Authorities in Nanjing expelled 163 companies in 2011 for producing excessive levels of pollution. Even after the Jiangsu Provincial Academy Of Environmental Science spent a year-and-a-half restoring the soil at one of the former factory sites, the concentration of several contaminants remained beyond safe levels. In particular, the levels of nitrobenzene there were found to be 123 times above the safe limit. Experts declared the site uninhabitable.
One Chinese netizen posted a comment, stating “City authorities only focus on economic gain, so as long as you are a large company that contributes to the economy, your pollution will be overlooked. However, if higher authorities or local citizens begin to pressure these companies to deal with their pollution issues, they will simply move to some remote mountainous region, and continue to poison the innocent civilians there. This would be done in some glorious manner, such as by claiming to help develop the economy of a remote mountainous area.”
“Currently, the severity of China’s soil pollution is the worst in the world, and the current rates of soil pollution in China could possibly continue for another 30 years.” said Professor Pan in an interview with a Chinese newspaper.
Read the original Chinese article.
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