China to Put Chemical Industry under Tight Scrutiny and Regulation after Chemical Plant Explosion

"There is an urgent need to enact the Dangerous Chemical Safety Law and bring systemic change to chemical management," said Greenpeace East Asia toxics campaigner Deng Tingting in an email to VOA.

She noted that a national law, which was proposed after the Tianjin explosion, is still being drafted. The law has been slowed because of government restructuring and resistance from industries.

After the Tianjin blast, the investigative body proposed using market mechanisms to encourage better management, increasing transparency, and improving the legal system. But she said few of those suggestions have been implemented.

Illicit industries

Citing the matter's sensitivity, a representative at Jiangsu Chemical Industry Association and a chemistry engineering professor, contacted by VOA, refused to comment.

An industry insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, blamed illicit businesses, saying the government can't possibly monitor the country's 26,000-strong chemical producers 24/7 like a babysitter.

He also argued that the minimum distance between a chemical plant and a residential area, currently at 500 meters by law, should be flexible in accordance with the risk level a chemical plant poses.

Both Cao and Deng urged increasing the minimum distance as it seems insufficient to prevent risks after several schools and kindergartens, located two kilometers away from the Jiangsu blast site, were found to have been affected. Estimates show that one-third of the country's chemical producers are set up in densely-populated areas.

Wu Lihong, a long-time environmental activist in Jiangsu, is pessimistic about pledges to overhaul the sector. He claimed local officials not only cut corners, but also take bribes and collude with businesses to maximize the province's or their own personal gains.

The province has the highest number of chemical producers with approximately 4,500.

"Over the past decade, Jiangsu has made one of the largest financial contributions to the central government," said Wu. "It serves as a cash cow for the central government. So, businesses go to authorities, who will cut corners for them by lowering environmental standards or making their trouble go away, even if an explosion is involved."

Making things worse, the sector's financially-disadvantaged workers often side with their business owners in fending off environmentalists or reporters, who try to bring their malpractice or pollution to light.

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"Workers at chemical plants [are fully aware that] their own health is at risk, but they are given a salary level, which is 35 to 50 percent higher than that of their peers in the shoemaking and metal hardware industries," Wu said. "So, many take up the chores, putting incomes before their health. People in the poor county of Xiangshui [are short-sighted and] would prefer to be poisoned to death than starved to death,"

Any whistleblowers there will be violently suppressed or even imprisoned, he said. This is something he knows from personal experience; Wu previously served a three-year jail term when a local court enacted retribution for his 10-year crusade against pollution in the Jiangsu's Lake Tai. (VOA)