Air polluters to pay through the nose for emission discharge

 
Adjustments have been made in Shanghai’s air pollution regulations, including much higher fines for polluters.
 
The adjustments were ordered by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. All cities and provinces are to draft or revise regulations before the end of the year.
 
One of the new items in Shanghai’s regulations requires industries, including construction materials, electrolytic aluminum and steel, labeled for heavy-waste discharge, to take anti-air pollution measures in autumn and winter when air pollution occurs most frequently, according to a meeting of the city’s legislative body yesterday.
 
No new facilities powered by coal, heavy oil residue or petroleum coke will be permitted and existing ones may not be expanded.
 
The original regulation banned automobiles that failed to meet emission standards, a ban extended to include off-road vehicles like earth-moving equipment, harvesters and drilling machines.
 
The city can restrict heavy-polluting off-road machinery according to the air condition and owners of such machinery must register it with the environmental department.
 
Fines for environmental violations have been raised. Companies with inadequate anti-air pollution controls can be fined up to 1 million yuan (US$144,000). Previously, the upper limit was 50,000 yuan. Third-party pollution treatment agencies that cheat in the execution of their duties will be fined up to 500,000 yuan. Previously, the upper limit was 100,000 yuan. Companies or organizations that fail to install online monitoring will be fined up to 200,000 yuan instead of the previous 100,000 yuan. Automobile owners providing fake emission discharge reports will be fined up to 500,000 yuan instead of the 50,000 yuan.
 
In the first seven months, about 1,500 environmental administrative cases were reported. Over 278 million yuan in fines has been collected.