The plan implementation schedule commenced from June 30, 2020, and ended on December 29, 2021, for a period of 18 months. The supervisory inspection work urged China Petrochemical Development Corporation to implement the remediation plan approved in order to meet the remediation objectives on time and on quality. The supervisory verification of pollution remediation-related works was conducted, including the supervision and verification of sample and post-remediation verification and inspection during the remediation construction period, to verify the effectiveness of remediation. Such routine environmental monitoring operations have controlled the environmental quality and prevented secondary pollution on the living environment of the residents. The current work results of the plan since the initial implementation (as of December 3, 2021) are summarized in the following description.
With regards to the “Review Plan on Pollution Remediation,” the plan has assisted the Environmental Protection Administration to review 124 pollution remediation plans submitted by China Petrochemical Development Corporations, including 47 pollution remediation plan related projects, 5 pollution remediation plan implementation progress reports, 34 pollution remediation plan monthly reports, 10 environmental monitoring reports, 27 plant processing and certification reports, and one other document. The relevant plans were reviewed by the Environmental Protection Bureau for completion prior to implementation.
With regards to “Execution of Supervisory Inspection Work and Establishment of On-Site Personnel,” the plan has assisted or been attended with calling 75 sessions of related conferences, including 2 sessions of remediation execution progress presentation to the residents, 8 sessions of site inspection conferences, 9 sessions of the promotional team review committee, 2 sessions of project team meetings, 16 sessions of certification and inspection meetings, and 38 sessions of other meetings. The progress of CPDC Anshun Site remediation is evaluated quarterly, and currently 1 projects are falling behind the schedule, namely “Soil and Sediment Pollution Treatment ─Thermal Treatment (Rotating kiln, cracking furnace)” behind by 15.3 %. The on-site personnel implemented 24-hour remediation site supervisory inspection work and adopted the dual mechanism strengthening management through construction site contact and follow-up on deficiency improvement. A total of 143 site contact records were issued, which categories included 82 cases of operation quality deficiency, 28 cases of environmental patrol deficiency, 6 cases of labor safety deficiency, and 27 cases of secondary pollution deficiency. Additionally, 6 cases of remediation construction quality deficiency records were issued, which relevant contact and deficiencies required CPDC to complete the improvement within the specified period.
With regards to “Pollution Remediation and Peripheral Restricted Area Control Work,” the plan has set up 24 sets of monitoring systems to monitor the site and the peripheral suspended fish farms. The on-site personnel conduct at least 2 unscheduled patrols and complete the patrol records daily (including holidays and weekends). The deficiencies (anomaly) with the control work in restricted areas included 11 cases of environmental patrol inspection and 5 cases of fish farm patrol, totaling 16 cases. The fences surrounding the restricted area were completed in July 2019 and no public has entered by mistake or been fishing since. Hence, the CPDC is required to give priority to strengthening the peripheral fence maintenance and repair work to prevent public entrance by accident due to fence damage. Additionally, qualified soil was backfilled to the suspended fish farms with fences established. The fence dust-proof mesh was completed in October 2020 to avoid flying dust pollution during the transport period.
With regards to “Pollution Remediation and Supervisory Verification,” the plan conducted the monthly execution of 1 exhaust testing at the thermal treatment plant 18 times during the implementation period. In particular, the torrential rain that took place in August 2020 resulted in puddles on the site and damage to thermal treatment equipment, and hence the general visual inspection process could not be carried out. Due to the activation of the pilot run in the second thermal treatment system and the repair of the first thermal treatment system in August 2021, the dioxins and furan testing process could not be carried out while the prior testing results all conformed to the emission standards. Moreover, the performance verification process for treated oil through thermal treatment was completed on 32,317.55 tons, with 32 groups of sample quantities drawn. The verification results conformed to the soil pollution control standards. The wet treatment plant executes 1 exhaust testing semi-annually with a total of 3 testings conducted. All prior test results conformed to the emission standards while the performance verification process of treated soil through wet treatment was completed on 89,764.48 tons, with 88 groups of sample quantities drawn. The verification results all conformed with the soil pollution control standards.
For the sediment pollution removal from Zone B of the seawater pond, the plan completed the sampling verification analysis on 56 sites in July 2020 and a total of 12 sites failed the verification. The Environmental Protection Administration has been given the suggestion to require CPDC to review the poor remediation performance and propose response improvement actions with improvement required in the specified period. The CPDC submitted the improvement plan in September 2020 and the Environmental Protection Administration agreed to the review on October 14, 2020, and requested for improvement to be completed before June 21, 2021. The CPDC re-submitted the report on the autonomous inspection acceptance and completion on improvement-pending zones in February 2021. The plan assisted the Environmental Protection Bureau to complete the secondary inspection (totaling 13 mesh nets) with sampling in Zone B of the seawater pond in March 2021. A total of 18 groups of samples were analyzed for mercury and dioxins. These verification results all conformed to the remediation plan standards (dioxins <500 ng I-TEQ/kg, mercury <10 mg/kg). Additionally, CPDC has made payment for this verification fee.
With regards to “Peripheral Environmental Quality Monitoring During the Remediation Period,” the peripheral air quality undergoes 3 sets of monitoring tests each quarter, totaling 18 sets. The monitoring results all conformed to the air quality control standards. Nonetheless, some test numbers of PM2.5 for February 2021 exceeded the air quality standards, which showed trends of consistency when compared with the overall air and environment background values in Annan District, which is determined not under the impact of the remediation project at the site.
With regards to “Contingency Compulsory Measures and Petition Handling,” the comprehensive wastewater performance was tested randomly once a month while 2 emergency contingency drain water were sampled for two flooding periods, 2 new sand filter systems for drain water were sampled, and 11 times of comprehensive wastewater effluent were inspected/re-tested. A total of 15 times of water quality monitoring process has been conducted, with 2 on-site drain water/effluent exceeding the standards while all other water quality conformed to the remediation plan standards.
The local residents mentioned “the concern for the qualified soil backfilling to the suspended fish farm will result in dioxins or mercury pollution in the presence of water” at the 59th site inspection meeting on September 25, 2020. The plan takes the opinions from the village residents and sampled the soil from the backfill zone at the fish farm, to verify if the qualified soil with water could result in dioxin or mercury pollution. The plan sampled one set from the first batch of qualified soil from the backfill zone, with a treated performance by the treatment plant on November 27, 2020. The plan also tested and analyzed the mercury and dioxin, yielding monitoring results lower than the control standards.
CPDC proposed the report on the contamination removal autonomous inspection completion for Pentachlorophenol Zone I-1 and II-1 in November 2021. The Environmental Protection Administration entrusted the plan to activate the contingency measures and called for a conference on the contamination removal performance verification for Pentachlorophenol Zone I-1 and II-1 in November 2021 and conducted the sampling on 12 sites according to the conference conclusion with analysis on mercury and dioxins. In particular, the dioxin concentration in 3 sites of Pentachlorophenol Zone II-1 exceeded the soil pollution control standards and did not meet the objective of remediation improvement. The plan has suggested the Environmental Protection Administration require CPDC to reapply for secondary inspection from the Environmental Protection Administration for areas that did not conform to the execution improvement measures. CPDC shall pay for such fees required for secondary inspection.
With regards to “Administrative Management and Human Resource Support,” 2 personnel and 5 personnel were dispatched to the bureau and the site respectively, rending 24 sets of monitoring equipment and 1 unmanned aerial vehicle for assisting with the site monitoring management. On the 5th of each month, the monthly work report from last month would be turned in to regularly update the dedicated page of the CPDC website. CPDC attended or assisted with calling 75 sessions of conferences.
