The Ministry of Ecology and Environment requires strict access to the environmental impact assessment of major construction projects
Ensure that the local environmental quality does not deteriorate or deteriorate
● In order to ensure that the regional environmental quality will not decrease or deteriorate after the implementation of new projects, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has recently issued heavy measures to strictly control the entry of environmental impact assessment of major construction projects and strictly control the discharge of new pollutants
● During the EIA work process, for major projects in key industries that emit large amounts of pollutants, according to regional environmental quality improvement requirements, corresponding regional reduction measures are proposed for the newly discharged pollutants to ensure that the environment is freed up before the project is put into operation Capacity to achieve regional "increased production without increasing pollution"
● The local people's government is not effective in implementing regional reductions, and the outstanding problems will be included in the central or provincial ecological environmental protection inspection category
□ Our reporter Yan Jianrong
In order to ensure that the regional environmental quality does not decrease or deteriorate after the implementation of new projects, and to achieve “increased production without increasing pollution” in the region, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has recently issued heavy measures to strictly control the environmental impact assessment entry points of major construction projects and strictly control new additions Emissions.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Emission Management of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment) pointed out that the reason for strict environmental assessment access for major construction projects is to ensure continuous improvement of local and regional environmental quality.
"The local people's government is not effective in implementing regional reductions, and the outstanding problems are included in the central or provincial level of ecological environmental protection inspection."
According to the “Notice on Strengthening the Supervision and Management of Regional Reduction Measures for Construction Projects in Key Industries” (hereinafter referred to as “Notice”) issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, petrochemical, coal chemical, coal-fired power generation (including thermal power), steel, non-ferrous metal smelting and manufacturing The newly added pollutant emissions of construction projects in six types of industries such as pulp and paper must be reduced.
Continuous improvement of the ecological environment
Still under great pressure
The "13th Five-Year Plan" that just concluded was a five-year period of outstanding achievements in ecological and environmental protection.
Huang Runqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, pointed out: "The 13th Five-Year Plan has been the five years with the greatest improvement in ecological environment quality and the best development in ecological environmental protection. The people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security have been significantly enhanced. , The ecological environment goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way is completed on schedule with high quality."
What is more worth mentioning is that the 9 binding indicators for ecological and environmental protection and the phased targets and tasks of the battle against pollution as determined in the "13th Five-Year Plan" have been fully overfulfilled.
The three major defense battles of blue sky, clear water and pure land have achieved remarkable results.
"But we must clearly realize that my country's ecological environment protection still has a long way to go, and the turning point of ecological environmental quality from quantitative to qualitative change has not yet arrived." Huang Runqiu's remarks are sufficient to show that my country's ecological environment is still facing considerable pressure.
At present, we are currently in the "13th Five-Year" plan and the phased goals and tasks of the battle for pollution prevention and control have been successfully completed. It is about to enter the "14th Five-Year" period and start an important time node for the construction of a beautiful China. How to ensure the "13th Five-Year" The results achieved during the period can be sustained or even surpassed during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. It is undoubtedly a bottom line to ensure that the local environmental quality is not reduced or deteriorated.
“This requires strict control over the entry of environmental impact assessment of major construction projects and strict control of new pollutant emissions.” The person in charge of the Environmental Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment pointed out that, specifically, the amount of pollutants discharged during the environmental assessment process For major projects in large key industries, in accordance with regional environmental quality improvement requirements, corresponding regional reduction measures are proposed for the newly discharged pollutants to ensure that environmental capacity is freed up before the project is put into operation, and the region "increases production without increasing pollution".
How to strengthen supervision to ensure that the regional reduction measures are in place is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.
The above-mentioned person in charge pointed out that in recent years, practice has found that there are problems in the implementation of regional reduction measures, such as unclear responsible parties, unclear regulatory requirements, false reductions and repeated use of emission reductions.
To this end, the "Notice" clarifies the working mechanism for the implementation of emission reduction measures, and implements the responsibilities of all parties to provide institutional guarantees for the implementation of regional reduction measures for construction projects.
Clarify the specific responsibilities of each party
Promote the implementation of measures
According to the requirements of my country's Environmental Assessment Law, construction projects must undergo environmental impact assessment before they are launched.
The EIA report or report form made by the EIA agency, especially the approval comments made by the approval department, will clearly propose pollution prevention and control measures including pollution reduction.
The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Notice" to ensure that the regional reduction measures of major pollutant emissions required by the environmental impact report and its approval documents can be implemented.
According to reports, the "Notice" proposed more stringent regional reduction measures.
The "Notice" requires that the construction project should meet the management requirements of the environmental quality improvement objectives of the regional and river basin control units.
If the environmental quality of the area or river basin control unit does not meet the national or local environmental quality standards, the construction project should propose an effective regional reduction plan, and implement the regional double reduction of major pollutants to ensure that the regional environmental quality is improved after the project is put into operation.
If the environmental quality of the control unit in the area or river basin meets the national or local environmental quality standards, in principle, the main pollutants of the construction project shall be reduced by the same amount in the area to ensure that the regional environmental quality does not deteriorate after the project is put into operation.
At the same time, the regional reduction plan should meet the management requirements for environmental impact assessment of construction projects, and meet the national and local total emission control requirements for major pollutants.
The "Notice" also proposes to strengthen the responsibilities of construction units, emission reduction units and local governments involved.
The regional reduction plan is jointly confirmed by the construction unit, the pollutant emission unit that transfers the emission reduction, and the local people's government that has made the commitment, and clarifies the responsibilities of all parties.
The regional reduction plan submitted by the construction unit involves the work promoted by the local people's government, and the local people's government's commitment document on the regional reduction plan should be attached to the environmental impact report for approval.
If multiple administrative regions are involved, a commitment document made by the people's government at a higher level common to the administrative regions of multiple cities, counties, and districts may be attached.
The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said that these regulations actually clarify the responsibilities of all parties.
He said that local governments are responsible for the environmental quality of their administrative regions, and that the regional reduction measures involve work implemented by local people's governments, and local governments should take the initiative to implement them.
In addition to clarifying the responsibilities of all parties, the "Notice" also requires the reduction of pollutants and the management of pollution permits.
"The construction unit should actively promote the implementation of the regional reduction plan, and all reduction measures should be completed before the construction project obtains the pollution discharge permit." The "Notice" requires that when a construction project applies for a pollution discharge permit, it should explain the implementation of the regional reduction measures and attach it. Proof materials, responsible for their completeness and authenticity.
If the certification materials for the implementation of regional reduction measures are not submitted or the certification materials are incomplete, the pollutant discharge permit issuing authority shall not issue its pollutant discharge permit, and the construction unit shall not discharge pollutants.
Inadequate emission reduction by local governments
Or will be included in the environmental inspector
The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Impact Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said that the regional reduction measures proposed in the environmental impact assessment of construction projects must be implementable, checkable, and assessable.
In order to be linked to regional environmental quality, in principle, the regional reduction measures for waste gas pollutants should be located in the same prefecture-level city as the construction project, and the regional reduction measures for wastewater pollutants should be located in the same river basin as the construction project in the municipal administrative area.
Only when the reduction in the same prefecture-level city is insufficient, can the reduction in the same river basin of the provincial administrative region be used.
How to ensure that the reduction measures can be implemented?
The "Notice" requires that when inspecting the implementation of environmental impact reports and approval requirements for construction projects within their jurisdiction, the ecological environment authorities at all levels should consider the implementation of the regional reduction plan as an important content, and check the emission reduction records of the transferred pollutants , Changes or cancellation of pollution permits, implementation of regional reduction work by local governments, information disclosure of construction units, estimation of major pollutant emissions of construction projects in environmental impact reports, and whether there are repeated use of emission reductions in regional reduction plans, etc.
"During supervision and inspection, the competent departments of ecological environment at all levels found that the pollutant discharging unit that transferred the emission reduction did not discharge the pollutant according to the changed pollutant discharge permit or the unlicensed pollutant after the permit was cancelled, it should be investigated and punished in accordance with the law." If the environmental authority finds that the local people's government has not implemented the reduction work as promised, provided false control measures, or reused emission reductions, it shall adopt such measures as notification, interview, and restriction on approval as appropriate.
The local people's government is not effective in implementing regional reductions, and the outstanding problems are included in the central or provincial level of environmental protection supervision.
The "Notice" clarified that if there are false reduction measures, repeated use of emission reductions, and deception, false reporting and other improper means to pass the EIA approval, the EIA approval department shall hold relevant personnel accountable and may revoke the EIA approval decision of construction projects in accordance with the law.
The environmental impact assessment technical unit is obviously untrue when calculating the main pollutant emissions of the construction project, and the content and conclusions are materially false, the environmental assessment and approval department shall hold the technical unit and related personnel accountable in accordance with the law.
Regarding information disclosure, the "Notice" proposes that before the construction unit submits the environmental impact report for approval, the regional reduction plan and implementation commitments should be disclosed to the public together with the entire environmental impact report.
After the environmental impact report is approved, the construction unit shall disclose the implementation progress of the reduction measures to the public every year.
The person in charge said that the ecological and environmental authorities at all levels should promptly disclose the implementation commitments and subsequent supervision and management of the construction project area reduction plan in accordance with the relevant requirements of information disclosure, and protect the public's right to know, participate in, and oversee environmental protection.
According to reports, the regional reduction measures for major pollutants proposed in the "Notice" are applicable to major construction projects with large pollution emissions from a single project and outstanding environmental impact.
It mainly includes construction projects in six industries including petrochemical, coal chemical, coal-fired power generation (including thermal power), steel, non-ferrous metal smelting, pulp and paper, etc., which have been approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the provincial environmental protection authorities to prepare environmental impact reports.