City Must Not Alleviate Pollution at the Expense of Neighbors

Xingtai, in North China’s Hebei Province, has for years been one of the most polluted cities in China. To alleviate pollution in its main urban area, the city is planning to relocate Xingtai Iron and Steel Corp., Ltd. – one of the major sources of pollution – to Xinhe, a county administered by it but far from its urban area, reported the newspaper.

This plan, however, drew opposition from the neighboring city of Hengshui, which is worried that the new site is too close to it and the potential pollution will likely exert an irreversible impact on it, especially the Hengshui Lake wetland conservation area

Large steel companies are high-energy, high-pollution projects, and thus should be far away from main urban areas. Due to ill-considered early planning, Xingtai Steel is located right next to the central downtown. The city has every reason to consider relocating it, Yu said.

More importantly, the municipal government should ask itself whether the pollution could be ultimately cured with the steel company relocated, or it simply comes at the cost of Xinhe County and Hengshui, he argued. If it is the latter case, then it is unfair to the recipients. 

The Beijing News reported that both residents from the county and Hengshui are unhappy with the planned relocation. If the relocation goes ahead, the new factory will be 100 kilometers from Xingtai’s urban area, but only 30 to 40 kilometers from one urban district of Hengshui, he noted.

Yu urged both cities to refrain from the “beggar-thy-neighbor” mindset, but instead think globally and about how to coordinate interests and their fight against pollution, to jointly improve the entire region’s ecology. 

In the environment impact assessment, Xingtai Steel must solicit views from the public, as such a large project affects people’s lives. The commentator also drew attention to China's long-held principle of “whoever causes pollution is responsible for its treatment.”