Effective March 1, my country has fully implemented the Regulations on the Administration of Pollution Discharge Permits (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). As the core system for environmental management of fixed pollution sources, the pollution discharge permit system is one of the important contents of upholding and improving the ecological civilization system, and will play a role that cannot be ignored in economic and social life.
After the implementation of the “Regulations”, nearly 3,000 certificate-holding units and more than 37,000 pollutant discharge registration units in Hangzhou will be subject to stricter restrictions.
How well is the company’s pollution discharge permit implemented? On the first day of the implementation of the regulations, law enforcement personnel from the municipal ecological environment department went deep into the enterprise to investigate problems and implement them.
In a printing and dyeing factory in Tianmushan Town, Lin’an District, members of the Hangzhou Ecological Environmental Protection Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Team discovered that there was a pollution discharge problem in the factory area. “First of all, they privately installed a natural gas boiler and added a new discharge outlet. Judging from the sewage discharge permit, this sewage discharge outlet does not exist; secondly, the wastewater treatment in the factory is equipped with a waste gas treatment and absorption device, which also has One discharge outlet was not listed on the pollution discharge permit; in addition, we conducted a pH test paper test on the absorption liquid of the exhaust gas treatment facility and found that it did not meet the specified requirements, which requires further verification,” said Ye Song, a member of the law enforcement team.
After the “Regulations” are implemented, after the pollutant discharge unit obtains the pollutant discharge permit, it must discharge pollutants according to the permit, and in accordance with the prescribed location and number of discharge outlets, discharge direction, discharge concentration, and total discharge volume. etc. to standardize and implement pollution discharge behaviors. Obviously, this printing and dyeing company has been suspected of illegal discharge of pollutants.
Hangzhou began to actively explore pollution discharge permit management as early as 2008. Now, the introduction of regulations and systems for pollution discharge permit management from the national level will be more powerful. Promote a series of management systems for fixed pollution sources to fall into the “one certificate”.
Sha Jianfei, deputy director of the Environmental Assessment and Emission Management Department of the Hangzhou Ecological and Environmental Protection Bureau, said that after the implementation of the “Regulations”, the regulatory coverage of the ecological environment department has been expanded. In addition to the need to apply for For enterprises with pollutant discharge licenses, the registration management system also includes some enterprises with small pollutant emissions and small environmental impact into supervision. The “Regulations” also further clarifies the main responsibilities of pollutant discharge units, requiring pollutant discharge units to implement independent management and achieve active application, active monitoring, active reporting, active recording and active disclosure.
At the same time, penalties for unlicensed discharge of pollutants, excessive discharge, illegal discharge of pollutants by evading supervision, etc. have been further increased, with fines ranging from 200,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. For fines of less than RMB 100,000, the threshold was raised from RMB 100,000 to RMB 200,000.
Relevant knowledge
1 Question What are the characteristics of the “Regulations”? What are the new regulations and measures?
Answer: The “Regulations” mainly embodies two major features: the first is to require pollutant discharge units to establish an environmental management ledger system and disclose discharge information, thereby strengthening supervision during and after the event; the second is to punish illegal activities The penalties are increased and the cost of violating the law is increased. At the same time, the “Regulations” also put forward many new regulations and measures, mainly in the following aspects: First, implement classified management of fixed pollution sources. Focused management and simplified management will be implemented respectively for pollutant-discharging units with greater impact and smaller ones. The second is to require pollutant discharge with a license and supervision based on the license. The Regulations clearly stipulate the responsibilities of pollutant-discharging units and ecological environment authorities. Pollutant-discharging units shall discharge pollutants in accordance with the emission factors and emission standards of the pollutant discharge permit. The ecological environment department shall conduct law enforcement inspections in accordance with the annual law enforcement plan. The third is to further clarify the legal obligations and responsibilities of all parties involved in ecological and environmental protection. The fourth is to increase penalties for illegal pollution discharges. The “Regulations” increase the minimum fine amount for illegal pollutant discharges such as discharging pollutants without obtaining a pollutant discharge permit, discharging pollutants beyond the standard, from the previous low limit of 100,000 yuan to the current 200,000 yuan.
2 How does a pollutant discharge unit apply for a pollutant discharge permit?
Answer: In short, it means taking the right positions and clarifying the management categories. Pollutant discharge units can determine whether the pollutant discharge permit management category belongs to key management, simplified management or registration management based on their industry categories, processes, production scale, etc., by referring to the “Classified Management Directory of Stationary Pollution Sources Discharge Permits” (2019 Edition), and then Follow the required steps. Pollutant discharge units that implement registration management do not need to apply for a pollutant discharge license. They can just fill in the pollutant discharge registration form on the national pollutant discharge license management information platform. Take pig slaughtering enterprises as an example. Those that slaughter 100,000 pigs or more annually are under key management. Those that slaughter 20,000 pigs or more and less than 100,000 pigs annually are under simplified management and should apply for a pollutant discharge permit. Those that slaughter less than 20,000 pigs annually are subject to simplified management. It is registered and managed, and there is no need to apply for a pollutant discharge permit.
3 Question: After the implementation of the “Regulations”, what are the new changes in the law enforcement supervision of the ecological environment department?
Answer: The “Regulations” have a special chapter on “supervision and inspection”. The content of this chapter is mainly about the provisions of law enforcement procedures and law enforcement methods. It solves the problems of the use of law enforcement methods and the identification of law enforcement evidence that have troubled environmental law enforcement agencies for many years, and provides a solid foundation for the future.�Environmental law enforcement for pollution discharge supervision provides a strong guarantee. First, the frequency and method of law enforcement inspections on pollution discharge permits have been clarified. Paragraph 1 of Article 25 of the “Regulations” Ecological and environmental law enforcement agencies shall conduct law enforcement inspections in accordance with the annual plan for ecological and environmental law enforcement to avoid arbitrariness and blindness in ecological and environmental law enforcement inspections. The second is to strengthen the obligation of pollutant-discharging units to cooperate with environmental supervision and law enforcement. Paragraph 1 of Article 26 of the Regulations clearly stipulates the obligation of pollutant-discharging units to cooperate with environmental supervision and law enforcement. At the same time, Article 39 of the Regulations also clearly stipulates the legal liability for refusal to cooperate.
The above provisions of the “Regulations” will play a strong role in promoting ecological and environmental law enforcement. The third is to clarify the standards for punishment when “fights” occur in monitoring data. When the self-monitoring data of the pollutant-discharging unit is inconsistent with the monitoring data of on-site law enforcement by the ecological environment authorities, which monitoring data should be used as the basis for law enforcement and punishment. This issue has always been controversial. Article 29 of the “Regulations” clearly stipulates that the monitoring data of the ecological environment department shall be the basis for law enforcement. </p
