Viewing the Strange Phenomenon of Environment Protection Through the Tragedy of
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In September 2014， the media exposed a serial of photos of the Tengger Desert， which was known as the "fourth desert of China". Different from people's impression of "sands flying"， the Tengger Desert seemed to be exuding a strong smell， with clumps of black sewage nibbling away the sands in the photos.
Compared with it， the strange phenomenon of environment protection was more terrible.
"The truth is always on the way"
On October 3， 2014， Xi Jinping， General Secretary of the Communist Party of China made important instructions as to the environmental pollution problems of Tengger Industrial Park， Alxa League， Inner Mongolia. Therefore， during China's National Holiday， the environmental protection departments of Inner Mongolia have accelerated the working pace of research and deployment of rectification.
However， only several days before the instructions arrived， the local government held a total different attitude， neglecting and denying the pollution problem of the desert. Since the local government's attitudes to the situation of the pollution of Tengger Desert reversed so dramatically， the netizens said jokingly that "before the instructions of leadership are made， the truth is always on the way".
The pollution has never stopped
Actually， it is not the first time that the pollution of Tengger Desert has been disclosed to the public.
As early as 2005， some articles of the media argued that people should be alert to the idea that deserts have enough space and environmental capacity for unlimited pollution discharge. Some people even regarded deserts as abandoned lands with few people， which could be polluted. Up to now， the strange smell above the Tengger Desert has confirmed the worries of the media.
Actually， during the ten years， the attention of media to the Tengger Desert has never stopped.
In 2010， MCC Meili Paper Industry CO.， LTD of Ningxia was disclosed to the public for discharging excessive sewage into the Tengger Desert. It was reported that， the behavior had lasted for two years; in 2012， The Tengger Economic and Technological Development Area was exposed for illegal producing， after which 15 enterprises stopped producing and 6 enterprises which had producting equipment of pollution continued producing; In 2014， the documentary photos of enterprises inserting sewage pipes to the hinterland of Tengger Desert were exposed， and some herdsmen said that some enterprises even poured raw sewage into the sewage pool， hoping that it would evaporate naturally， and the sticky precipitates would be shoveled out by forklifts， and buried in the desert directly.
For the local government， the reports of the media were always attempting an ineffective solution. The reality was that the trend of deterioration of the ecology in the Tengger Desert did not stop.
Denial after denial
"Several rectangular sewage pools with the size of football field stood in the desert side by side， four of which were filled with liquid which looked like ink and the other two were of black， yellow and dark red mud， diluting the fine sand and lime inside." On September 6， 2014， the pollution of the Tengger Desert was first reported by Chen Jie， Chief Reporter of Beijing News， and the scene turned his blood cold.
At the same time， Mabayier， Director of Environment Safety Supervision Bureau of the Economic and Technological Development Area of Alxa League， Inner Mongolia maintained when he was accepting an interview of the media： "The sewage was not buried in the sand. How could we bury sewage in the sand？ It is impossible." His prefix was that "I swear on my honor".
After that， Zhao Zhanjun， Deputy Leader of Alxa League， Inner Mongolia said that it was verified that there was no situation of "pouring sewage into the desert". In reply to Chen Jie's report， Alashan daily， rebutted each of the claims， arguing that much of the report was not true. With the development of the issue， more and more people began to ask： "What on earth is the truth？"
Local herdsmen are afraid of being investigated
"If there were no photos， I would not believe that the desert could be used to discharge sewage." In an interview given by the reporter， Mr. Wang， whose ancestral home was Inner Mongolia， said that golden dunes stretching to the vast skyline was with all the memories of his childhood. Being studying and working far away from hometown for many years， he has put in much nostalgia into the desert.
Then， what is the current situation of the desert？ The 600 local residents of the desert have the first-hand experience.
"Construction workers who installed solar panels on both sides of the road in the desert all wore masks. They told me that the strong smell was caused by the sewage from chemistry plants to the desert， without masks they would get dizzied." said Chen Jie.
So， have they struggled for the welfare of their living？ Actually， previously the local herdsmen have reported the situation of pollution jointly and taken the media to the spot. However， after the media reported it， they were investigated frequently by the local government. There is even some rumor in the folk that after the pollution of Tengger was disclosed， every family was searched for finding the informer.
At the same time， the herdsmen were very familiar with the locations of the discharging points， but they could only tell the journalist obscurely： "Everybody here knows the location， but nobody dares to take you there." But why they dared not to reveal the pollution as the masters of this land？ The herdsmen said to Chen Jie with a wry smile： "You know why."
But what on earth do herdsmen know？ Perhaps， a patrol consists of motorcycles outside the chemical industry park let them know better that it was for "avoiding the outsiders to be close to the discharging points". The involved enterprises and relevant departments were clear about people's indignation， but they strengthened the cover-up.
Local officers are afraid of disclosure of information
While the herdsmen were like "a burnt child dreads the fire" and dared not to report the pollution or had a lingering fear of the report， the volunteer organizations that followed up the situation of the ecological condition of the Tengger Desert also expressed the embarrassment they came across.
Before the instructions of the central government were issued， the volunteers had organized an inspection group of Tengger pollution spontaneously. In the eyes of the inspection group， they found two huge evaporation pools of swage and several simple sewage pits two years before when they investigated the spot. Later， two large local chemistry plants under construction attracted their attention， but when the inspection team asked the Inner Mongolia environmental protection department at provincial level for EIA of the two enterprises， their reply was that the information was not open.
As to the standards for impervious waterproofing of the drying pool of the Industrial Park， the relevant departments said that since the media reported it in 2013， no sewage has been poured into the drying pool. When it came to the problem how the residual of the sewage was dealt with， the staff members of the Inner Mongolia Environmental Protection Department at Provincial Level replied that" We do not know what you have talked about， because our leaders are very busy and not in the office now".
Dong Jian， a volunteer of the inspection group tried to emphasize to the staff members of the department that they could express their personal opinions rather than representing the department. However， the reply was， "We have taken record for all the suggestions， and they will certainly be presented to our leaders". Later， no effective information was given.
The logic behind the strange phenomenon of pollution
Ms Zhu， whose hometown was also Inner Mongolia， told the reporter with a complex expression after she saw the photos：" I do not think I will be as proud as before when I talk about my hometown with others. The faster the industrial development is， the harder it is to find what my hometown was like." Besides， she also asked， "Aren't the relevant departments aware of the illegal sewage discharging of the enterprise？"
The supervision： incompetent or giving a hand to the pollution of enterprises？
Then， as to what the regulatory authorities were doing while enterprises were discharging sewage， Mr. Chen， who came from the Administrative Committee of Tengger Economic and Technological Development Area gave such answer， "The occurrence of the strong smell might be caused by incompetent supervision， which resulted in enterprises discharging sewage secretly."
However， on one side， it was surprising that the local government denied firmly the claim of "incompetent supervision". In reply to the doubts form the outside， the official micro-blog of the Committee Publicity Department of Alxa League， Inner Mongolia posted that "The Tengger Industrial Park has not discharged sewage outside or ‘pour sewage into the desert'". In addition， in response to the herdsmen's claims of Chemistry Park exploiting underground water crazily for producing and leading to the drop of water level， they provided statistics and maintained that "The drop of water level is not obvious".
Nevertheless， another set of data showed that the Inner Mongolia was insufficient in water resources by one billion cubic meters annually， which would reach three billion cubic meters in the next ten years. In the past 10 years， the total amount of underground water resources in Inner Mongolia has decreased by almost 7%， but the volume of water supply has increased by about 40%.
On the other hand， the so-called "Making the sewage harmless by natural drying and evaporation and collecting solid objects" treating method of the Industrial Park which puzzled local herdsmen， obtained the approval of EIA made by the local environmental protection departments.
"Constructing evaporation pool of high concentration pollution is only suitable for domestic sewage， but the component of sewage of Chemical Industry Park is very complex， which must be pretreated before discharging and should not be discharged to evaporation pool." introduced by Chen Kaiqi， chief engineer of the Assessment Center of Environmental Engineering of Ministry of Environmental Protection of China.
“Polluting a place and moving away”， a westwards track of pollution？
Data show that most of the 30 chemical enterprises of Tengger Industrial Park are foreign enterprises.
Before that， a report from the State Environmental Protection Administration of China demonstrated， "Underdeveloped areas have strong desire to develop because of their poor economic basis， but they do not have the condition to produce products with high technology， high added value and low pollution. They can only accept the products， technology， skills and equipment that have been shifted out by developed area."
Therefore， in 2000， the State Environmental Protection Administration of China and the State Economic and Trade Commission issued the Emergency Announcement on the Prohibition of the Transfer of Pollution to the West jointly， forbidding polluting enterprises in developed areas to move to the west with "the West Development". Among them， Peng Yingdeng， researcher of the National Research Center of Technology for Controlling Urban Environmental Pollution expressed his worries in an interview of the media：" Places such as Inner Mongolia and Ningxia are ecologically fragile areas that are in short of water. They cannot develop chemical industry or coal chemical industry at all. The desert should not have such programs."
But in fact， many chemical plants invested to the Tengger desert have even won the title of key protection enterprise issued by the government. According to a file of the Administrative Committee of the Tengger Industrial Park， by the end of 2011， "the park has formed initially a chain of dyestuff chemical and fine chemical including sulfide series， naphthalene series and benzene series， becoming one of the key development areas （parks） of the ‘twenty billion project' of the league."
A heavy polluting chemical enterprise said in the interview plainly "These plants moved to the desert because the cost of environmental protection here is low or even zero， at first the sewage was all discharged to the desert directly".
The cost of breaking the law is low， and that of obeying the law is high？
But， was the environmental cost of the Tengger desert really next to none as what the enterprises said？ Or， were the sewage pools built up by cement the only sewage facilities？
In this regard， Leng Luosheng， Professor of School of Law of Beijing Normal University said， "The national standard of sewage charge is low， taking up only half of the cost of the treatment; the collection efficiency of discharging fee is low， and the statistics declared by the polluters may not be accurate or true; the fine for polluting is of low standards， and sometimes there is even no punishment， just as Ming Sheng Dyestuff Chemical Limited Company of Ningxia， which was disclosed by the media for discharging sewage illegally for more than ten years but seldom receiving punishment.
Meanwhile， it was ridiculous that， the sewage treatment plant which was built by the local people at the expense of 36 million and could deal with 5000 tons of sewage every day was said to be unused in the report of 2012. The reason was that "the capacity of the original design is too large. The amount of sewage that needs to be treated cannot reach the minimum standard. If it starts up， the plant will lose money". In contrast， cheap sewage treatment pools became bigger and bigger， and were filled with sewage even before they were in operation.
The lesson of “treatment after pollution” of other countries
Admittedly， the West Development is an important national policy， and local people all hope that the economy of the west could be boosted， however， if the place on which we survive disappear， how could the economy develop？ The history of "treatment after pollution" of other countries many years ago is a tough lesson of history.
As for the infamous "eight social pollution nuisances" last century， which includes the Great Smog of London， the Photochemical Smog Incident of Los Angeles and the Minamata Disease Incident， Japan has four nuisances on the list. Take the Minamata Disease Incident as an example， the local government did not realize the serious consequence of pollution until a large number of fish and shrimps of Minamata Bay were polluted by sewage discharged by enterprises illegally， many people became ill and dead because of the Minamata disease and the public discontent arose. The economy did not come back to life until the government learned from the lesson， punished the polluting enterprises and its people got large compensation by resorting to the law and made illegal enterprises bankrupt. They began to have a national awareness of the consequence of pollution， but the deaths and the pain of innocent people could not be eliminated and the local ecological environment could not be as good as before.
In addition， Britain， who lead the way in the industrial revolution also paid "blood and tears" for the pollution of the environment. Statistics show that， from 1831 to 1832， the outbreak of cholera killed about 22000 people in Britain; the cholera broke out again in 1848， killing more than 72000 people; in 1854 the third cholera hit London and 500 died within 10 days， which broke the record; in 1866， people witnessed the fourth outbreak of cholera. Some experts pointed out that， the deterioration of ecological environment was the direct fuse of the spread of the disease. Afterwards， the British paid a high cost for the destruction of ecological environment which was resulted by its rapid economic development and took a century to improve the environment.
The wheel of history rolls. Maybe people have good hope that such tragedy will not repeat， after all， "no man is a lonely island， which can be on its own". Let us wait and see whether the Tengger Desert could survive the "public attention" or not.