The Pressure Of The Ministry Of Environmental Protection After The Reform In 2008

After upgrading, there is no obvious change in the problems faced by the Ministry of environmental protection and the ability to solve problems. The Ministry of environmental protection's "three fixed plan" (fixed function, fixed organization, fixed establishment) came out in June, but it will not change much compared with the current situation. Feng Dongfang, director of the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of environmental protection, said. At 9 a.m. on March 27th, No. 115 Xizhimen Nan Xiao street, Xicheng District, Beijing, this is the office of the former environmental protection administration. Zhou Shengxian, Minister of the State Environmental Protection Department, pulled down the red cloth. "People's Republic of China environmental protection department" brand of white bottom was displayed in front of people. As the only upgraded body in the reform of the State Council, the Ministry of environmental protection will face the boundless expectations of the masses. But for the Ministry of environmental protection, they may even hope that this expectation will be reduced appropriately. The function of the Ministry of environmental protection has not changed much. The functions of environmental protection are scattered in the Ministry of water resources, the Ministry of agriculture, the former Ministry of construction, the Ministry of land and resources, the Ministry of public security and so on. The environmental protection department's law enforcement personnel and the limited resources of law enforcement can not be completely changed in the short term. Ma Zhong, Dean of the Environmental College of Renmin University of China, thinks that the upgrading of the environmental protection administration can be regarded as a "starting point". As the Department of the State Council, the Ministry of environmental protection will help environmental forces participate more in the overall decision-making of the country. This institutional upgrading is another manifestation of what scholars call "national will of environmental protection" - the central government's attention to environmental protection has been reflected repeatedly. And this increasingly strong national will is based on the increasingly severe environmental situation. Across the country, 90% of the rivers pass through different levels of pollution, 75% of lakes appear eutrophication, 30% of the key cities do not reach the class III standards for drinking water sources, and 46% of the urban districts do not meet the two grade air quality. In 2007, the State Environmental Protection Administration received an average of two working days to receive and report a sudden environmental incident. The first investigation team dispatched by the Ministry of environmental protection is visiting Chongqing at the same time when the Ministry of environmental protection listed the new measures. They investigated the Liang Tan River, which flows through the main urban area of Chongqing. According to the monitoring results of the local environmental protection department at the end of last year, the water quality of Liang Tan River is inferior to class V (basically no use function, and agricultural water is not enough), which is described as "color and ink". Just two days before the Ministry of environmental protection listed, Minister Zhou Shengxian said at the 2008 National Conference on environmental law enforcement that he should "enforce law strictly as hard as iron and steel". "We must investigate and deal with the cases that are strongly reflected in the list and punish them in a proper way. The enforcement of environmental protection administration has been well known in recent years. From 2005 to 2007, the environmental protection administration launched three environmental storms in three years. The environmental protection administration once became a star ministry. Pan Yue, the Deputy ministerial official born in 1960, who plays the role of deputy director of the environmental protection administration, has also become a high-profile personality officer. In fact, these storms are not conventional measures but normal administrative enforcement. "The administrative measures of the environmental protection administration are definitely not too far behind." Malaysia, who claims to be an economist, believes that the administrative measures of the environmental protection administration are far from enough. The "environmental storm" reflects the long-term weakness of the environmental protection department. But for the environmental protection administration, the implementation of the "regional restricted batch" in 2007 is considered to be the most stringent administrative punishment method launched by the environmental protection department in the past 30 years. Pan Yue even said it was "the last resort" of the environmental protection administration's administrative law enforcement. China is not short of laws and regulations related to environmental protection, but these laws and regulations have limited power to enforce the environmental protection administration. The Environmental Impact Assessment Act promulgated in 2003, which is highly regarded by environmentalists, has not changed this situation. "The revision of the law is a complex process." Feng Dongfang said. This means that the environmental protection department's enforcement measures will not have much room for maneuver in the short term. Some people think that after the "environmental protection administration" has been in a desperate situation, people have seen the new measures taken by the environmental protection administration. In February this year, the Environmental Protection Administration issued two other economic policies, green insurance and green securities, after last year's green credit. According to the original intention of the design, environmental and economic policies try to make environmental protection an internal constraint force of enterprises. "From the road map of environmental economic policy to the introduction of green credit, green insurance and green securities, only half a year has passed since the working group did not rest for a day, and after many rounds of consultations, before the lack of manpower and funds, the first few efforts were made through hard efforts." Environmental economic policy can not rely on the environmental protection department to achieve its own needs, and the coordination and cooperation of other departments is needed. Pan Yue's description reveals the difficulty of the policy. He even said: "any macroeconomic sector is willing to lead the implementation of environmental and economic policies, we will cooperate vigorously and play a supporting role." But the new policy is facing setbacks and relapses. The green credit that has been implemented for half a year is not going well. Some high polluting and high energy consuming enterprises are also high profit and high return industries in some places. Banks are reluctant to reduce their credit scale. In terms of the implementation of environmental and economic policies, the Ministry of environmental protection is undoubtedly facing a protracted war. Shortly after the listing of the central and local departments of environmental protection and responsibility, the "Planning Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (Draft)" was launched for two years, from the project environmental impact assessment to the planning environmental impact assessment. This great leap forward is intended to directly cut off the source of pollution. The regulation, which was originally planned to be launched last summer, has been in a long way since it needs to overcome the resistance of the local authorities and the relevant departments. After the promotion of several EIA enforcement measures by the environmental protection administration, the EIA rate of local enterprises has increased significantly, but the pollution situation has not been much improved. "EIA is only one part of it. Whether a factory equipped with sewage treatment equipment can run the equipment in the later operation is not controlled by EIA. It still needs local government supervision." Xu Tong, manager of Zhonghui national ring (Beijing) Technology Development Co., Ltd. EIA is an important business of this company. "After years of efforts, environmental protection has become a rigid indicator of some local governments." Xie Qingkui, a school of government management at Peking University, said to "new century weekly", "but for many places, development still takes precedence over environmental protection." "If local governments enforce laws strictly, they will probably kill some small and medium-sized enterprises." Xu Tong said, "environmental protection needs cost. For example, a LV package of a price of ten thousand yuan, Chinese manufacturers may only get one hundred yuan - lower profits, it has no ability to take part of it to manage the environment, and the leather industry is a very polluted industry. Many enterprises in China also belong to the processing oriented industry. Local ambivalence towards environmental problems determines their hesitation in action. In the past two years, the central government's goal of saving energy and reducing emissions during the "11th Five-Year" period has not completed the expected emission reduction task. In the remaining three years, the government will face enormous challenges to fulfill this solemn promise. The central government, which is heavily stressed, is trying to break down responsibilities. By the end of 2007, the State Council has passed the "statistics, monitoring and assessment" plan for energy conservation and emission reduction by the State Council. According to the requirements of the plan, energy conservation and emission reduction as a rigid indicator of local and central enterprises, and adopting "one vote veto" has become an important part of the performance appraisal of leading cadres. But at the same time, people also worry that energy saving and emission reduction linked to "official hat" will turn into a digital game or even data fraud. CPPCC National Committee member Wang Yuqing reminded during the two sessions that there should be a clear understanding of the decline in energy saving and emission reduction data. "It is not that the indicators have declined, and the environmental problems have been solved." Even if the target is fulfilled on schedule, China's environmental crisis will not be lifted. Due to local governments, local environmental protection departments have been lacking in practice, and the voice of vertical management has been very high. Wu Xiaoqing, Deputy Minister of environmental protection, had previously questioned the media that vertical management would not be implemented this year. The Ministry of environmental protection will not interfere with the reform of local environmental protection departments. "The key is to divide the central and local environmental rights." Ma Zhong said. Because the central and local governments do not clearly define their environmental responsibilities and environmental financial rights, their responsibilities in environmental governance are unclear and mutually exclusive. This is a complex project which seems to have not yet been launched. "For the environmental protection department itself, it is very stressful to turn it into a department." Xia Guang, director of the research center of the Ministry of environmental protection, said. There are still many problems to be solved by the Ministry of environmental protection. In addition, as FredKruppg, President of the environmental protection association of the United States, said, China's environmental problems can not be solved by strengthening the authority of a certain department.