Overview of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture—Environmental Protection (Part 3)
Section 3 Environmental Protection Work. I. Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control. In the 1980s, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture gradually began industrial pollution treatment. In 1981, the Prefecture People's Government issued the first batch of deadline treatment projects, covering Jishou Paper Mill, Prefecture Pharmaceutical Factory, Jishou Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, Jishou Tannery, and Prefecture Second People's Hospital. From 1985 to 19...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 3 Environmental Protection Work
I. Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control
In the 1980s, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture gradually carried out industrial pollution treatment. In 1981, the Prefecture People's Government issued the first batch of projects ordered to be treated within a deadline. The enterprises ordered to treat within a deadline were Jishou Paper Mill, Prefecture Pharmaceutical Factory, Jishou Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, Jishou Tannery, and the Prefecture Second People's Hospital. From 1985 to 1987, the electrolytic manganese production line of the severely polluting 70 Chemical Plant and Jishou Paper Mill were successively relocated. Since the "Ninth Five-Year Plan," a series of large-scale special actions for industrial pollution treatment have been carried out.
Banning and closing "Nineteen Small" enterprises. The "Decision of the State Council on Several Issues Concerning Environmental Protection" (Guo Fa [1996] No. 31) explicitly required that before the end of 1996, small paper mills, tanneries, dye factories, and enterprises using primitive methods to coking, sulfur refining, arsenic refining, mercury refining, lead-zinc refining, oil refining, gold selection, pesticide production, bleaching and dyeing, electroplating, and producing asbestos products and radioactive products be banned and closed according to law, referred to as banning and closing "Fifteen Small" enterprises. The Hunan Provincial People's Government document Xiang Fa [1996] No. 20, on the basis of the national "Fifteen Small," added the banning and closing of primitive antimony refining, vanadium refining, and copper refining. The Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture People's Government, in light of the prefecture's actual conditions, further added the banning and closing of lead-zinc flotation enterprises with a scale below 50 tons/day, totaling "Nineteen Small." Through the joint efforts of departments at all levels, by the end of 1996 the entire prefecture had closed 25 severely polluting "Nineteen Small" enterprises.
Industrial pollution sources meeting discharge standards. Starting in 1999, following Hunan Province's "five batches" approach of shutting down a batch, ordering a batch to treat within a deadline, upgrading a batch, eliminating a batch, and converting a batch, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture organized and carried out industrial pollution treatment work with industrial pollution sources meeting discharge standards as the main line, pushing industrial pollution treatment to a new level. Through more than three years of effort, 116 of the 120 enterprises listed in the prefecture's plan achieved discharge standards for major pollutants, with a compliance rate of 96.7%. Among them, all 15 key enterprises under provincial and prefectural control required to meet standards within a deadline achieved discharge standards for major pollutants, ranking fourth in the province's assessment and acceptance.
Banning and closing illegal vanadium plants. In 2004, the market price of vanadium pentoxide rose sharply. Driven by high profits, illegal vanadium plants were commonly built everywhere. By 2005, the number of vanadium plants in the prefecture rapidly rose from the original 2 to 31, causing severe air pollution and ecological damage, and the public strongly reacted. In response, the Prefecture Party Committee and Prefecture Government made the major decision to ban and close vanadium pentoxide production enterprises. Relevant counties and cities formed special law enforcement teams to carry out "vanadium prohibition" work. By the end of June 2005, all 31 vanadium plants in the prefecture were shut down, of which 17 had their roasting kilns blown up or production equipment dismantled.
Electrolytic manganese pollution treatment. In August 2005, regarding the pollution problem of the "Manganese Triangle" of Huayuan County in Hunan Province, Xiushan County in Chongqing Municipality, and Songtao County in Guizhou Province, General Secretary Hu Jintao and Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan successively made important instructions twice. To fully implement the important instructions of central leaders, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, with Huayuan County as the focus, comprehensively carried out pollution remediation work for electrolytic manganese enterprises. Of the 49 electrolytic manganese enterprises in the prefecture, except for 2 under construction and 3 voluntarily closed, all other 44 enterprises carried out treatment, of which 26 were ordered to suspend production for treatment and 18 were ordered to treat within a deadline. The entire prefecture completed a total investment of 172 million yuan in manganese pollution treatment, of which electrolytic manganese enterprises in Huayuan County completed 106 million yuan in treatment investment. Forty-one electrolytic manganese enterprises passed acceptance by provincial and prefectural environmental protection departments, and 40 enterprises installed online wastewater monitoring devices, of which 14 electrolytic manganese enterprises in Huayuan County passed acceptance by the State Environmental Protection Administration in one go.
II. Urban Environmental Remediation
In 1990, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture began incorporating the construction of "Three Zones" (drinking water source protection zones, smoke and dust control zones, and noise pollution control compliance zones) into the environmental protection target responsibility system. Counties and cities successively delineated the scope of urban "Three Zones" and carried out related pollution remediation and drinking water source protection work.
Urban drinking water source protection. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, counties and cities attached great importance to strengthening the protection of urban domestic drinking water sources, actively treated and relocated old pollution sources within drinking water source protection zones, and strictly controlled new pollution projects within drinking water source protection zones. They successively closed and banned 17 sewage outlets of tertiary industries and aquaculture within primary protection zones; ordered 17 industrial enterprises, 34 catering businesses, and 4 farms within secondary protection zones to treat within a deadline; and rejected 9 planned new construction projects. The environmental quality of drinking water sources continuously improved.
Air pollution treatment. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, counties and cities successively carried out special actions to treat coal-fired boilers, ban motorized tricycles, and prohibit fireworks and firecrackers. From 2000 to 2003, the Prefecture People's Government allocated a special fund of 200,000 yuan annually to treat 165 coal-fired boilers in the Jishou urban area, focusing on promoting the use of geothermal and other renewable energy and clean energy such as electricity and gas, mandatorily using low-sulfur anthracite with sulfur content below 2% and ash content below 20%, and introducing smokeless combustion and gasification, liquefaction and other clean combustion technologies to renovate existing boilers and kilns. Through treatment, the number of days with good air quality in Jishou City increased from 276 days in 2003 to 362 days in 2005, and the acid rain frequency decreased from 94.7% in 2003 to 64.7% in 2005, with air environmental quality significantly improved.
Urban environmental protection infrastructure construction. Seizing the opportunity of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture entering the scope of national western development, effectively increasing project application efforts, projects such as domestic waste harmless treatment plants in the county seats of 8 counties and cities and the Jishou and Fenghuang sewage treatment plants successively started construction. The Longshan and Baojing waste harmless treatment plants were completed and put into use, and the Fenghuang sewage treatment plant completed main pipe laying and plant area construction. The Prefecture Medical Waste Disposal Center project was approved for implementation. Once these environmental protection infrastructure facilities are completed, they will play an important role in improving urban environmental quality.
III. Environmental Protection Law Enforcement
Environmental protection law enforcement in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was carried out alongside pollution remediation. Since 1981, environmental protection legal systems such as pollution discharge fee collection, environmental impact assessment, the "three simultaneities" for construction projects, and deadline treatment have been successively implemented. After entering the 21st century, the environmental legal system and administrative law enforcement work of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture were further strengthened.
Legislation for ethnic autonomous areas. Approved by the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress, the Prefecture People's Congress Standing Committee successively promulgated and implemented the "Regulations on the Protection of Drinking Water Sources in the Urban Area of Jishou City, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture" in 2003, and the "Environmental Protection Regulations of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture" in 2005. The promulgation and implementation of these two local environmental protection autonomous regulations further clarified the principles and systems of environmental protection, refined or adapted provisions of superior laws that were unclear regarding government responsibilities, environmental impact assessment, and pollution discharge fees, stipulated systems and measures conducive to environmental management such as the "three simultaneities" guarantee deposit, and promoted the development of environmental protection administrative law enforcement work.
Special action to crack down on illegal pollutant-discharging enterprises and safeguard public health and environmental protection. Since 2003, in accordance with the overall deployment of the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Justice, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Work Safety, 1-2 key priorities were highlighted each year, combining cracking down on illegal pollutant-discharging enterprises with "vanadium prohibition," "manganese treatment," lead-zinc enterprise remediation, and drinking water source protection, focusing on resolving prominent problems affecting public health. Over 3 years, the entire prefecture inspected 315 industrial and mining enterprises, banned and closed 86 backward enterprises such as vanadium pentoxide and lead-zinc flotation, ordered 112 enterprises to suspend production for treatment or stop construction, and ordered 158 enterprises to treat within a deadline, promoting environmental protection law enforcement work and resolving a number of environmental problems strongly reflected by the public.
Environmental management of construction projects. Combined with carrying out special remediation actions, a comprehensive cleanup was conducted on the implementation of environmental impact assessment and the "three simultaneities" for construction projects. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, 117 construction projects were ordered to complete environmental impact assessment approval and "three simultaneities" acceptance procedures. Key investigations and handling were conducted on illegal approval, approval beyond authority, and emphasis on approval over management, standardizing the graded and classified management and approval procedures for construction projects. Starting from the environmental capacity of river basins and resource guarantee capacity, approval of new electrolytic manganese, electrolytic zinc, and lead-zinc flotation projects in the Huayuan River, Xiongdi River, Dong River, and Wanrongjiang River basins was suspended, other heavily polluting mineral resource primary processing projects were strictly controlled, and projects with incomplete pollution prevention facilities were prohibited from going into production, further reducing environmental pressure.
IV. Ecological Construction
Ecological prefecture construction. The Eighth Party Congress of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture proposed implementing the "Ecological Prefecture Construction Strategy" and established the goal of ecological prefecture construction with ecological construction and pollution prevention as the main content. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was approved by the State Environmental Protection Administration as the ninth batch of national ecological demonstration zone construction pilots. In accordance with the requirements of ecological demonstration zone construction, the entire prefecture adhered to the principle of paying equal attention to pollution prevention and ecological protection and simultaneously promoting ecological protection and ecological construction. Combined with the implementation of the ecological prefecture construction strategy, it vigorously implemented returning farmland to forest, closing hillsides for afforestation, and rural energy construction. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the entire prefecture completed 12 million mu of closing hillsides for afforestation and 4 million mu of tree planting, of which 3.8 million mu was returning farmland to forest, and built 95,000 new rural biogas digesters and 60,000 "two-province stoves." By the end of 2005, the prefecture's forest coverage rate reached 61.5%, 42.8 percentage points higher than the national average.
Construction of nature reserves and forest parks. In 1982, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture established its first nature reserve—Longshan Luota Metasequoia Nature Reserve. By the end of 2005, the entire prefecture had established 31 nature reserves and 17 nature protection communities, with a total area of 273,400 hectares, accounting for 17.65% of the prefecture's total land area. Among the 31 nature reserves, 1 is a national nature reserve, Yongshun Xiaoxi Nature Reserve, with an area of 25,300 hectares; 6 are provincial nature reserves, namely Longshan Luota Metasequoia Nature Reserve, Fenghuang Jiuchongyan Nature Reserve, Fenghuang Liangtouyang Nature Reserve, Guzhang Gaowangjie Nature Reserve, Baojing Baiyunshan Nature Reserve, and Longshan Yinjiajie Nature Reserve, with an area of 58,100 hectares; and 24 are county- and city-level nature reserves, with an area of 190,000 hectares. The entire prefecture has built 5 national and provincial forest parks, with an area of 13,300 hectares, accounting for 0.86% of the prefecture's land area. Among them, 2 are national forest parks, Yongshun Bu'ermen Forest Park and Fenghuang Nanhuashan Forest Park, with an area of 7,232 hectares; and 3 are provincial forest parks, Longshan Taipingshan Forest Park, Guzhang Zuolongxi Forest Park, and Jishou Hongfeng Forest Park, with an area of 6,066 hectares.