China’s official English-language daily newspaper comes out with a harrowing list of environmental statistics and an appeal for more staff to help the beleaguered State Environmental Protection Administration actually enforce the government’s new commitment to green growth:
An “unexpected environmental accident” occurred in China roughly every other day in the first half of this year, a situation the government is all too aware of.The head of the department charged with enforcing environmental law and inspecting the accident sites says the only way the job can be done any better is with more trained personnel.
Statistics from the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) are incomplete, but show that China witnessed 86 sudden environmental accidents in the first half year, causing 16 deaths and leaving 233 either poisoned or injured. Of the 86, exactly half were industrial accidents, and 19 caused by traffic accidents. By comparison only 30 environmental accidents were reported last year. [Full Text]
The article leads into the list of statistics by noting that, although China has experienced annual GDP growth near 10% since 1979, “SEPA has news to mute the celebration.”
This is just the latest in a string of damning environmental reports the China Daily has been producing lately, including a lengthy editorial last June from Pan Yue, the celebrated vice-minister of SEPA.
