Why was Shanxi Coking Project Named Again
——Strictly control the investigation of the blind development of the "two highs" coking project
Cao Hongyan
In the second round of the third batch of central ecological and environmental protection inspections, five coking projects in Shanxi were named.
Why is it a coking project again?
How does Shanxi's coking industry transformation and upgrading development roadmap land smoothly?
Among them, what are the problems that need to be solved and broken through?
Facing the requirements of green and low-carbon development, how to curb the blind development of high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects?
The reporter took a series of questions to Pingyao and Jiexiu in Jinzhong to conduct investigations and interviews.
In April of this year, the Central Committee's No. 1 Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Team moved into Shanxi.
Five coking projects in Jiexiu, Pingyao, Lingshi and other counties (cities) in Jinzhong City were named and exposed, which caused quite a stir.
In late April, reporters came to Pingyao, Jiexiu, Jinzhong and other places to investigate and interview.
On April 22, at the 1.34 million tons/year coking project site of Pingyao Coal and Chemical Group in Shanxi Province, the site was very deserted. Only the large display panel on the side of the site supported the project with an investment of more than 3 billion yuan.
The staff of the project party told reporters that the project has been suspended because it was not approved before construction. At present, they are speeding up water resource demonstration and energy conservation assessment. Problems such as illegal water extraction and illegal sewage discharge have been rectified in the first time.
On April 24, the reporter rushed to Jiexiu City with the central environmental protection inspectors.
The 1.8 million tons/year coking project of Jiexiu Changsheng Coal Gasification Company and the 2.16 million tons/year coking capacity replacement technological transformation project of Shanxi Maosheng Coal & Chemical Group have also been suspended at this time.
At the scene, the inspectors required the left-behind party to take measures to prevent and control dust on the bare site.
Why 5 projects were named
Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, is located "in the middle of Shanxi" and has been a place of prosperity since ancient times.
The famous Shanxi wealthies such as the He family in Yuci, the Lu family in Taigu, the Qiao family in Qixian County, and the Shui family in Shanxi were all in Jinzhong.
Jiexiu City, under the jurisdiction of Jinzhong City, is even more famous throughout the country as the hometown of coke.
There are long boards and short boards.
Jinzhong has been suffering from severe shortage of water resources, and the per capita share is less than one-sixth of the national average.
In December 2020, Jiexiu City and Pingyao County were suspended by the Ministry of Water Resources due to groundwater overload. In addition, they are located in the Fenwei Plain, which is a key area in the "Blue Sky Defense War". The situation of air pollution prevention and control in Jinzhong has been compared. severe.
This time the inspector found that counties (cities) such as Jiexiu, Pingyao, and Lingshi had blindly launched a number of coking projects with high energy consumption and high emissions (referred to as "two highs") regardless of their water resources and environmental carrying capacity.
Shanxi Pingyao Coal Chemical Group 1.34 million tons/year coking project, Jiexiu Changsheng Coal Gasification Company 1.8 million tons/year coking project, Shanxi Maosheng Coal Chemical Group 2.16 million tons/year coking capacity replacement technological transformation project, Shanxi Juyuan Coal Chemical 3 million The ton/year coal coking upgrading, upgrading, comprehensive utilization and transformation project, and the Shanxi Hongyuan Fukang New Energy 2.1 million tons/year coking project have not completed the water resource demonstration and energy-saving assessment, and some projects have not been approved by the environmental impact assessment, starting from the beginning of 2019 Construction started illegally one after another.
Among them, Shanxi Hongyuan Fukang New Energy 2.1 million tons/year coking project was partially completed and put into operation in January 2021.
Estimates show that after all the above five coking projects are completed and put into operation, they will add 6.92 million tons of coking capacity compared with the actual increase in 2019. The new water consumption will be about 12 million tons and the new coal consumption will be about 10 million tons. Air pollutants and carbon dioxide emissions will bring severe challenges to local industrial structure and energy structure adjustments, air pollution prevention and control, groundwater overload area management, and carbon peaking.
Why is it a coking project again
For a time, the Jinzhong coking industry once again jumped onto the forefront.
The first round of the Central Ecological Environmental Protection Inspectorate and "Looking Back" work started in 2016 pointed out that some places in Shanxi Province have not got rid of the dependence on the development path of high energy-consuming and high-polluting industries such as "coal coke power". Some localities and departments Even allowing the rapid expansion of coking production capacity.
To this end, the Shanxi Provincial Inspection and Reform Plan requires: Strengthen the environmental review and approval management of construction projects in the coking and coal chemical industries. Taiyuan and Jinzhong should follow the relevant requirements of the "Shanxi Province Coking Industry Fighting Pollution Prevention and Promoting Transformation and Upgrading Implementation Plan". Comprehensive evaluation of the coking industry, scientific layout, strictly eliminate outdated production capacity, and stop the construction of illegal coking projects.
Jinzhong is an old industrial base in Shanxi, and traditional industries such as coal, coking, metallurgy, and electric power occupy an important position in the province.
In 2020, the total industrial output value of the four traditional industries of Jinzhong coal, coking, smelting, and electricity will still account for 72% of the total industrial output value.
Combing the relevant data, we can find that Jinzhong has made great efforts to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.
The data shows that Jinzhong’s coal industry’s advanced production capacity has accounted for more than two-thirds, reducing the coking capacity by 5.88 million tons, and the coking industry has shifted from “mainly coking” to “leading coke by chemicals”.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Jinzhong eliminated 13 coal mines with an annual output of less than 600,000 tons, involving a production capacity of 3.3 million tons; 39 coal washing companies were eliminated, involving a production capacity of 34.1 million tons; 4 thermal power companies were eliminated, involving a production capacity of 172,000 Kilowatt hours.
The person in charge of the Jinzhong Energy Bureau said frankly that although the city no longer approves, approves, or file for new projects with high energy consumption and low output and capacity expansion projects in principle, as the economy warms up and the market recovers, coke, coke, The demand for basic raw materials such as pig iron and crude steel has increased, and some approved coal-consuming stock projects have been put into production one after another, resulting in an increase in total coal consumption instead of falling.
For Jinzhong, it will take time to get rid of its dependence on the development path of high energy-consuming and high-polluting industries such as "coal coke power".
The "two highs" industry is a major pollutant emitter.
Relevant data shows that the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter contributed by the oil refining, steel, cement, non-ferrous metal smelting, coal chemical and thermal power industries accounted for 86.5%, 44.5%, and 44.5% of the national industrial pollutant emissions, respectively. 22.7%.
If the blind development of the "two highs" project is not controlled, it is bound to further aggravate the structural problems of industry and energy.
How the roadmap landed smoothly
He Zhongwei, director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment of the Department of Ecological Environment of Shanxi Province, said that the coking industry is a key area of Shanxi's industrial transformation and upgrading.
Shanxi's coking production capacity is 140 million tons, accounting for 20% of the country. Nearly half of them are coke ovens with longer furnace age, poor furnace conditions, and smaller coking chambers with a height of 4.3 meters, which need to be replaced with more modern large coke ovens.
According to the roadmap for the development of Shanxi’s coking industry, we will make use of environmental protection and energy consumption standards and market-oriented methods to reasonably balance the elimination of coke oven production energy with the energy production of new coking projects to ensure that the overall production capacity of coke ovens will be stable and decline. The proportion of furnaces has increased rapidly, and the total pollution emissions have been drastically reduced.
“The transformation and upgrading of the coking industry must not only solve the problem of industrial development, but also take into account the stability of people’s livelihoods. Our principle is to increase efforts to move forward. In recent years, the Shanxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment has promoted the completion of the transformation of special emission limits for the coking industry. , Launched the industry’s ultra-low emission transformation, and carried out performance-level and differentiated management and control, and played the leading and compelling role of ecological environmental protection, and has formed a group of green coking demonstration enterprises.” He Zhongwei said.
Are there any management loopholes in the process of coking the project with the new and the old, with ups and downs?
After reviewing the above-mentioned coking project filing documents, there is a reminder that “after the project is filed, environmental protection, fire protection, land, safety and other related procedures must be handled in accordance with the regulations, and construction can be started after the procedures are complete.” However, the reporter learned from some projects, Such as water resources demonstration, energy conservation assessment, etc. are not considered as pre-conditions for starting construction, or just as pre-conditions for commissioning.
On May 31, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of the Eco-Environmental Sources of Construction Projects with High Energy Consumption and High Emissions." In the process of implementing measures such as regional reductions, there are problems such as unclear implementation responsibilities and unclear regulatory requirements.
What are the considerations for emphasizing the prevention and control of the ecological environment at the source of high energy-consuming and high-emission projects?
Behind this is the phenomenon of “emphasizing before the event and neglecting the event after the event” in some places, failing to conduct careful supervision and inspection of the implementation of various environmental management regulations during the design, construction, acceptance, commissioning, or use of construction projects, and failure to promptly investigate and deal with violations , Not in place; some projects have not been completed for many years after the company has not carried out environmental protection acceptance, and there is a situation of "long delay without inspection".
Setting production by water is a "hard leverage"
Compared with the issue of first construction without approval, the central environmental protection inspector attaches great importance to water.
Through spot checks, the inspectors found that Jiexiu City Jingan Water Supply Co., Ltd. undertakes the water supply tasks of key enterprises such as Xintai Iron and Steel, Maosheng Coal Chemical, and Changsheng Coal Gasification in the Jiexiu Economic and Technological Development Zone. The annual allowable water intake is 1.69 million tons. By 2020 The annual water withdrawal is 6.18 million tons, which is 2.7 times more than the permitted water withdrawal; the 1.3 million tons/year coking project of Jiexiu City Changsheng Coal Gasification Co., Ltd., which was put into operation in February 2018, failed to obtain water withdrawal permits. In 2020, more than 1.9 million tons of water was illegally extracted.
Villages such as Daxu Village in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Jiexiu City are affected by illegal water intake by surrounding enterprises and can only supply water for two to three hours a day on a regular basis.
On the edge of the contiguously developed factory site, the reporter randomly visited several villagers in Shabao Village, Jiexiu City.
The inspectors turned on the faucet in the courtyard and asked about the water supply while tasting.
The villagers replied that there was a sludge smell in the water a few days ago, but it has disappeared in these two days.
It is understood that the village’s drinking water detected a problem before, and in order to ensure the safety of drinking water, a new water source has just been replaced.
The staff in the town said that it can now guarantee a 12-hour water supply.
At the end of last year, Jiexiu was judged to be overloaded due to over-exploitation of shallow groundwater and over-exploitation of groundwater in hilly areas.
The water conservancy department requires the local area to adopt measures such as water conservation, strict water resources supervision, water source replacement, and industrial structure adjustment in light of actual conditions, and accelerate the comprehensive management of overloading.
Like Jiexiu, Pingyao was suspended by the Ministry of Water Resources for new water drawing permits, but the problem of illegal water drawing is still prominent.
Pingyao Coal & Chemical Group’s current 600,000 tons/year coking project approved water withdrawal is 143,000 tons/year, and the company illegally extracted more than 300,000 tons of groundwater from surrounding villages in 2020, causing draft difficulties for villagers in Xi’an and Qidong villages around the plant. .
With such a shortage of local water resources, Pingyao Coal & Chemical Group has illegally expanded the 1.34 million tons/year coking project and supporting facilities without water resources demonstration. After the start of production at the end of 2021, the annual water consumption will increase by about 2.6 million tons, which will be further aggravated. The local water resources are tense.
In addition, the Lingshi County Water Resources Bureau disregarded the fact that the water diversion project in Lingshi County from the central part of the Yellow River has not yet been constructed, that is, it has sent a letter to agree to Shanxi Juyuan Coal Chemical’s 3 million tons/year coal coking upgrading and comprehensive utilization transformation project with water, from the central part of the Yellow River diversion project. The project provides the solution of water distribution in Nanguan Industrial Zone in Lingshi County, but it cannot be realized in the short term.
The central environmental inspector's name and exposure was like a headshot, and the local area finally woke up: the water-based production is a rigid requirement.
"It's a big touch," said Zhang Yongai, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Jinzhong Water Resources Bureau. When new projects are to be launched in the future, governments and departments at all levels must first consider whether there are water indicators and whether water resources are sufficient.
The water resource demonstration will become the decisive condition for the launch of the project.
In recent years, Jinzhong has also done a lot of work in strengthening the comprehensive management of groundwater over-exploitation areas, reducing the total amount of groundwater exploitation by 34 million cubic meters.
In the third quarter of 2020, the water level of the shallow groundwater overexploitation area in the city has shown a rebound.
"Jinzhong has been exploiting groundwater on a large scale since the 1980s. It can be said that groundwater over-exploitation is a cumulative problem. To change this situation requires comprehensive measures such as total amount control and water source replacement." Zhang Yongai said that in the future it will be determined by water. Production must be strictly implemented.
Regarding the five coking projects that were exposed this time, the inspection team sternly pointed out that the local party committee, government and relevant departments ignored the endowment of water resources and the carrying capacity of the environment. 1. Inadequate supervision of high-pollution coking projects, or even tacit connivance, has led to a severe situation in local air pollution prevention and control, and the current situation of water supply is not optimistic, and the problems of inaction and chaos are prominent.
After the naming and exposure, it remains to be seen whether the relevant places can draw inferences from one another, strictly control the blind development of the "two highs" projects, and step up efforts to reduce overcapacity in key industries.