BYD environmental protection incident "Rashomon"

Wen | Wang Xuanxuan, a reporter for China Entrepreneur

Edited | Ma Jiying

Head photo | Shi Xiaobing

On the evening of May 7, residents around the BYD factory in Changsha collectively came to the factory to defend their rights, and they had been defending their rights for several consecutive days. The reason for the rights protection is that residents believe that the exhaust gases emitted by the factory have an impact on the health of the residents in the surrounding communities.

Ms. Zheng, who participated in the rights defense, told China Entrepreneur that the Zhongjian Jiahecheng community where her home is located is not far from the factory, and from the second half of 2020, she will occasionally smell pungent smells such as burnt odors. Since April this year, the pungent smell has become more and more serious, day and night, especially at night.

According to media reports, since April this year, some residents living in the Yuhua District of Changsha City, Hunan Province, have been plagued by the pungent smell in the air, and have experienced uncomfortable symptoms such as dizziness and cough, and hundreds of children in the surrounding communities have suffered from unexplained nosebleeds.

There is no evidence that residents' ill health is related to the BYD plant in Changsha.

On the evening of the 7th, BYD issued an official statement saying that it had called the police to deal with it. BYD said in a statement: BYD Changsha Yuhua District Industrial Park was put into operation in 2012, and the emissions from the park comply with relevant national laws and regulations and standards. In some residential areas close to the industrial park, or there is a peculiar smell, the company has taken relevant measures and actively improved. In response to the situation that "excessive discharge caused by nosebleeds" on the Internet is a malicious fabrication association, we have called the police and will pursue the legal responsibility of relevant personnel.

Source: BYD Weibo

According to public information, Changsha BYD Automobile Co., Ltd. was established in August 2009, currently has more than 17,000 employees, is the first project of BYD Group to lay out the central region, with a cumulative investment of more than 10.7 billion yuan, is BYD's current strategic base for new energy vehicles spanning the two major fields of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, and the most complete product line.

In 2021, BYD launched the DM-i super hybrid system, Changsha Yuhua District factory is THE MAIN PRODUCTION BASE OF BYD DM-i, which undertakes the production and assembly of the "three electric" core components of the motor, and is also the only production base of BYD hybrid system in the country.

The DM-i super hybrid system is an important engine to drive UP BYD's sales, and the models equipped with this system have been in short supply.

Since the beginning of this year, affected by the rise in raw material costs, a number of car companies, including BYD, have announced price increases, which has led to consumers placing centralized orders and a surge in orders. Among them, BYD issued a statement on the price adjustment on the evening of March 15, and said that the price adjustment took effect from 00:00 on March 16.

In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic in April this year, many links in the automotive supply chain are facing suspension of production, and the sales volume of many new energy vehicle companies in April has been cut by the waist. BYD, on the other hand, was less affected, with passenger car sales in April of 106,000 units, up 1.09% month-on-month. From January to April, BYD's cumulative automobile sales were 392371 units, an increase of 387.94% year-on-year, of which new energy passenger cars were 390212 units, an increase of 397.63% year-on-year. By 2022, BYD aims to sell 1.2 million vehicles annually.

Will the rights defense incident slow down the speeding BYD? The latest news is that in response to the masses' reflections on the gas emissions of the BYD Yuhua District factory, the Changsha Municipal Party Committee and the Changsha Municipal Government have set up an investigation team to organize government functional departments, third-party testing agencies and relevant experts to enter the BYD Yuhua District factory to carry out investigations.

In response to the situation reflected by residents and the current situation of BYD's Changsha factory, China Entrepreneur asked BYD for verification, but there was no response as of press time.

Ms. Xiao, who lives in The Alliance Garden, told China Entrepreneur that she has lived on the 27th floor for several years after moving into the community, and she can smell the pungent smell every summer night, usually from 8 or 9 pm to midnight. This year the smell is particularly heavy. Ms. Xiao's 7-year-old child had several nosebleeds last summer and another nosebleed on the night of April 10 this year, this time with a large amount of blood. I couldn't find the cause before, but recently I communicated with my neighbors and found that many children have nosebleeds.

Ms. Zheng, who lives in China Construction Jiahe, provided China Entrepreneur with a questionnaire survey on children's nosebleeds initiated by the owner, showing that 800 people participated in the questionnaire filling, and the situations of Zhongjian Jiahe City, AVIC City, Bochang Shanshui Xiangsong, Evergrande City and Jinghuan Community near the BYD factory were more serious.

Similar incidents have occurred years ago.

According to a report by Xiaoxiang Morning Post in December 2016, some residents of Jinghuan Community reported that they often woke up at night because of the pungent smell, which lasted for a year or two. Residents suspect it was caused by exhaust gases from the nearby BYD plant. The relevant responsible persons of the Changsha Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau and the Yuhua District Environmental Protection Bureau organized a coordination meeting between the representatives of the owners of the Jinghuan community and the person in charge of the automobile company, and BYD explained the progress of the improvement of the waste gas treatment of the plant and said that the operating procedures of the material operation channel had been optimized.

On the official website of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Hunan Province, a list of the public situation of the mass letters and visits and reports on May 8, 2021 and the public situation of the supervision and reform shows that the situation is basically true for the problems of serious paint smell and impact on the lives of residents in the paint workshop of the BYD manufacturing plant in Yuhua District, Changsha City, which has been jointly investigated and verified by the Management Committee of Yuhua Economic Development Zone, Tongsheng Street, the District Ecological Environment Branch, and the District Ecological environment law enforcement brigade.

Since April this year, the problem has become more serious

Ms. Li, who lives in the Jinghuan community, told China Entrepreneur that after staying for 10 years, she only felt that the smog was serious and the smell was unpleasant, and this year there was a foreign body sensation and nosebleeds in the throat when she woke up early. His father suddenly coughed up blood in April this year and went to the hospital to check and diagnose lung infection and inflammation, but after half a month of hospitalization, doctors ruled out other diseases such as tuberculosis, saying that it was very rare to cough up blood just because of lung inflammation.

Ms. Li said that recently Changsha is relatively windy, this year's epidemic situation has improved, as the weather becomes hot people also love to open windows for ventilation, in the downwind direction of Zhongjian Jiahecheng and other communities "more response."

Since the end of April this year, residents of the surrounding communities, mainly China Construction Jiahecheng Community, have come to bydder BYD's Changsha factory several times to protest. BYD and relevant government departments have also arranged several coordination meetings with residents.

A video of a may 6 coordination meeting sent by Ms. Zheng shows that BYD's relevant staff said that it will take three months to complete the transfer of the production line, so that there will be no pungent odor. Later, he said that if both the production cut and the production line transfer were carried out, there would be no pungent odor after 1 month. But residents at the scene did not agree. Some residents said that the complaints in Jinghuan Community have been fruitless for several years, and now "we can't wait for a day."

According to Ms. Li, ATD's initial commitment is not to emit exhaust gases at night and weekends, but "as far as the Jinghuan community is concerned, many of the people living in it are old and weak women and children, and they can't stand the daytime row."

According to the Changsha Evening News, BYD Changsha DM-i production base has a total investment of 3.7 billion yuan, covers an area of 650 acres, with a construction area of 600,000 square meters, and is built in two phases. The first phase is the DM-i Super Power Construction Project, which will start construction in January 2021 and start production in July. The second phase is a DM-i passenger car production and construction project, and is expected to be officially put into operation in May this year.

In 2021, BYD sold 593745 new cars, an increase of 231.6% year-on-year, of which dm-i models sold 272935 units in the whole year.

This year, demand for BYD DM-i models is still growing, with a large number of orders waiting to be delivered. Changsha Yuhua District plant is BYD's main production base for DM-i. According to the portal website of the Hunan Provincial People's Government, the 5 production lines of the DM-i power plant started synchronously, and the mechanical arm was waved up and down, and a motor could be rolled off the production line every 3 minutes.

Last May, BYD apologized for delays in delivery of dm-i hybrid models. In November last year, Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Group, said at a meeting that BYD DM-i models were in short supply, with orders in hand reaching 200,000 units and a delivery period of up to four months.

Source: Visual China

On April 12 this year, the minutes of bydirection's investor meeting showed that the DM-i hybrid model had a full order in hand. The company will also launch models equipped with DM super hybrids such as the Song Pro DM-i and warship series models equipped with DM-i hybrids.

In the first quarter, BYD sold 141,500 plug-in hybrid passenger cars, up 857% year-on-year, and sold 143,200 pure electric passenger cars, up 271% year-on-year.

Since March this year, BYD announced that it has stopped production of fuel vehicles. Wang Chuanfu has always hoped to make BYD an indispensable force in the global electric vehicle revolution, dealing with the increasing air pollution.

Lights out of the factory, waiting for the residents to reply

Ms. Li's community has organized complaints because of the exhaust gas problem of BYD's factory, "but each time the owners' committee sent was dissolved during the negotiation process, and finally only the end of BYD's self-inspection certificate was posted on the bulletin board."

Relevant reports show that BYD's exhaust gas related indicators meet emission standards. But that doesn't eliminate questions about factory emissions.

According to the public content of the "Ask Politics Hunan" leadership message board, some netizens complained on April 24: "BYD's painting workshop next to Jiahe Primary School in Yuhua District is not treated and directly exhausts exhaust gases." The lives of the surrounding 100,000 residents and students have been seriously endangered, and many children have been poisoned and often have nosebleeds. ”

In response to the complaint, the Changsha Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment replied on April 28 this year that the company's painting workshop had implemented the environmental protection treatment facilities required by the EIA approval and was operating normally. At the same time, a third-party testing company was entrusted to carry out two rounds of environmental monitoring on the company. The first round of monitoring has produced data, showing that its exhaust gas related indicators meet the emission standards, due to the previous rainy weather does not have monitoring and sampling conditions affect the monitoring progress, the second round of monitoring results will be issued in the near future.

After that, there were several similar messages that showed "Not processed."

Some owners raised questions in the rights protection group that the organized emission limit of volatile organic compounds in byBYD's sewage discharge permit was 40mg/m, and bydy's environmental testing self-inspection report in March posted by BYD in the Jiahecheng community showed that the three test results were 44.9mg/m, 48.6mg/m, 46.4mg/m, and the average value was 46.63mg/m, and each time exceeded the pollution discharge permit, and finally showed "qualified".

CHANGSHA BYD has rectified the pollution problem. According to a "PublicIty Form for the Comprehensive Remediation of Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Enterprises (Units) in Changsha" reviewed in September 2021, BYD has introduced measures such as source control and process management, and promised to complete rectification within the specified time to improve the level of internal pollution control. Among them, the rectification time of some measures has arrived, including "closing the new energy bus parts painting production line"; and some measures have not yet arrived, including the completion of the "passenger car painting topcoat to water-based paint" in October 2022.

In addition, some residents have questioned the planned land.

According to the "China Philanthropist" report, the environmental law enforcement brigade of Yuhua District of Changsha City told residents that BYD built the factory in the front, the community construction in the back, the plot is planned as industrial land, and the emission standard is the industrial standard. The planning department replied that whether it is the planned land of the BYD factory or the planning land of the community, it is reasonable and legal, and there is no problem.

According to the data, BYD Changsha Company was established in August 2009 and put into operation in 2012. Jiahe City was built in 2018, later than the factory; but Jinghuan Community is an affordable housing community approved by the local government in 2006; the predecessor of Shazitang Jiahe Primary School, New Century Experimental Primary School, was established as early as 2001.

Ms. Li felt helpless, she had heard that some of the vacant land around BYD's factory was originally intended to build parks or green belts to reduce the damage caused by factory pollution, but later built residential buildings.

On the evening of the 7th, the relevant staff of Yuhua District of Changsha City reassured the residents at the scene of rights protection, asking the residents to go back first and send representatives to negotiate the next day. Some residents shouted that the child could not wait and waited for more than a month. After the personnel promised that "we will adhere to the supremacy of the people, the supremacy of life, and will give everyone a reasonable answer", the residents who defended their rights left.

According to the WeChat public account "Feimeng Yuhua" of the "Propaganda Department of the Yuhua District Committee of the Communist Party of China" of the "Cpc Changsha Yuhua District Committee", in the early morning of May 8, the Standing Committee of the Yuhua District Committee held an emergency meeting to study the gas emissions in the painting workshop of byBYD's Changsha Yuhua District Industrial Park, and the meeting listened to the work carried out in the early stage of the work class.

During the day on May 8, it was raining in Changsha, and Ms. Bai did not smell the smell, while seeing police cars patrolling the streets around the factory. On the evening of the 8th, "it was terriblely quiet, except for holidays such as Chinese New Year's Eve and when the epidemic stopped, I saw the lights of THE BYD's factory building go out for the first time, and the bydir lads who rented the house next door came back so early and arrived at the rented dormitory at six o'clock in the afternoon." Ms. Lee said.

For now, residents are still waiting for a reply.