Shaanxi Eco-environment Improves Consistently

The first half of 2017 saw Shaanxi made all-out efforts to systematically improve its eco-environment quality while holding fast the bottom line on environment security. Under this background, competent administrations of the province have been striving to intensify their supervision, deepen reforms and rationalize key works to ensure eco-environment improvement is carried out orderly and effectively.

Shaanxi took all necessary steps to make air, water and soil environmental improvements. Adhering to its action plan on fighting against haze with irony measures, Shaanxi has gained periodical achievements with intensified inter-governmental coordination, reinforced works and strict supervision. By designating government officials to be accountable for specified river, water pollution prevention centered on 6 major rivers run across Shaanxi was conducted in a down-to-earth manner. What is more, Shaanxi established a conference mechanism to jointly coordinate water pollution prevention and launched a water quality ranking program among its cities, ensuring the sound quality of the Weihe River and the Danjiang River main waters. The corresponding coordination mechanism has also been built to combat with soil contamination with annual and special plans. To fully survey the facts concerning soil contamination, Shaanxi has completed the layout of state-controlled monitoring points, and pushed forward the construction of soil contamination treatment projects.

Shaanxi followed advices from the special panel dispatched by the CPC Central Committee (the special panel) and the environmental protection panel of its own. Responding to 95 specific and 8 common issues put forward by the special panel, Shaanxi presented corresponding rectification targets, made clear accountabilities, rolled out related measures, set rectification time-limits and conducted supervisions to address them. By the end of June, 14 issues have been solved or basically solved, the remaining 45 are being rectified as per scheduled, in which 11 have gained notable progresses. Thus far, Shaanxi has concluded environmental supervisions from Xi’an (Xixian New Area), Yan’an and Ankang, addressing a number of public concerned and protruding problems.

Shaanxi actively advocated green development. The province mobilized and allocated special financial resources to support the carrying out of key eco-environmental protection projects. Meanwhile, Shaanxi set targets and key projects on emission reduction to its cities (areas) and enacted effective supervision, ensuring the targets and tasks to be completed as per schedule.

Shaanxi has been making constant improvements in environmental monitoring and law enforcement. The whole province has built 144 automatic air surveillance stations, and set up 182 surface water manual monitoring sections for state and provincial agencies. It has quickened pace to implement grid management in environmental protection, in which 21,480 grids across the province were delimited, leaving no area remain uncovered. With this management, the areas, responsibilities and facts were well defined to enable effective supervision, service and communications on environmental protection). What’s more, Shaanxi has also initiated special supervision and law enforcement actions to crack down violations of environmental protection, and gave severe punishments to enterprises and government agencies for their nonfeasance, demotivation and/or misfeasance.

Shaanxi attached great importance to environmental risks. It has undertaken environmental risk checks and evaluations in the whole province, and made consistent efforts to special rectification on crude oil pipeline leakage in northern Shaanxi. In nuclear safety management, the province has also conducted a sweeping inspection, and has built an emergency rescue team for nuclear radiation. Up to now, all its solid wastes have been registered. In the first half of 2017, Shaanxi encountered 9 environment pollutions, with year-on-year decrease of 57%.

Shaanxi deepened reform and innovation in environmental protection. Following orders from the Central Government to streamline administration and scale back its administrative power, ease restrictions & strengthen regulation where necessary and improve services, Shaanxi fully reformed its environment impact assessment (EIA) approval procedures for construction projects, and canceled some administrative approval powers. To adopt vertical management in environmental protection, Shaanxi promulgated the Reform Plan for Shaanxi Environmental Protection Agencies to Conduct Vertical Management on Supervision, Monitoring and Law Enforcement, further promoting the compensated use and trade of emission rights.

Shaanxi has made solid progress in comprehensively strengthening Party discipline. Following its overall work plan of carrying out environmental protection with concerted efforts from all walks of life, Shaanxi required its environmental protection agencies to spare no effort on ideological education, ensuring the CPC members to work in the frontier of environmental protection. As many staffs are CPC members, they should follow the strict disciplines detailed by the Party Constitution and also abide by special regulations outlined by the Party organization department to forge a strong and whole-hearted team in building a beautiful Shaanxi.