＂Help Beijing to fight the hard battle of air pollution prevention and control＂

On July 8th, Vice Chairman Shen Yueyue led a law enforcement inspection team to Beijing Cement Plant to inspect the pollution prevention and control of enterprises. Photography/Wang Ping

 

In recent years, China’s air pollution situation is grim, the problem of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) exceeding the standard is prominent, and heavily polluted weather appears in many places at the same time, showing obvious regional characteristics. This is still far from the goal of building an ecological civilization and a beautiful home with "sky blue, green land and clean water" proposed in the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

With the attention of the whole country, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) actively responded to the people’s environmental concerns, and decided to go to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and other key areas this year to carry out law enforcement inspections on air pollution prevention and control laws, and vigorously promote the improvement of atmospheric environmental quality through the supervision of the National People’s Congress. As the capital of the motherland and the "four centers" (political center, international exchange center, cultural center and scientific and technological innovation center), Beijing has a great responsibility to prevent and control air pollution, which is one of the key points of this law enforcement inspection.

From July 8th to 10th, the inspection team of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law led by Vice Chairman Shen Yueyue went to Beijing for inspection. Wang Yunlong, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Committee of the National People’s Congress, Yang Wei, member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) and the Environmental Protection Committee, Yang Gengyu and Pu Changcheng, NPC deputies Chen Jun and Wang Xiaoke, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Zhai Qing and heads of relevant departments attended the inspection.

Shen Yueyue emphasized that the central government attaches great importance to the construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection. The purpose of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC)’s law enforcement inspection of air pollution prevention and control law is to fully understand the implementation of air pollution prevention and control law, promote the in-depth development of air pollution prevention and control, and lay a foundation for the revision and improvement of air pollution prevention and control law.

In the meantime, the law enforcement inspection team listened to the report of the Beijing Municipal Government, went deep into the relevant districts, counties and enterprises, and inspected the industrial pollution control, motor vehicle pollution prevention and control, clean energy transformation, etc., and had discussions with some NPC deputies, environmental experts and scholars, and business leaders to listen to their opinions and suggestions on the implementation of the air pollution prevention and control law.

Shen Yueyue pointed out that it is necessary to thoroughly study and understand the spirit of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Supreme Leader during his inspection tour in Beijing in February this year, and enhance the consciousness of doing a good job in air pollution prevention and control; It is necessary to enhance the initiative of doing a good job in air pollution prevention and control from the height of promoting the development of the capital and building the first good area; From the perspective of responding to people’s concerns, we should enhance our sense of responsibility in the prevention and control of air pollution and strive to build Beijing into a world-class harmonious and livable capital.

Shen Yueyue stressed that it is necessary to do a good job in law enforcement inspection of air pollution prevention and control law, adhere to the problem orientation, fully understand the implementation of the law, and seriously study the key and difficult issues in law implementation. It is necessary to take this law enforcement inspection as an important opportunity to promote the work and comprehensively improve the quality of the atmospheric environment. It is necessary to listen to opinions and suggestions from all sides on revising and improving laws and supporting regulations, conscientiously sum up experience in scientific governance, and revise and improve the air pollution prevention and control law.

Beijing’s "trick" to prevent and control air pollution: taking multiple measures and combining regional efforts to control haze

On the morning of July 8th, Guo Jinlong, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of Beijing Municipal Party Committee, had a discussion with the law enforcement inspection team. Guo Jinlong pointed out that air quality is related to people’s health and the image of the country. Beijing should make the greatest determination and take the most effective measures with the highest standards to fight the tough battle of air pollution prevention and control. Beijing has formulated a clean air action plan, refined its objectives and tasks, and at the same time unified its thinking and reached a consensus through legislation, focusing on reducing coal burning, controlling vehicles and reducing oil consumption, pollution control and emission reduction, cleaning and dust reduction, and actively implementing regional joint prevention and control. The previous stage of air pollution prevention and control began to achieve positive results. I hope that the inspection team will put forward more valuable opinions and suggestions to help Beijing further improve its work level and mobilize all sectors of society to invest in the prevention and control of air pollution.

On September 12th, 2013, Beijing Clean Air Action Plan for 2013-2017 was officially released. The "Five-year Action Plan" clearly stated that after five years of efforts, the average annual concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing will be reduced by more than 25% compared with that in 2012, and it will be controlled at about 60 micrograms per cubic meter.

Zhang Gong, vice mayor of Beijing, said that the new target means that with the economic and social development, the average annual concentration of PM2.5 will drop from 89.5 to 60 in just four years, with an average annual decrease of 8%-9%, an unprecedented improvement. The Five-year Action Plan is the most comprehensive, systematic, meticulous and vigorous air pollution control measure in Beijing in recent years.

In order to strengthen the accountability of assessment, Beijing regards PM2.5 as a binding indicator of economic and social development, builds a target responsibility assessment system with environmental quality improvement as the core, and incorporates action plan objectives and task completion into the performance assessment system. At the beginning of each year, the district and county governments, relevant municipal departments and municipal state-owned enterprises will be assessed for the completion of the annual tasks. As an important part of the assessment and evaluation of the leading bodies, the assessment results will be announced to the public in a timely manner, and a "one-vote veto" will be implemented.

Zhang Gong particularly emphasized that, under the deployment of the central government, Beijing has launched regional joint defense and control, and set up the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas air pollution prevention and control cooperation group headed by Secretary Guo Jinlong to control air pollution through coordinated regional development.

The inspection team fully affirmed the characteristics of Beijing’s air pollution prevention and control, such as multi-measures, regional linkage and joint efforts to control haze. The law enforcement inspection team said that through this law enforcement inspection, efforts will be made to promote the whole society to form an awareness of air pollution prevention and control of "breathing together and fighting together" and further promote the construction of Beijing’s first good district.

The initial effect of prevention and control is still in its infancy.

The first to set up a PM2.5 monitoring station, the first to issue an emergency plan for heavy air pollution days, and the first in the country to raise the discharge charges of four major pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, by about 15 times … The inspection team learned that Beijing has made up its mind, made an iron fist, and comprehensively implemented policies, starting with reducing coal burning, controlling vehicles to reduce oil consumption, and improving industrial quality, and made solid progress and achieved initial results.

Zhang Gong, vice mayor of Beijing, said that in the first half of this year, the average concentration of PM2.5 in Beijing was 91.6 μ g/m3, down 11.2% year-on-year. The concentrations of inhalable particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) all decreased year-on-year. In the first half of the year, there were 25 days of heavy air pollution, 15 days less than the same period last year. Faced with the dual pressures of rapid "incremental" growth of pollution and difficulty in reducing "stock" of pollution, Beijing has made great efforts to overcome objective difficulties such as being surrounded by mountains on three sides, drought and little rain, and small environmental capacity, and implemented a number of emission reduction measures, thus achieving a sustained and obvious improvement in Beijing’s air quality.

Controlling coal pollution and reducing the consumption of coal are the longest-lasting and most effective air pollution control measures in Beijing. Since 1998, Beijing has taken a series of measures, such as withdrawing from high-energy-consuming and high-pollution enterprises, limiting production, and "changing coal to electricity" and "changing coal to gas", which has promoted the adjustment of energy structure and achieved certain results. Compared with 2001, in 2012, the proportion of highly polluting fuel coal in the primary energy consumption structure decreased from 51.1% to 25.4%, clean energy natural gas increased from 4.8% to 16.7%, and external electricity adjustment increased from 17.4% to 25.7%. The utilization of clean energy increased rapidly, the use of coal was restrained, and the concentrations of many pollutants represented by sulfur dioxide decreased.

In the control of motor vehicle pollution, Beijing has been in line with the international standards, leading the national level, and achieved "five firsts": taking the lead in implementing the emission standards for new vehicles, and taking the lead in implementing the national I, II, III, IV and V emission standards for motor vehicles in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2013 respectively; Take the lead in upgrading vehicle oil standards. Since 2012, the fifth phase of vehicle oil standards has been implemented nationwide, which can reduce the emission pollution of various motor vehicles in Beijing by about 15%. Take the lead in implementing the elimination and renewal of old cars (including yellow label cars); Take the lead in establishing a supervision system for in-service vehicle emission standards; Take the lead in completing oil and gas recovery and management.

Beijing strives to build a high-standard industrial pollution emission standard system in industrial pollution control. In 2013, Beijing shut down two cement production enterprises, Jinyu Shunfa and Pinggu Cement Company, and the cement production capacity in the city was reduced by 17%. The cement enterprises have completely completed the flue gas denitrification project of cement kiln and the sealed transformation of material storage; While promoting the implementation of the coal-to-gas project, the power industry has fully completed the flue gas denitrification project of the existing gas-fired power plant. In 2013, Beijing issued 9 local environmental protection standards for air pollution prevention and control, which was the year with the largest number of standards issued. At present, there are 33 effective local atmospheric environmental protection standards in Beijing, covering a wide range, ranking first in the number of provinces and cities in China, and the pollutant emission limits are all at the domestic leading level, and some of them have reached the international advanced level.

Shen Yueyue fully affirmed Beijing’s efforts in the process of implementing the air pollution prevention and control law. She pointed out that in recent years, Beijing has continuously stepped up efforts to control outstanding problems such as coal burning, motor vehicles, industry and dust pollution, and achieved remarkable results. Good experience has been gained in strengthening the adjustment of industrial structure, optimizing the economic layout of the capital, developing clean energy substitution, promoting the transformation of energy structure, and improving the emergency disposal level of heavy air pollution. However, it should be noted that the current situation of air pollution in Beijing is still grim, and new situations and problems in the prevention and control of air pollution also need to be solved urgently.

Zhang Gong said frankly that the prevention and control of air pollution in Beijing has achieved initial results, but it is still in its infancy. Chen Tian, director of Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said that with the deepening of air pollution prevention and control work in Beijing and the development of economy and society, the air pollution situation in the capital has shown new characteristics. At present, the problem of fine particles is prominent, compound pollution is more prominent, the proportion of pollution caused by urban operation and daily life is getting higher and higher, and the interaction of regional pollutant transport is getting bigger and bigger. It is necessary to adhere to the coordinated emission reduction of various pollutants, implement "double control" on the total amount and concentration of pollutants, and also need the joint participation, action and regional joint prevention and control of the whole society to solve the pollution problem.

Can motor vehicle pollution prevention be done better?

Source control can effectively prevent and control. Automobile exhaust is becoming one of the main sources of air pollution, and it is also a common concern of the general public. Therefore, understanding the situation of motor vehicle pollution control in Beijing is the focus of this law enforcement inspection.

The relevant person in charge of Beijing told the reporter that the proportion of tertiary industry in Beijing has exceeded 70%, leading many cities in the country. There are few industries, and more pollution comes from emissions in life, especially motor vehicle exhaust. The results of PM2.5 source analysis in Beijing show that among the local pollution contributions, motor vehicles account for 31.1%, coal combustion accounts for 22.4%, industrial production accounts for 18.1%, dust emission accounts for 14.3%, and other emissions such as catering, auto repair, livestock and poultry breeding and architectural painting account for about 14.1%. According to the analysis results, motor vehicle exhaust pollution has become the most important source of air pollution in Beijing.

On July 9, the old motor vehicles in Beijing were eliminated and updated in the South Center. After listening to the introduction of the center, members of the inspection team asked the relevant staff to learn more about the situation.

"How many old motor vehicles were eliminated by the center last year?" "Last year, we eliminated 200,000 old motor vehicles. The number of vehicles eliminated in Beijing last year was 366,000. " "Which of these 200,000 vehicles accounts for a larger proportion of family cars, official cars and taxis?" "Government official vehicles are not within the scope of our elimination. Generally, family vehicles and taxis are eliminated more." "How many years does the family car generally scrap, and how many kilometers are it generally scrapped?" "Taxis are scrapped after six years, and family cars are in 1989, but how many kilometers are not clear, because they are not collected when government subsidies are usually distributed." The inspection team met an old man who happened to apply for a motor vehicle scrapping subsidy at the scene. The old man happily told the members of the inspection team that the conditions are good now. He just scrapped a van that has been driving for more than 9 years and bought a new Jinbei. According to the subsidy policy of Beijing to eliminate and update old motor vehicles, he can get 7,000 yuan of government subsidies within 10 years, and he can get more than 1,000 yuan of scrapped cars after he arrives at the scrapping factory. After buying Jinbei, the automobile manufacturers will also give corresponding financial rewards, and he can get subsidies and other expenses of 10,000 yuan before and after.

Shen Yueyue pointed out that the elimination and renewal of motor vehicles should consider not only the year of use, but also the number of kilometers traveled, because the amount of pollutants emitted by family cars and taxis is very different. "Beijing promotes the prevention and control of air pollution in all directions, and the most important thing is the motor vehicle problem. Beijing has introduced an economic subsidy policy to speed up the elimination and renewal of old motor vehicles, and to make money more efficient, more targeted policies must be put forward in this regard. "

Adhering to the problem orientation, not only seeing achievements, but also seeing problems, is a distinctive feature of this law enforcement inspection. The inspection by the inspection team in Beijing Motor Vehicle Emission Management Center also fully demonstrated this point.

After observing the monitoring of motor vehicle exhaust by laser remote sensing equipment on the spot and feeling the efficiency improvement brought by science and technology to motor vehicle pollution enforcement, the members of the inspection team also came prepared and put forward their own problems. "I heard that some unqualified cars often borrow a purifier from the repair shop on the side, and then return it after passing the test. With 100 yuan, you don’t have to spend 3000 yuan to buy equipment. " "This is the case." "How to put an end to temporary borrow one? Things outside the annual inspection factory should be solved by comprehensive measures. Now is to plug the loophole. Don’t let opportunists benefit. "

At present, there are 43 annual inspection sites and 274 inspection lines for motor vehicles in Beijing, and they are networked with environmental protection departments. At present, on average, about 10 annual inspection sites are suspended for rectification due to fraud. The members of the inspection team learned that according to the newly issued regulations on the prevention and control of air pollution in Beijing, testing enterprises that do not meet the testing requirements or fail to check carefully will be punished by 5,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan.

"It is necessary to strengthen the supervision of testing institutions according to law." Shen Yueyue stressed. At the same time, Shen Yueyue also focused on the pollution prevention of diesel vehicles. "Although diesel vehicles are small compared with gasoline vehicles, the absolute value of their emissions is large. Is there any potential for reducing emissions of diesel vehicles in Beijing in terms of quantity and quality? If we break through from diesel vehicles, we can still make considerable improvements. "

The reporter learned that in order to reduce the intensity of motor vehicle use, the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission and the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau are working hard to study and formulate policies for low-emission areas and pollution congestion fees. Regarding the lever of charging congestion charges, Chai Fahe, vice president of china environmental science Institute, said that charging sewage charges is actually to increase the cost of using oil to discharge pollutants. We should encourage residents to use cars reasonably and moderately and reduce unnecessary use. Through congestion charging, a more balanced distribution of traffic in time and space can also be achieved. People who don’t pay fees may suffer losses in traffic, but they benefit from air quality, which makes the system more efficient and beneficial to everyone.

Prevention and control of air pollution: what potential can be tapped?

Work together to control air pollution and the whole country should respond. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei should be at the forefront, and Beijing should become a model and benchmark. In the process of law enforcement inspection in Beijing, questioning and exploring Beijing’s "potential that can be dug deep" in controlling PM2.5 has become the key content of this law enforcement inspection of air pollution prevention and control law.

At the end of February this year, when General Secretary of the Supreme Leader visited Beijing, he stressed that the prevention and control of air pollution is one of the most prominent problems facing Beijing’s development. In order to strengthen the control of air pollution, the primary task of dealing with smog pollution and improving air quality is to control PM2.5, and major measures should be taken from reducing coal burning, strictly controlling vehicles, adjusting industries, strengthening management, joint prevention and control, and managing according to law.

The prevention and control of air pollution in Beijing has entered a new stage of "taking PM2.5 as the core". Whether it is from the Five-Year Action Plan that the annual average concentration of PM2.5 is controlled at about 60 micrograms per cubic meter in 2017, or Beijing takes PM2.5 as a binding indicator of economic and social development, the law enforcement inspection team can deeply feel this.

In the process of law enforcement inspection, the inspection team heard the voices expressed by all parties in Beijing: on the one hand, Beijing should do its own work well, on the other hand, regional prevention and control should make greater efforts. Due to the fluidity and regional characteristics of air pollution, it is impossible to improve the air quality only by one province and city in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen regional joint prevention and control while controlling local pollution sources. Specific to Beijing, from the perspective of coal burning and industrial pollution, Beijing’s economic structure and industrial structure have been adjusted in recent years, and many of them have been transferred outside, which may not be as difficult as neighboring provinces and cities such as Hebei and Tianjin. At present, Beijing’s coal consumption is 21 million tons, Tianjin’s is almost 70 million tons, and Hebei’s is nearly 300 million tons. It is not enough for Beijing to make a substantial reduction, and it is very important to coordinate with the surrounding areas. However, the development stages of different places are different, and the focus of governance objectives is different, so it will be difficult to coordinate. Another example is oil products. Different oil standards implemented in the three places will also affect the prevention and control of motor vehicle emission pollution.

"Now Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has reached a good consensus on regional cooperation, and established the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas air pollution prevention and control cooperation group, and cross-regional cooperation should be strengthened. It is not only air pollution control, but also industrial layout, population gathering and distribution. The task of strengthening regional overall planning at the national level is very heavy and I hope to further strengthen it. " Yan Aoshuang, a NPC deputy from Beijing, pointed out.

At the symposium held during the law enforcement inspection, many experts said that even if the Beijing Clean Air Plan refines the tasks to people and time points, there is still great pressure to achieve the goal that the average annual concentration of PM2.5 is less than 60 μ g/m3 in 2017. Take the prevention and control of vehicle emission pollution as an example. Apart from the vehicle itself, there are also problems of oil quality and road congestion-vehicle emissions will increase a lot in the congested state, which is one of the complicated reasons.

Despite the enormous pressure, the inspection team was deeply impressed by Beijing’s determination and confidence in preventing and controlling air pollution. Beijing is going all out to fight the tough battle of preventing and controlling air pollution. Zhang Gong introduced that the Five-Year Action Plan has been broken down into 84 specific tasks, including 22 on the prevention and control of motor vehicle emission pollution, including that by 2017, the number of motor vehicles will be controlled within 6 million, and the total fuel consumption for vehicles will be reduced by more than 5% compared with 2012 by 2017. One million old motor vehicles will be eliminated, and the application scale of new energy and clean energy vehicles will strive to reach 200,000. Research and development will be made to increase the cost of vehicles and reduce the intensity of motor vehicle use.

Many of these measures have been initiated. It is understood that at present, many bus lines in Beijing have replaced or are replacing gasoline-powered vehicles with clean energy vehicles such as natural gas or electric vehicles. By 2017, the proportion of public transport vehicles with new energy and clean energy in Beijing will reach about 65%, and the fuel consumption of public transport vehicles will be reduced by 40% compared with 2012.

The smog problem in Beijing needs regional linkage between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. In June this year, the Office of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Surrounding Areas Air Pollution Prevention and Control Cooperation Group issued the "Key Work of Joint Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Surrounding Areas in 2014". This year, the planning of regional air quality standards will be started, and the red line of atmospheric environmental carrying capacity will be defined. At the same time, study the economic policy to control the intensity of motor vehicle use. This means that economic policies to control motor vehicles such as congestion charges and sewage charges may be studied and implemented in the region.

Beijing has also put forward a number of suggestions to the law enforcement inspection team on the revision of the air pollution prevention and control law, such as adding strict source control measures, adding and refining motor vehicle pollution prevention and control regulations, improving the pollutant discharge permit system, adding relevant regulations on regional cooperation in air pollution prevention and control, and increasing penalties. The law enforcement inspection team said that it will fully listen to the suggestions for amending the law and lay a good foundation for the next revision and improvement of the law.

interlinkage

Beijing issued the most stringent air pollution prevention and control regulations and started a protracted war to control haze.

Beijing’s timely promulgation and implementation of the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution left a deep impression on the law enforcement inspection team, believing that this local regulation on air pollution control provided a strong legal guarantee for Beijing to control pollution according to law in the new period. At the People’s Congress in early 2014, Beijing deliberated and passed the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Beijing, which played a positive role in building consensus and forming joint efforts to control pollution according to law.

Du Deyin, director of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, pointed out that the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Beijing was formally implemented on March 1 this year, and the law enforcement inspection of the regulations was started in April. The law enforcement inspection organized by the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress will continue until the end of October. It is unprecedented for the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress to exercise its voting rights, issue laws and regulations and carry out law enforcement inspections in the past 13 years, which fully shows that the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress attaches great importance to the prevention and control of air pollution.

It is understood that in the face of severe air pollution reality, the newly implemented "Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Beijing" has added corresponding provisions for environmental violations that were not clearly stipulated in previous laws and regulations but did exist in reality. For example, improper use of the lampblack disposal device can be punished by 5,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan; In the terms of motor vehicle emission reduction, the content of stopping for 3 minutes and turning off the fire, which is most concerned by the public, has been added. To say that it is "the most severe" mainly means that the regulations stipulate that many similar illegal acts will be doubled and punished without an upper limit; The discharge of atmospheric pollutants, which causes serious pollution and constitutes a crime, will be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.

Beijing’s air pollution control is "making a heavy blow" to polluting enterprises according to law. Chen Tian, director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, said that since the implementation of the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in Beijing on March 1, the environmental protection department has filed 518 cases of atmospheric environmental violations, with a penalty amount of 10.26 million yuan, and the urban management department has filed 442 cases with a penalty amount of 1.9437 million yuan. All illegal units and violations have been exposed. On July 7th, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau delivered a decision on administrative penalty to Beijing Bawei Company, with a penalty amount of 600,000 yuan. Previously, in May this year, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau imposed a fine of 300,000 yuan on Beijing Bawei Company in accordance with the regulations for its illegal discharge of waste gas containing volatile organic compounds directly into the atmosphere due to large-scale open-air painting in the factory area. This is the first time that Beijing has implemented "second violation of the law and double punishment" in air pollution control according to the regulations. This is also the highest penalty for atmospheric violations in Beijing since the formal implementation of the regulations.

Zhong Chonglei, head of Beijing Environmental Monitoring Corps, told the reporter that in the first half of 2014, Beijing’s environmental protection system inspected more than 31,000 pollution source units, an increase of 76% over the same period last year. 1206 cases of environmental violations were filed for punishment, and the amount of punishment was 33.097 million yuan, an increase of 76.3% and 199% respectively compared with the same period of last year. Among them, 790 cases of atmospheric environmental violations were filed for punishment, with a penalty amount of 18.36 million yuan.