Sichuan Province's Environmental Protection Department Launches Its Largest-Ever Air Pollution Inspection Campaign

Starting November 6th, Sichuan Province launched a three-month intensive on-site inspection of air pollution prevention and control work in the Chengdu Plain area during the autumn and winter seasons, and also conducted mobile, targeted inspections in southern and northeastern Sichuan.

Zhao Lechen, Chief Engineer of the Sichuan Provincial Environmental Protection Department (http://www.schj.gov.cn/), revealed that this is the largest air pollution inspection campaign in the history of the province's environmental protection department, signifying the start of the province's decisive battle against air pollution this autumn and winter.

For this intensive inspection, the Sichuan Provincial Environmental Protection Department has drawn more than 150 personnel from across the province to form inspection teams. The inspection period is from early November 2017 to early February 2018, with seven rounds of continuous key inspections, each lasting half a month.

The inspection scope primarily focuses on cities along the air pollution transmission corridor in the Chengdu Plain, including Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang, Suining, Leshan, Meishan, Ya'an, and Ziyang. It also considers nine other cities in southern and northeastern Sichuan, such as Zigong, Luzhou, Neijiang, Yibin, Guangyuan, Nanchong, Guang'an, Dazhou, and Bazhong, as needed.

The Sichuan Provincial Environmental Protection Department has identified seven key tasks for this enhanced inspection. The first task is the elimination and upgrading of scattered and polluting enterprises and clusters. The inspection will focus on whether these enterprises have been shut down, relocated, or upgraded according to rectification plans; whether enterprises resuming production after rectification comply with relevant regulations; and whether any scattered and polluting enterprises not listed in the inventory are involved.

In addition, the inspection will also cover coal-fired boiler remediation, volatile organic compound (VOC) control, construction and operation of key industry facilities, management and control in key areas, response to heavy pollution weather, and the implementation of air pollution-related rectification items from central and provincial environmental protection inspections.

For general issues discovered during the inspections, each inspection team will provide on-site feedback and require rectification. For prominent issues, the teams will promptly report to the local municipal government, urging them to seriously investigate and rectify the problems. Any instances of inaction, slow action, or failure to fulfill environmental protection responsibilities by local Party committees, governments, and their relevant departments discovered during the inspections will be promptly addressed in accordance with laws and regulations.