To fake enterprises, local environmental protection departments and local governments

Behind the corporate fraud, there are local environmental protection departments "turn a blind eye" inaction, and even take the initiative to fake to show political achievements in pollution control. What has been destroyed is not only a few monitoring technicians and a few environmental monitoring stationmasters, but also the foundation of national environmental monitoring data and the credibility of environmental protection departments.

Environmental monitoring data is the decision-making basis of environmental governance. If the source of water injection is falsified, the decision-making is bound to deviation, delay the timing of environmental governance, and damage the public interest.

Starting from January 1, 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection implemented the Measures for determination and Handling of Falsification of Environmental Monitoring Data. According to the measures, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will spend the next two years to carry out special inspections to crack down on the falsification of local environmental monitoring data, especially air quality data. More severe stick to fake enterprises, local environmental protection departments and local governments, deserve praise.

In general, the central and local governments have invested a lot in environmental monitoring. The online monitoring network has already used more than 10 billion yuan and is theoretically capable of monitoring tens of thousands of pollution sources. Among them, 436 million yuan was invested in the air monitoring system alone. In 2014, China built the largest air quality monitoring network in developing countries. It is in this context that some local governments fabricate and tamper with monitoring data in order to reduce the pressure of assessment. The central leadership has repeatedly issued instructions to crack down on the falsification of environmental data and hold the false figures to account.

Environmental monitoring data has been elevated to a legal level, with higher binding force. The new law clearly stipulates that monitoring agencies should use monitoring equipment that meets national standards, abide by monitoring norms, be responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of monitoring data, and punish and hold accountable those who tamper with, forge or instigated the tampering or forgery of monitoring data. In the second half of 2015, environmental protection authorities at all levels identified eight typical cases of illegal activities, which were all handed over to public security organs and 10 responsible persons were punished by criminal or administrative detention.

The reason why enterprises can resort to fraud shows that there are loopholes in the environmental protection online automatic monitoring network. I understand that some companies have bought counterfeit equipment to try to get away with it, leaving room for data falsification and manipulation. This loophole is also related to the fact that environmental monitoring data released by some local governments are inconsistent with the intuitive feelings of citizens, sometimes even greatly contrasting.

For years, it has been an open secret that some local environmental monitoring data were falsified. As in recent years, some of the sewage into the desert, or into the river, are knowingly illegal. In my opinion, behind these enterprises fake behavior, there are local environmental protection departments "turn a blind eye" inaction, and even do not rule out the initiative to cooperate with the fake to show political achievements in pollution control. This practice has not only destroyed the monitoring technicians and environmental monitoring stationmasters, but also shaken the foundation of national environmental monitoring data and destroyed the credibility of environmental protection departments.