The undated photo shows one pit containing waste liquid in the Tengger Desert. The waste water was secretively transferred to the Tengger Desert by entreprises. (Photo/ce.cn)
A major industrial player in the northwest Chinese province of Gansu has had its operations suspended and fined some 48-million U.S. dollars for illegally discharging waste water into Tengger Desert.
In March, Gansu government conducted what it calls "a thorough inspection" of local enterprises, looking for illegal discharging in the desert.
The snap inspection failed to expose any illegal activities.
However, media reports then followed and exposed that a company called Ronghua Industry & Trade had been discharging waste water into the Tengger Desert.
This has raised questions about how the local industrial giant in Gansu was able to bypass inspections and discharge waste water into the desert.
Ma Jun is the director of the China Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.
"In many cases, local environmental bureaus aren't able to withstand pressure from economic interests. Instead, they simply submit to the decision-making of local governments, who often prioritize economic interests over the environment. This happens a lot in the western regions, where economic growth is still lagging behind."
Gansu's provincial authorities have since admitted they have loopholes in its supervision, pinning the blame on the municipal government of the city of Wuwei for deliberately concealing the facts of the case.
Officials with local environmental protection departments are now under investigation.
Taking effect this year, China's revised environmental protection law includes stronger penalties for firms breaking the rules, as well as more accountability for local governments.
But observers say the core of the issues lies in how the law is applied.
Liu Hongyan is law professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He says levying a fine on a company is far from enough.
"The new environmental protection standards have not replaced penalties with effective supervision. For companies like Ronghua, they need to spend much more than 3 million yuan to install pollution discharging facilities. As such, they just count the fines for illegal discharging into their general costs."
Launched in 1999, the Tengger Industrial Park had managed to escape a lot of public attention until illegal discharging cases started emerging.
In August of last year, several pits containing liquid waste were discovered.
The companies responsible were punished and ordered to move out of the Industrial Park.
Professor Liu Hongyan says much more attention needs to be paid to the Tengger Industrial Park.
"First of all, the area the pollution was discharged in the Tengger desert is very close to the upper reaches of Yellow river. Secondly, waste water can easily permeate through sand. This will eventually pollute the groundwater, which will be a deadly blow to the ecological system. But beyond this, there are concerns that the treating of waste water can lead to additional air pollution concerns in local areas."
Authorities are now conducting an impact assessment, which is due to be released by the end of this month.
The outcome of the report is expected to determine whether Ronghua will face even more penalties, based on the environmental damage it has caused.
