Xinhua Viewpoint | Over 3000 people held accountable! What issues will the second round of central ecological and environmental protection inspections focus on? Problem | Ecological Environment | Ecology

Recently, the second round of central ecological and environmental protection supervision and handover issues, as well as the accountability work, have been fully completed. The inspection team transferred 158 accountability issues to the inspected objects, and the inspected objects were held accountable seriously, accurately, and effectively. A total of 3371 people were held accountable.

What is the situation of accountability? What are the key points of inspection work? Xinhua Vision reporters interviewed relevant authoritative figures.

More than half of the personnel have been subject to party discipline and government sanctions

From May 2020 to June 2022, the second round of central ecological environment protection inspection was divided into six batches to complete inspection feedback on 31 provinces, regions, cities, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and 6 central enterprises. Strict accountability is an inherent requirement of ecological and environmental protection inspections, as well as an effective means to promote inspection and rectification work and solve ecological and environmental problems.

Public data shows that a total of 3035 people, including 371 department level cadres and 1244 department level cadres, have been held accountable for 135 accountability issues transferred by inspectors in 31 provinces, regions, cities, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Among them, 1509 people were given disciplinary and administrative sanctions, 782 were admonished, and 744 others were dealt with.

At the same time, the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and six central enterprises have held a total of 336 people accountable for the 23 accountability issues transferred by inspections. Among them, 183 people were given disciplinary and administrative sanctions, 63 were given admonishments, and 90 others were dealt with.

The reporter found through analysis that the accountability for the transfer issue shows obvious characteristics such as high level, strong intensity, and wide coverage——

From the specific situation of accountability, a total of 1692 people have been subject to party discipline and government sanctions, accounting for more than 50% of all accountable personnel.

From the perspective of the composition of accountable personnel, the number of cadres at or above the department level has reached 1615, accounting for approximately 48% of the total number of accountable personnel.

From the perspective of the units where the accountable personnel are located, they are distributed among local party committees, local governments, local party committees and government departments, state-owned enterprises, other relevant departments, and public institutions.

The reporter learned that during the entry of the inspection team, for ecological and environmental issues reported by the public through letters and visits, various regions carried out inspections and reforms simultaneously, and the inspection team also publicly disclosed the accountability situation of inspections and reforms simultaneously. This type of problem is relatively minor, and the level and intensity of local accountability are also relatively small.

However, the 158 accountability issues were transferred to the inspected objects for accountability after being approved by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. They are prominent ecological and environmental issues in local or central enterprises, and their level and intensity of accountability are far greater than those of simultaneous supervision and accountability.

The relevant person in charge of the Central Office of Ecology and Environment Protection Supervision stated that overall, the second round of inspection transfer issues and accountability work focuses on holding the main responsibility, supervision responsibility, and leadership responsibility of leading cadres accountable, playing a positive role in implementing the dual responsibility of the Party and government for ecological environment protection and promoting inspection and rectification work.

What issues are the inspection team closely monitoring

What issues will be included in the list of accountability issues for transfer?

The relevant person in charge of the Central Ecological Environment Protection Inspection Office stated that the inspection work has always been guided by the "big picture of the country" and closely revolves around the overall economic and social development, planning, and promoting work. Focusing on the coordinated development of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the construction of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and other major regional strategies, we will closely monitor the implementation of ecological and environmental protection requirements, strictly control the blind implementation of high energy consumption and high emission projects, and look back on the implementation of capacity reduction, making inspections a powerful tool to promote high-quality development.

Taking the recent public announcements of the sixth batch of inspections in the second round as an example, there are some common issues among provinces and regions.

Firstly, the most frequently mentioned is illegal and irregular mining.

In Xizang, several sand and stone quarries in Seni District of Naqu City should apply for mining licenses according to the regulations. However, since 2018, Naqu City and Seni District have repeatedly approved in the form of departmental documents, without requiring the application of mining licenses. The forestry, grassland, water conservancy and other departments have also failed to go through the formalities of grassland requisition and occupation, water and soil conservation, etc. according to the requirements of the regulations, allowing their long-term illegal exploitation, involving a total grassland area of 468000 square meters.

In Xinglong County, Chengde City, Hebei Province, there are 679000 tons of unlicensed illegal mining in mining areas such as Shuaibao Mining, Hongji Mining, and Yangbiziling Iron Mine, resulting in serious damage to the mountains, fragmented mines and their surrounding areas, and extensive exposure of the surface, seriously damaging the natural ecology.

In Inner Mongolia, which is rich in mineral resources, such issues are more concentrated. Among the three issues transferred by the inspection team, two are related to mining. There are 62 mining projects in 45 mines in Urad Front Banner that have encroached on desert grasslands, occupying a total grassland area of nearly 30000 acres, seriously violating grassland laws. The inspection team randomly inspected 8 open-pit mines, including the iron ore in the Wanlinggou North mining area of Urad Front Banner, but none of them were mined and repaired according to regulations.

There are currently two mining enterprises in the Huanggangliang Iron Mine area of Keshiketeng Banner, Chifeng City. They have built 7 mining areas, 7 beneficiation plants, 4 tailings ponds, and related auxiliary projects in the Huanggangliang National Forest Park in Inner Mongolia. Both mining enterprises have not implemented relevant regulations on the management of the national forest park for 3 mining rights, and have been engaged in long-term illegal mining, resulting in prominent ecological damage and environmental pollution problems.

Next is the issue of pollution prevention and control. This is directly related to the blue sky and clear water, as well as the sense of environmental satisfaction of the people, and is also a prominent aspect of the handover issue from the inspection team to the local authorities.

In Xinjiang, the inspection team has been concerned about the inadequate promotion of air pollution prevention and control in the "Wuchang Shi" region, as well as the frequent occurrence of heavy pollution weather; In Xizang, the construction of sewage treatment facilities in the Airport New Area is seriously lagging behind, and domestic sewage is discharged directly for a long time; Some districts and counties in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province have inadequate sewage collection and treatment, resulting in prominent water environmental pollution problems; The illegal disposal of sludge in cities and counties such as Xingtai, Tangshan, and Hengshui in Hebei Province has highlighted environmental risks and hidden dangers.

In addition, strict control over blind implementation of "two high" projects and a "look back" on the implementation of capacity reduction has always been a key concern of the inspection team, and there are also certain commonalities in the handover issue.

In some areas of Xinjiang, outdated production capacity is not effectively phased out, and the control of illegal production capacity is not strict or practical. For example, the relevant functional departments in the Aksu region did not fulfill their responsibilities correctly, and even though they knew that the 3500 ton/year lead chrome yellow production line of Xinjiang Chuangxin Chemical Co., Ltd. was a restricted construction project, they still issued an environmental impact assessment approval as a "relocation and expansion" project. The steel industry in Handan City, Hebei Province is experiencing chaos in reducing production capacity, and the implementation of industrial structure adjustment is not effective. For example, in December 2021, Hebei New Wu'an Iron and Steel Group Baking and Melting Steel Co., Ltd. illegally constructed a 1580 cubic meter blast furnace without completing necessary procedures such as filing, environmental impact assessment, and energy assessment before starting construction.

Carefully plan to carry out the third round of inspections

The relevant person in charge of the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Office introduced that the major decisions and key task measures made by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the construction of ecological civilization in the new era and new journey are clear requirements and key directions that the central ecological and environmental protection supervision must deeply implement and firmly grasp. Inspectors need to anchor goals, maintain strength, and expand areas.

"Seriously plan to carry out the third round of central ecological and environmental protection inspections." The person in charge said that this year is the beginning of the third round of inspections, and it is crucial to systematically plan the overall ideas, goals, tasks, and work priorities of inspections. We must firmly grasp the political direction, serve the overall situation of the center, focus on key tasks, and uphold the people's position.

The responsible person said: it is necessary to take the implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions as the top priority of inspectors, and promote the implementation of the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection. focus on high-quality development and regional major strategies to highlight ecological and environmental problems, major ecological environmental damage, environmental infrastructure weaknesses and other key areas to carry out in-depth supervision. Give full play to the role of the "sharp sword" inspectors.

At the same time, we must continue to exert force, keep a close eye on the situation, and persistently carry out inspections and rectification, forming a closed loop of inspection and rectification management that discovers and solves problems. To implement the responsibilities of all parties, consolidate the main responsibility of the inspected objects, promote the precise, scientific, pragmatic, and lawful rectification of the inspected objects, resolutely rectify, comprehensively rectify, and thoroughly rectify.

"Discovering and exposing problems is the means, solving problems is the goal." The person in charge introduced that as of May 2023, the first round of inspections identified 3294 rectification tasks, with an overall completion rate of over 97%. The second round of inspections identified 2164 rectification tasks, which have been completed by 61%.

He stated that it is necessary to strengthen dispatch and supervision, establish and improve a supervision and rectification ledger, implement inventory management, strengthen dispatch, monitoring, supervision, and information disclosure, and strengthen the coordination and linkage between "supervision" and "supervised". Depending on the situation, measures such as notification, supervision, public interviews, or special inspections shall be taken to promote the effective resolution of problems in areas where the rectification of inspections is ineffective; Public exposure and serious handling of issues such as false rectification and perfunctory rectification discovered; Promptly promote positive examples of inspection and rectification, and play a role in motivating the advanced, exchanging work, and leading and driving.