The Ministry of Environmental Protection interviewed the mayors of Yangquan and Weinan： the environmental quality can only be better.

CCTV News:Recently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection conducted an interview with the main responsible persons of the municipal governments of Yangquan, Shanxi and Weinan, Shaanxi, and urged the two places to curb the deterioration of environmental quality as soon as possible. Before these two places, in April this year, government officials of five cities, including Anqing in Anhui and Jining in Shandong, were interviewed for air pollution and other issues.

Weinan Mayor Li Mingyuan was interviewed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The Interim Measures for Interviews by the Ministry of Environmental Protection promulgated in May 2014 clearly stipulates that if there are 11 situations in the administrative area, such as unfinished environmental protection objectives and tasks, obvious deterioration of environmental quality, violation of the red line of ecological protection, and prominent environmental violations of construction projects, the relevant person in charge of the local government should be interviewed. The introduction of this method means that the environmental interview system has gradually changed from "supervising enterprises" to "supervising government". According to reports, the Ministry of Environmental Protection interviewed seven heads of prefecture-level municipal governments in 2014 and at least 15 in 2015.

Interview with the Ministry of Environmental Protection: "Environmental quality can only be better, not worse."

From January to September this year, the environmental quality in Yangquan, Shanxi Province and Weinan, Shaanxi Province deteriorated seriously. Therefore, the main responsible persons of the two governments were invited by the Ministry of Environmental Protection for an interview. During the interview, the problems in both places include the deterioration of the quality of the air and water environment, the ineffective work of air pollution control, and the outstanding water pollution problems. Weinan was also pointed out that "local environmental hazards are prominent" and "the Ministry of Environmental Protection inspected Weinan twice at the end of August and the end of October, and the old problems have not been rectified."

Prior to these two places, in April this year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection had interviewed the heads of governments in Changzhi, Shanxi, Anqing, Anhui, Jining, Shandong, Shangqiu, Henan and Xianyang, Shaanxi on the prevention and control of air pollution. According to the circular, in these five cities, the concentration of major air pollutants rose instead of falling in the first quarter, the environmental violations of enterprises were prominent, and non-point source pollution was widespread.

During the interview, Liu Bingjiang, director of the Department of Air Pollution Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, pointed out that "except for areas affected by dust, Changzhi ranked first in the country in the first quarter." Shangqiu was pointed out that "the dust problem was very prominent last year, and it has not improved this year."

The Ministry of Environmental Protection requires that the relevant cities should take "the environmental quality can only be better, but not worse" as the red line, improve the working mechanism, strengthen comprehensive rectification, pay close attention to the implementation of the work, strictly enforce the law and supervise, seriously investigate the responsibility, and effectively promote the rectification of problems.

The "top leader" stated: "Immediately pursue responsibility" and "actively rectify"

According to the interview method, the environmental protection department can put forward relevant rectification requirements and completion time limit according to law, and the interviewee should make a statement on the implementation of the rectification requirements. After being invited by the Ministry of Environmental Protection for an interview, the mayors expressed their desire to deeply analyze the reasons and actively promote the rectification of environmental problems.

When Xi Xiaojun, then mayor of Changzhi, was interviewed, he said, "The interview put forward the direction and method of improvement, and we must implement it to the letter. The executive meeting of the municipal government will be held tomorrow morning to deeply analyze the reasons and implement the main responsibility of the government. In the afternoon, the city-wide rectification promotion meeting will be held to implement the problems one by one, further refine the tasks and compact the responsibilities, and ensure that all work is checked, managed and handled. "

After Anqing was interviewed, Chen Bingbing, then acting mayor of Anqing, said, "Carry out in-depth rectification of chemical enterprises, strengthen dust control of building materials enterprises and construction sites, and immediately strictly rectify the spillage of transport vehicles."

Dong Yibing, the mayor of Yangquan, who was interviewed recently, said, "This incident has attracted our government’s further attention. I am the main person in charge of the government. We have rectified the problems in strict accordance with the requirements of environmental protection rectification, and at the same time, we have continued to spread out and further investigated all environmental protection issues." Li Mingyuan, mayor of Weinan, said, "The existing problems will be immediately investigated. Immediately formulate a rectification plan and strengthen supervision over corporate sewage discharge. For social pollution sources, we will formulate a list of responsibility management, leaving no dead ends and achieving full coverage of pollution rectification. "

Does the environmental interview work?

Whether the rectification is in place after the interview ultimately depends on whether the environmental quality is improved.

Take several cities interviewed earlier this year as examples. According to local media reports, these cities have taken strict measures after being interviewed. For example, Changzhi and Anqing issued fines of 9.17 million yuan and 550,000 yuan respectively within one month after being interviewed. Changzhi investigated and dealt with 13 environmental illegal enterprises, Anqing rectified 13 enterprises within a time limit and punished 7 enterprises. After being interviewed, Jining set up an air pollution prevention and control headquarters with the mayor as the commander and five municipal leaders as the deputy commanders. Since July, Jining has also carried out special rectification of outstanding environmental problems in the city. The completion rates of open-air barbecue rectification, road dust control, construction site dust control and port air pollution control are all 100%.

In terms of data, according to local reports, as of October 19th, the daily average concentrations of SO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 in Anqing City, Anhui Province decreased by 11.5%, 23.3%, 35.5% and 37.9% respectively compared with the first quarter, and the excellent rate of air quality was 80.2%, which was 55.1% higher than that in the first quarter. In the second quarter of Jining, Shandong Province, the comprehensive index of ambient air quality improved significantly. The number of days of "blue reproduction" was 69 days, an increase of 8 days compared with the same period of last year, and the concentrations of fine particles, inhalable particles, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide also improved significantly. In the third quarter, the air quality in Jining continued to improve, and the number of "blue days" was 78 days, an increase of 16 days.

In July, the ranking of air quality in Changzhi, Shanxi Province rose from the penultimate place in the province to the fourth place. According to the report of the local environmental protection department, the excellent rate of air quality in the main urban area of Changzhi reached 100% in August, September and October, and the air quality remained above Grade II for three consecutive months. The air quality in the first three quarters announced by Henan Environmental Protection Department in October showed that the air quality in Shangqiu improved significantly in the second half of the year.

The effect of environmental protection interview is obvious to all. However, as some media commented, how long the effect of the interview can last, I am afraid it remains to be tested. I can’t have a good attitude when interviewing, claiming rectification, and returning to the original shape as soon as the news of the interview is over. At the same time, after the interview, there will be more stringent restrictions, such as "regional approval restriction" and "listing supervision". Is the adjustment of energy structure in a place real? Whether the enterprise’s environmental protection devices are working normally and how to prevent illegal enterprises from tampering with emission data need to be closely watched after the interview.