause serious losses to public health, social stability, economic development, and even the diplomatic situation, the society has made such judgments on the environmental protection risks of the petroleum and chemical industries: it is not just whether a certain company is at fault or not. The problem, but the whole industry layout problem, is whether the development of this industry will be at the expense of the rivers, seas, and seas on the land of China, and whether it will leave a living environment for our children and grandchildren. In the face of the major issues related to the interests of the entire nation, the investigation of 127 key petroleum and chemical projects, including the rectification and shutdown of 10 companies that do not strictly implement environmental protection regulations, certainly has no hesitation.
But the question is: What is the real cause of major environmental disasters? Is it really a poor siting? Large petrochemical companies in developed countries are almost all built on the banks of the rivers and lakes. Why did these countries not let them all move? In fact, what we have seen and heard is a famous chemical company in the world and a local environmental guard. For example, the Bayer Group, the largest chemical company in the world, is also the “guardian†of the Lacey River. Therefore, the key to the problem is not whether chemical projects are built in the wrong place. It is the unscientific development concept that the entire society continues for years to pursue only the pursuit of development speed, and it only seeks to generate revenue from the creation of GDP from petroleum and chemical projects, forcing chemical companies to ignore environmental protection. responsibility. As the saying goes: The concept is wrong. Good things can become bad things. When ideas are right, bad things can become good things. Therefore, to solve the problem of pollution of rivers, lakes and seas, the “environmental protection storm†must be implemented, and we hope to “make the storms come harderâ€, but at the same time, the entire nation must also change its practice of sacrificing the environment for economic benefits. From policy and law to public opinion, environmental protection must be regarded as a heavenly scorn and cannot be violated. Whoever violates the law will be unable to do anything or even fail. In this way, which chemical company will dare to take the lead in the world does not tarnish the country's mountains and water it?
It is understood that apart from the 10 companies that have been dealt with because they clearly violate environmental regulations, 127 projects were investigated not because their environmental protection facilities failed, nor because their pollutants were not discharged, but because they were distributed in rivers. Near the sensitive areas such as the coast of the lake, densely populated areas, and nature reserves. It seems that these projects were built in the wrong place.
Zhou Shengxian, the new director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, admitted that at present, many chemical companies have problems with improper siting. According to his introduction, among the more than 21,000 chemical companies above designated size in China, more than 50% are distributed along the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. If calculated according to this ratio, almost all larger chemical companies are mistakenly built along the coast of the rivers, lakes, and seas. When the Huaihe River's thousands of miles of sewage contaminated the fleet, when the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal smells like it can only take a boat, when all seven major rivers are seriously polluted, especially when the Songhua River water pollution incident last year represented a series of When serious environmental incidents cause serious losses to public health, social stability, economic development, and even the diplomatic situation, the society has made such judgments on the environmental protection risks of the petroleum and chemical industries: it is not just whether a certain company is at fault or not. The problem, but the whole industry layout problem, is whether the development of this industry will be at the expense of the rivers, seas, and seas on the land of China, and whether it will leave a living environment for our children and grandchildren. In the face of the major issues related to the interests of the entire nation, the investigation of 127 key petroleum and chemical projects, including the rectification and shutdown of 10 companies that do not strictly implement environmental protection regulations, certainly has no hesitation.
But the question is: What is the real cause of major environmental disasters? Is it really a poor siting? Large petrochemical companies in developed countries are almost all built on the banks of the rivers and lakes. Why did these countries not let them all move? In fact, what we have seen and heard is a famous chemical company in the world and a local environmental guard. For example, the Bayer Group, the largest chemical company in the world, is also the “guardian†of the Lacey River. Therefore, the key to the problem is not whether chemical projects are built in the wrong place. It is the unscientific development concept that the entire society continues for years to pursue only the pursuit of development speed, and it only seeks to generate revenue from the creation of GDP from petroleum and chemical projects, forcing chemical companies to ignore environmental protection. responsibility. As the saying goes: The concept is wrong. Good things can become bad things. When ideas are right, bad things can become good things. Therefore, to solve the problem of pollution of rivers, lakes and seas, the “environmental protection storm†must be implemented, and we hope to “make the storms come harderâ€, but at the same time, the entire nation must also change its practice of sacrificing the environment for economic benefits. From policy and law to public opinion, environmental protection must be regarded as a heavenly scorn and cannot be violated. Whoever violates the law will be unable to do anything or even fail. In this way, which chemical company will dare to take the lead in the world does not tarnish the country's mountains and water it?