Chinese city lashes PetroChina unit over chemical leaks
PetroChina unit agrees to remedy operations after Lanzhou authorities take company to task over string of polluting incidents since August
Lanzhou Petrochemical, a subsidiary of oil and gas giant PetroChina, has agreed to fix its problems "immediately" after a rare public rebuke for a string of serious pollution leaks.
The Lanzhou city government in Gansu province demanded on Friday that Lanzhou Petrochemical apologise to the city's 3.6 million residents for four serious air and water contamination incidents in the past few months, according to China National Radio.
The Lanzhou authorities said that since August, the company - the biggest petrochemical enterprise in western China - had been responsible for leaks of ethylene and ammonia and two machinery failures at one of its plants that had resulted in plumes of black smoke.
It is rare for a local government to take a state-owned enterprise to task because the companies are usually key taxpayers and contributors to local economies.
In a statement released to some state media outlets on Saturday night, Lanzhou Petrochemical said it "sincerely accepted the supervision of the government and the public", pledging to implement about 20 new rules to monitor its plants and equipment, the China News Service reported.
It is the first time a local government has publicly challenged a state owned giant over pollution since the country's revised Environmental Protection Law became into effect on January 1. The law makes local governments at or above the county level responsible for enforcing its provisions.
