Burnt smell, dizziness, coughing, vomiting in adults, nosebleeds in hundreds of children... Recently, the BYD factory in Changsha, Hunan Province, has been strongly questioned by surrounding residents, saying that it is suspected of polluting the environment.
On May 7, BYD responded that the "nosebleed caused by excessive emissions" on the Internet was a malicious fabrication and had been reported to the police. However, the next night, 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 investigate the gas emissions of the bydir Yuhua District factory. According to media reports, some of BYD's production lines in Changsha have been stopped for rectification.
Although the environmental investigation of the Changsha factory will take time to produce results, parents have reason to suspect BYD about the cause of hundreds of children's nosebleeds. Because environmental protection issues were once a stubborn disease of BYD, in the past 11 years, the company and its subsidiaries have been named and punished by the environmental protection department for environmental protection violations no less than 10 times.
For 11 years, repeated punishments have been repeated
On May 7, a news that "pollution in BYD's factory is suspected of causing nosebleeds to many children" appeared on the hot search. A number of residents from Changsha Yuhua District complained on the Internet that bydir's Changsha Automobile Factory near the residential area emitted exhaust gases and pungent smells, and since April this year, hundreds of children in the community have experienced nosebleeds, and adults have also experienced nausea, vomiting, coughing and other situations.
Ovi Interactive Map - Four-dimensional Satellite Imagery of the Earth. Wang Shan Productions Source: "China Environment" WeChat public account
This is not the first time that BYD has fallen into a "whirlpool" that endangers environmental protection, nor is it the first time that regulators have investigated BYD.
In November 2011, the Shenzhen Municipal Commission for Human Settlements and Environment issued a communiqué on the environmental status of Shenzhen in the fourth quarter of 2011, announcing 12 major environmental violations, of which BYD Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was twice found to have exceeded the exhaust gas emission standard, fined 200,000 yuan and ordered to make corrections.
According to the information reported by the Shenzhen Municipal Commission of Human Settlements and Environment, after the first penalty from November 1 to 6, 2011, the commission conducted routine monitoring of the company again on November 22, 2011, and found that the company still had the phenomenon of excessive exhaust gas emissions in the 5# exhaust gas exhaust cylinder, and the toluene exhaust gas emissions were 42.1 mg/cubic meter, and the data still exceeded the standard. The Shenzhen Municipal Commission of Human Settlements and Environment once again dealt with it in accordance with the law, fined it 100,000 yuan, and ordered it to correct the illegal behavior. According to the Southern Daily, ATD had invested nearly 60 million yuan in comprehensive rectification of exhaust gas pollution at that time.
In August 2015, the Changsha Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau ordered the correction of illegal acts decision Changhuan Violation [2015] No. 36 showed that the single-valve filter wastewater of the sewage treatment station of Changsha BYD Bus Co., Ltd. was controlled by the valve and discharged directly into the total discharge of the wastewater through the pipeline. This act violates the provisions of Paragraph 4 of Article 42 of the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China.
According to a 2015 report by Xiaoxiang Morning Post, the Changsha Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau published nine numbered "Decisions on Ordering Correction of Illegal Acts" in the "Environmental Supervision" column of its website, disclosing in detail the environmental violation information found by law enforcement personnel in their overt and covert visits, and the environmental violations of 9 units were named and publicly criticized. Among them is Changsha BYD Bus Co., Ltd. wastewater discharge.
In March 2016, the Xi'an Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau reported that a special law enforcement inspection of key water-wading and gas-wading enterprises was carried out throughout the city, of which the chemical oxygen demand of the total discharge port on the south side of Xi'an BYD Automobile Co., Ltd. exceeded the standard by 0.7 times. For the environmental violations found in this law enforcement inspection, the Xi'an Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau imposed heavy penalties in accordance with the requirements of the new Environmental Protection Law and urged the implementation of rectification.
According to the public information of Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, in 2017, Tianjin BYD Automobile Co., Ltd. put into production in September 2015 without the completion and acceptance of environmental protection in Tianjin BYD New Energy Bus Base. In accordance with Article 28 of the Regulations on the Administration of Environmental Protection of Construction Projects, the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment decided to order the construction project of Tianjin BYD New Energy Bus Base to stop production and impose a fine of RMB 20,000.
According to the Tianyancha APP, in 2021, Chengdu Qianyuan Xinjing New Energy Automobile Service Co., Ltd. added an administrative penalty information, and decided that the document number Chenghuan Penalty Word [2021] CH029, the penalty result was a fine of 38,000 yuan, the penalty unit was chengdu Chenghua District Ecological and Environmental Bureau, and the punishment was mainly for service activities containing volatile organic compounds that were not carried out in a confined space.
In June 2021, the content of the decision letter [2021] No. 107 of the Document Number is Shenhuan Pingshan, which shows that law enforcement officers conducted an investigation by BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. on June 18, 2021, and BYD Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. was found to have 4 plastic barrels in the hazardous waste temporary storage area of the 5th floor assembly workshop of the bydir Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. Factory No. 5 Factory Building, Located at No. 1301 Shenshan Road, Kengzi Street, Pingshan District, and contained oil waste wipes and oil-containing bags. Empty water bottles and waste carburetor cleaning agent bottles, these 4 items in the "National Hazardous Waste Directory", the waste category is HW49, the waste code is 900-041-49, the identification signs of these 4 containers are only printed with white paper with "oily waste rag place" and other paper strips posted on plastic barrels or near the wall, and the identification signs are not set up in accordance with the standard requirements of "Environmental Protection Graphic Signs - Solid Waste Storage and Disposal Barrels".
In March 2022, BYD Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. was fined 100,000 yuan by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Yuelu District of Changsha City for directly discharging canteen sewage and domestic sewage into the Xiangjiang River Basin through the municipal rainwater pipe network, causing water pollution.
Wang Chuanfu's promise
According to public information, Changsha BYD Automobile Co., Ltd. involved in the incident was registered and established in Changsha Administration for Industry and Commerce on August 11, 2009. Wang Chuanfu, the legal representative, the company's business scope includes auto parts and accessories manufacturing (excluding automotive engine manufacturing) and so on. At the same time, it is also the first project of BYD Group to lay out the central region.
With the continuous fermentation of BYD's environmental protection incidents, at 4 a.m. on May 8, the WeChat public account of the Publicity Department of the Changsha Yuhua District Committee "Feimeng Yuhua" released a message that the Standing Committee of the Changsha Yuhua District Committee held an emergency meeting in the early morning of May 8 to study the gas emissions in the painting workshop of byBYD's Changsha Yuhua District Industrial Park. The meeting made it clear that it is necessary to quickly carry out comprehensive environmental protection testing, timely announce the results to the public, and make every effort to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the masses. The incident was reflected in the secondary market, where THE NEXT DAY (May 9) BYD opened down 4.58%.
In response to this environmental storm, on the evening of May 7, BYD responded on its official Weibo, saying that the "nosebleed caused by excessive emissions" spread on the Internet was a malicious fabrication. "BYD Changsha Yuhua District Industrial Park was put into operation in 2012, and the discharge from the park complies with relevant national 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. ”
But BYD executives have yet to speak out. According to the information of Tianyancha, He Zhiqi, the legal representative, chairman and general manager of Changsha BYD Automobile Co., Ltd. At present, it has not been reported that He Zhiqi has made a statement.
In previous environmental protection incidents, BYD said that the speed was better than this time.
According to China Environment News, from November 28 to December 28, 2016, the Fourth Central Environmental Protection Inspection Team was stationed in Guangdong. During this period, a number of residents complained about the pungent problem of exhaust gases of BYD enterprises in Baolong Industrial City, Longgang District, Shenzhen. "Reaching the standard but disturbing the people", the exhaust gas emissions of enterprises can not only look at the "data is not up to standard", "whether the people are satisfied" is also an important reference. Public information shows that on December 13, 2016, the central inspection team conducted on-site verification.
The BYD incident aroused the great attention of the main leaders of Shenzhen at the time, requiring BYD to thoroughly rectify and reform, and to disclose the rectification commitment and plan to the public, especially requiring the thorough and systematic rectification of the smell smelled by the surrounding residents. ”
WANG Chuanfu, founder of BYD, promised at the time: "We can definitely do it." ”
Source: Observer Network
After 5 years, in the 2021 BYD Social Responsibility Report, Wang Chuanfu wrote: "BYD has established a complete set of new energy ecological closed loops, which can provide safe and reliable one-stop solutions and services, use electric vehicles to control air pollution, use cloud rail yunba to control traffic congestion, and provide global cities with three-dimensional green transportation overall solutions." ”
After the Spring Festival this year, the BYD automobile brand released a new proposition - technology, green tomorrow. Just in April this year, BYD announced the suspension of production of fuel vehicles, shifting its focus to the new energy field to make room for new energy production capacity.
BYD, which continues to promote the concept of "green", seems to be about to throw off the hat of environmental protection violations. However, the recent Changsha incident has once again aroused a new round of public attention, and the dark cloud of environmental protection hanging over BYD's head has once again become solemn. Can the findings of the relevant departments become a breeze that blows away the dark clouds? Future.com continues to pay attention.
Author | Future Network reporter Zhang Bingqing
Review | Guoning
Final Review | Song Guanghui