Natural resource exploiters targeted

Violations in exploiting natural resources have been a priority target as China's central environmental inspectors continue their monthlong tour across five regions.

Since arriving in these regions, including Hebei province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, late last month, inspection teams have exposed a violation in each of the regions.

Four of them are related to resource exploitation.

In Hebei's Xinglong county, inspectors found rampant illegal mining in some areas, according to a news release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Wednesday.

The inspection teams are made up of officials from the ministry and report to a central leading group headed by Vice-Premier Han Zheng.

Even though some companies' mining permits had expired, they continued operating, the release said, damaging the local landscape.

"Large plots of land have been left bare and local ecosystems have been severely jeopardized," the ministry said.

Some mining companies had even trespassed onto natural reserves. A subsidiary of Hebei Zhuhe Group operated outside its permitted area to exploit granite rocks, damaging 2.7 hectares of forest and 2 hectares of farmland.

The company was given three administrative penalties for the violation but it didn't restore the area it damaged. Despite this, the local authorities still extended its mining permits.

Local authorities have failed to adequately fulfill their duties in supervising mining operations. "They have allowed illegal invasions into natural reserves and forests for an extended period of time," the release said.

Similar problems were found in Bayannuur, a city in Inner Mongolia.

Disordered surface mining, some of which crossed into unpermitted areas, has resulted in "irreversible damage to the fragile ecosystem" in the arid region, the ministry said.

Among the 85 mines in Urad Front Banner, 45 are surface mines. The operation of these surface mines has resulted in many large pits and piles of mining waste in the desert.

In their random visits to eight of the surface mines, inspectors found none of them operating and restoring mining areas as required.

"The vegetation has been severely damaged. It's extremely difficult to restore the damaged ecosystems," the release said.

Companies were found to have crossed over their permitted areas at 62 of the mines. In total, they illegally invaded roughly 2,000 hectares of prairie and desert. Menghang Mining, for example, had trespassed into 13 hectares of prairie since 2020.

Failing to adhere to the country's high-quality development path that prioritizes ecology and highlights green development, the Bayannuur government has exploited its natural resources in an inefficient and blind manner and has not effectively supervised the mining sector, the ministry said.

In the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, inspectors found violations in exploiting water from the Manas River that left some sections of the watercourse dried up with serious degradation in some areas that are vitally important for the local ecosystem.

Without the necessary permits, the water resources bureau of the city of Shihezi and its subordinate institutions built a dam in a wetland park to divert water from the river.

The release said the dam has cut off the wetland from its water source, accelerating the degradation of its functions in the local ecosystem.