Article type: Translated
MEP organized recently local branches responsible for automatic monitoring of pollution sources to intensify the supervision and inspection on the operation and management status of automatic monitoring facilities, bring to justice any identified environmental offences including fraudulent monitoring data, and inform a batch of typical cases, in an effort to enforce the new environment protection law, and crack down on monitoring data fraud, such as data tempering and fabricating. 

Zou Shoumin, Director General of Environmental Supervision and Inspection Bureau with MEP, disclosed the details of those fraud cases.

1. Kingboard (Hebei) Coking Co., Ltd., the main business of which is producing tamping coke, crude benzene, tar and other products, is one of the important chemical enterprises in Xingtai Municipality, Hebei Province in North China. On April 22, Xingtai municipal EPB teamed up with the environmental protection detachment of the municipal PSB to conduct a comprehensive inspection on pollutant release of the company. The inspection found that the company used part of the high concentration coking wastewater directly for coke quenching without any treatment, which was a typical case of knowingly stealthy discharge. In addition, the SO2 level recorded by the automatic monitoring equipment in its first phase project on the 150 t/h coal-fired boilers was 35-90 mg/m3, and soot 45 mg/m3, whereas the EPB’s manual monitoring data on the field was 166-172 mg/m3 and 194 mg/m3 respectively. Moreover, the soot level recorded by automatic monitoring equipment in its second phase project on the 75 t/h coal-fired boilers was 66 mg/m3, in comparison with EPB’s manual monitoring data of 163 mg/m3. The company had problems with excessive emissions from coke oven, online monitoring data fraud for coal-fired boilers, and excessive emissions of soot, etc. Xingtai EPB made the punishment decisions according to the law, by imposing a penalty of 1.45 million yuan and confiscating one million yuan of incompliance deposit. The manager who was in charge of the company’s environmental protection and surnamed Zhang, and the manager who was heading the company’s instrument department and surnamed Hu were both subject to a 7-day administrative detention, because of the company’s willful modification of online monitoring data.

2. Henan Province Environmental Monitoring Center reviewed previous monitoring data and found the automatically monitored SO2 reading of soot from coking oven was constantly at 20 mg/m3 for a long term in Yuxin Rolling Industrial Co., Ltd. of Xinyang Municipality, Henan Province in central China. On April 17, the monitoring center sent a team to the field and monitored the SO2 level manually, the data ranged between 100 mg/m3 and 200 mg/m3, and there was a large gap between automatic monitoring readings before and after the inspection. The investigations later confirmed that the company had pulled out some of its SO2 measuring probes without approval, which caused the sampling holes to leak, diluting the emitted pollutants. The company tempered the sampling devices to bring down the measurement data, resulting in false monitoring data. In light of such violations, Xinyang municipal EPB made a punishment decision, imposed a penalty of 60,000 yuan on grounds of the company’s excessive emission, and a penalty half that amount on grounds of tempering autonomic monitoring data, retrieved the coking oven SO2 pollution fee in the first quarter of the year, and started the daily penalty protocol. The municipal PSB meted out administrative punishment of a 10-day detention to a company supervisor Li and another person directly responsible for the alleged violation who is surnamed Wang.

3. The public filed a complaint against China Cement Plant on grounds of alleged excessive emissions which polluted the environment. However, the company attained emission standards for all pollutants according to the EPB monitoring platform. Therefore, Nanjing Environmental Monitoring Detachment went to the site for investigations and found the company’s SO2 analyzer reading of the No.2 kiln was 210 mg/m3, exceeding 5%, but the data feed to the municipal EPB was merely 23.27 mg/m3; the NOx analyzer reading was 881 mg/m3, but uploaded EPB data was 300 mg/m3. The inspectors opened up the monitoring devices and found a few wires were connecting the analyzer which is responsible for data sampling with the PLC which is responsible for data transmission, and wired to the administrative office, making it possible to temper the monitoring data freely. Recently, Nanjing Environmental Monitoring Detachment imposed a fine of 200,000 yuan on this company, and required it to pay nearly 2.6 mil. yuan of pollution fee overdue. In the meantime, the environmental leader Yang was held for a five-day administrative detention on grounds of tempering and fabricating monitoring data.

4. Shandong Province Environmental Monitoring Center found in recent data review for many times that the flue gas temperature was 87℃ (wet desulfurization) at night and 58℃ at day in Longkou Mining Group Heat and Power Co., which was suspected to halt the operation of desulphurization facilities at night. On March 18, the monitoring center carried out a separate investigation, which measured the SO2 reading of the outlet at 1,915 mg/m3, exceeding the limit by 8.6 times, and NOx reading at 301 mg/m3, exceeding by 0.5 times. In comparison, the company’s automatic monitoring device showed SO2 reading at 100 mg/m3 and NOx at 67 mg/m3, which were inconsistent with the field monitoring data. Preliminary analysis indicated data fraud. The inspectors canvassed the sampling pipeline and the PLC parameters, only to find mineral water barrels and nitrogen cylinders placed in a room next to the monitoring room to absorb and dilute the SO2 and NOx in the sampled soot, tempering the normal operation of automatic monitoring devices. It is reported that this was the first fraud case since the new environment law was enforced, in which two methods were used to fabricate data. On March 19, Longkou municipal EPB imposed a fine of 50,000 yuan for the company’s excessive pollution emission, and a fine of 100,000 yuan for its fraudulent behaviors with the automatic monitoring devices, both fines were highest fines. The EPB also ordered the company to suspend operations for three months. In the meantime, the municipal police department held the company’s environmental director Wang for a 10-day administrative detention.

5. On March 5, the environmental inspectors with Shandong provincial EPB launched a separate investigation on Shengyuan Heat and Power Co., Ltd. based in Anqiu City, finding plummeting oxygen reading and significantly lower SO2 reading according to the automatic monitoring device installed on No.2 chimney. Preliminary analysis showed tempering with sampling, so the inspectors checked the sampling pipe, finding that the nitrogen dilution devices were connected to the sampling pipes of both automatic monitoring equipment, which tempered the normal operation of the equipment and brought down the monitoring data. The monitoring data measured after clearing the disturbing factor showed the SO2 reading of the soot from No.2 chimney at 1,236 mg/m3, exceeding the standard by 5.2 times. Weifang municipal EPB meted out the harshest punishment to the company, and ordered it to attain emission standards within a prescribed period of time. In the meantime, the police department held the company’s environmental director Wang for a 10-day detention, and the perpetrator Zheng for a 5-day detention. The discipline inspection committee of Anqiu issued a serious Party disciplinary warning to the legal representative and responsible vice general manager of the company.

6. Shandong provincial Environmental Monitoring Center found through data review that the SO2 readings of Wenyuan Heat and Power Co., Ltd. of Laiwu Municipality were much lower at night than at day and without any fluctuations for a long period of time, suspicion of data fraud arose. On February 5, the monitoring center launched a separate investigation into the company and found the SO2 reading skyrocketed after the inspectors entered the premises to as much as 550 mg/m3, exceeding the standard by 1.75 times. Review of the logs of PLC parameters indicated that one minute before the inspectors stepped into the premise, the SO2 measurement limit was modified from 300 mg/m3 to the normal value of 1000 mg/m3, leading to the abrupt change of SO2 readings. Further inspection found multiple alterations of measurement limits before. The company reset the upper limit of measurement and disrupted the normal operation of automatic monitoring equipment. The inspection team ordered the company to correct the monitoring parameters at the scene of investigation, and required it to eliminate the fraud function of the monitoring equipment within a prescribed period of time. The provincial EPB imposed a 50,000 yuan fine and required minimizing the production load while ensuring heat supply to the residents, in order to make sure the company attains emission standards. Under the EPB-PSB cooperation mechanism, the inspection team transferred relevant evidence to Laiwu municipal PSB at the scene, and the PSB held the company’s environment director for a 10-day administrative detention.

7. Shandong provincial Environmental Monitoring Center conducted a field inspection at Huatai Chemical Industrial Group of Dongying Municipality, and found the company faked the data from its air pollution source automatic monitoring devices. The automatic monitor and analyzer measured the SO2 reading at 66 mg/m3 at the scene, while the manual monitoring data was 1,180 mg/m3, exceeding standard by 4.9 times. The two readings were around 18 times apart. The inspection team collected the evidence and transferred it to the police department at the scene. After further investigations, the police department held two responsible persons from the company under administrative detention.

 
(This English version is for your reference only.In case any discrepancy exists between the Chinese and English context, the Chinese version shall prevail.)