On the night of Nov. 13, Minister Li Ganjie took an inspection tour to Baoding of Hebei Province without any prior notice, in response to a predicted area-wide heavy air pollution about to strike Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas as well as Fenhe-Weihe Plain between Nov. 13 and 15. He went straight to the local firms to check their compliance with the local emergency preparedness plan against the heavy air pollution.
Li took on a ride and arrived at Lipute Welding Company at around 21:00 that night, when he found the company had already halted operation following an orange alert of heavy air pollution. Li inquired about the starting hour of the halt, the source of the company’s raw materials and the recent profitability and pointed out that facing the daunting air pollution situations in the autumn and winter as well as the disadvantageous pollution diffusion conditions, the MEE had sent out multiple inspection teams to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas. He hoped that the inspectors would canvass the pollution problems, carry forward the spirit of defying the hardships, observe the emergency preparedness plan against heavy air pollution to the letter, and contribute to the improvement of the air quality in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas.
Li arrived at Quzhai Cement Company at 22:30 that night. He sent regards to the staff on the night shift, looked closely to the air quality data in the premise and asked his team to authenticate the data. Also, he inquired the staff about the environmental compliance inspection and their daily routines, checked the environmental equipment, and checked whether the flying dust had been properly treated or the workshop was still in operation.
The northern China has started heat supply with the approaching of the winter, and some of the rural areas began self-supplied heating. There has been a growth of air pollutants in key regions, said Li. During the heavy air pollution, the local areas should maintain a high stance of all-hour and all-dimensional pollution control. The inspectors should be on the position at all times and sweep all blind spots. Moreover, they should enhance the regulatory capacity and accelerate the development of a remote-sensing monitoring network and environmental monitoring surveillance platform, mete out the punishments strictly and maintain a high stance on incompliant companies.
It is reported that MEE had corresponded with the governments of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi on the air quality forecasts. They had been advised to activate early warnings in accordance with the local heavy air pollution emergency preparedness plans. In the meantime, the field working teams sent to the cities along the air pollution transmission routes will urge the local areas to implement pollution reduction measures and ask them to make improvements if found any underperformance in doing so.
