Sina News
Shandong authorities recently published a differentiated off-peak operation plan for industrial producers in the province during 2019~2020 autumn and winter. The policy is applicable to industries including building materials, coking, alumina, primary aluminum, carbon, copper smelting, petrochemicals, coal fertilizers, iron, steel, and pharmaceutical and pesticide enterprises involved in VOC emissions across the seven corridor cities in Shandong including Jinan, Zibo, Jining, Dezhou, Liaocheng, Binzhou and Heze. The policy will be effective from 15th November 2019 to 15th March 2020.
The principle of policy implementation will be differentiated management and ad-hoc management for environmental emergencies. In the 15 key industries with clear performance indicators, such as iron and steel, coking, alumina, primary aluminum, carbon, etc., an A,B and C grading system shall apply. Producers will be graded by their actual environmental performance and different management measures will apply accordingly.
A-grade producers, with production processes, pollution control and emission intensity levels matching the national advanced level, can be exempted from emission reduction liabilities during heavy pollution periods. B grade producers, with key environmental indicators reaching the provincial advanced level, must cut emissions accordingly and moderately, and for iron and steel makers with 2018 capacity utilization rates exceeding 120% – the percentage of production cuts will be reduced accordingly. The policy ‘Technical Guide for the Formulation of Emergency Emission Reduction Measures for Key Industries with Severe Pollution Weather’ shall apply to C grade producers and other producers with unclassified key environmental indicators. In addition, a set of measures shall be formulated according to local and actual circumstances. Producers who cannot stably discharge pollutants up to standard (national or provincial), who fail to meet the requirements of emission permit management, or fail to undertake comprehensive treatment of air pollution during the 2019~2020 winter, are not included in the scope of performance classification, so these producers will be required to suspend or curb all operations (by production lines) following the strictest (upper) level of production cuts.
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