SEPA: After the Storm(2)

After being identified by SEPA's dragnet in July, the Baiyin government threw their weight behind solving the environmental crisis. On the morning of July 10^th, Baiyin's mayor Yuan Zhanting presided over a local-government conference that focused on pollution control . Participants agreed on a new policy that would bring Baiyin up to SEPA's requirements and thus allow industry there to resume. That same evening, the executive vice-mayor called in bosses from 15 illegally polluting operations to set a time-line for improvements, which they agreed to. At 1am on July 11^th , after having just returned from the government's emergency conference, the Baiyin branch of SEPA held a meeting to assign and divide the workload among staff. Finally, on the 13^th, the secretary of the municipal Party committee, Zhang Jinghui, presided over a conference of his committee to discuss the work.

"This time, if the local governments does not take it seriously, there's no way they can get around the restriction. This hits local government sharply," said Xiong Yuehui, deputy director of the supervision bureau of SEPA. According to him, the restriction will force restructuring in some industries.

Xiong says that when they inspected Chaohu City in Anhui province, acting mayor Song Guoquan admitted that the policy had forced them to eliminate wasteful businesses, and overall the gains exceeded the loss.

An Unconventional Measure

The shutdowns were actually an unusual policy choice for the SEPA. Professor Lei Ming at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, also a member of the Green GDP technical work group, said the policy was a heavy-handed response to severe incidences of pollution. While on the one hand it sends a stern warning to local government, it also reveals weakness in environmental protection at the local level.

Deputy director general of SEPA says that the policy was just a special administrative measure, and the issue should be solved in a more systematic fashion.