Ministry of Ecology and Environment: Continue to crack down on monitoring data falsification and criminal actions!

We will continue to crack down on the illegal and criminal activities of falsifying monitoring data

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently held a 2023 national conference on ecological and environmental protection in Beijing. According to the meeting, new hard-won achievements have been made in ecological and environmental protection in 2022. More than 3.44 million stationary sources of pollution were put under the administration of discharge permits, and the reform of the legal disclosure system for environmental information was deepened. It has constantly improved the system of laws, regulations and standards, cooperated with the inspection of enforcement of the Environmental Protection Law, revised the Marine Environmental Protection Law, issued 80 national ecological and environmental standards, and issued the 14th Five-Year Plan for Environmental Health. China has effectively improved its supervision and law enforcement on the ecological environment. For three years in a row, it has launched a campaign to crack down on environmental violations and crimes related to hazardous waste and automatic monitoring data fraud by key polluters, investigated and dealt with a number of suspected cases of falsification of environmental impact assessments, and continued to carry out a campaign to clean up emissions from household waste incineration and power generation to meet standards.

The meeting confirmed that in 2023, we will further promote the central supervision of ecological and environmental protection, and do a good job in the "second half of the article" of supervision and rectification. We will improve the effectiveness of ecological and environmental supervision and law enforcement, establish a new system of remote supervision and assistance, continue to provide oversight and assistance to improve air quality in key regions, and organize and efficiently conduct pollution prevention and control battles in an orderly and coordinated manner to strengthen oversight. We will continue to investigate and improve the discharge of pollutants from the Yangtze, Yellow and Bohai rivers into the sea, comprehensively crack down on fraud by third-party environmental protection service agencies, deepen the campaign against standard discharge in the household waste incineration and power generation industries, and crack down on environmental crimes involving falsification of automatic monitoring data by hazardous waste and key polluters.

Automatic monitoring of data falsification means Cheetos

Up to now, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has notified a number of batches of typical cases in the field of automatic monitoring. In the matter of automatic monitoring fake and fake, only you can not think of......

Dilute water samples, tamper with and falsify automated monitoring data

On April 12, 2021, law enforcement officers of the Shaoguan Ecological Environment Bureau conducted a surprise inspection on Shaoguan Haolan Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD., and found that the company had changed the sampling method of automatic monitoring equipment such as chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen and total phosphorus from "water sample tube sampling" to "standard sample tube sampling" without authorization. In addition, the diluted water samples with the concentration of four kinds of wastewater pollutants up to the standard were stored in plastic bottles respectively, and the automatic monitoring equipment collected the water samples in the plastic bottles through the standard sample pipe for analysis and monitoring, suspected of tampering or falsifying the automatic monitoring data. The environmental monitoring station in Renhua County sampled and monitored the company's wastewater on the same day, and the result showed that the concentration of ammonia nitrogen was 63.3mg/L, 6.9 times higher than the discharge limit.

After investigation, it was confirmed that the company's sewage treatment technology director, Surnamed Dai, carried out to dilute wastewater preparation water samples instead of actual wastewater discharge, tampering with automatic monitoring data. On September 22, 2021, the People's Court of Renhua County sentenced Dai to six months in prison and fined him 7,000 yuan for the crime of environmental pollution.

The on-line monitoring data is interfered by using odd-even time period wastewater discharge

In March 2021, law enforcement personnel of Ningbo Bureau of Ecological Environment analyzed the data of automatic pollution source monitoring platform and combined with the video monitoring of discharge port, and found that the COD monitoring data of the wastewater discharge port of Ningbo Food Co., LTD., a key pollutant discharging unit, was in the low range of 20-40m3/L for a long time, and there were "odd" periods of low discharge flow and clear water quality. The abnormal phenomenon that the discharge rate of wastewater is larger and the water quality is turbidity in "even" time period.

The on-site investigation found that two dark pipes were set up on the total discharge pipe from the sedimentation tank to the discharge outlet of the enterprise, which were respectively connected to the main discharge pipe by the air floating tank (high concentration wastewater) and the workshop water pipe (river purification water), which were used to discharge high concentration wastewater in the "even" period and dilute the discharge in the "odd" period. At the same time, a time control switch is installed on the sampling pump power line of the waste water automatic monitoring facility and beside the floating pool of the sewage treatment facility.

As the company's behavior of falsifying monitoring data has been suspected of a crime, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment immediately transferred the case to the public security department for criminal investigation, and the two responsible people have been granted bail by the public security department pending trial.

Using flashlight to interfere COD calibration value, falsify monitoring data

On March 5, 2021, Changyi Branch of Weifang Bureau of Ecological Environment found that the COD concentration in the effluent of a textile enterprise was as high as 1120mg/L, 4 times higher than the standard. However, in the enterprise's automatic monitoring data, the display is "COD concentration is not exceeded".

After inspection, it was found that the enterprise used the mobile phone flashlight to continuously irradiate the contrasting color dish and improve the light intensity when the COD automatic monitoring equipment was calibrated. Because when COD automatic monitoring equipment is calibrated, the higher the light intensity is, the higher the standard value will be, which will lead to the actual monitoring of wastewater, the COD value will be reduced.

He was fined 485,000 yuan for violating Article 39 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, according to the circular. It was also suspected of environmental pollution crimes and was handed over to public security authorities.

By setting relevant parameters, the monitoring equipment can randomly generate compliance data

On June 1, 2021, Hubei Environmental Law Enforcement and Supervision Bureau carried out a surprise inspection on suspected falsification of automatic monitoring data based on the screening and tracking of abnormal data of automatic monitoring of pollution sources throughout the province. After on-site verification, Xiangyang Bola Jingwei Fiber Co., Ltd. is suspected of using software embedded in automatic monitoring equipment to create fake monitoring data and upload it to the monitoring platform of ecological environment department. Xiangyang Ecological Environment Bureau seized the company's automatic monitoring equipment for chemical oxygen demand on the same day and sent it to a judicial appraisal institution for functional appraisal and data analysis. According to the judicial expert opinion issued by Hubei Software Evaluation Center, the embedded software in the inspection equipment has the function of artificial simulation to produce false automatic monitoring data, and there are 5,523 automatic monitoring data stored in the inspection material, which shows that the value of chemical oxygen demand concentration is seriously inconsistent with the theoretical calculation value, accounting for 90.4% of the total data. There is falsification of automatic monitoring data. The monitoring result of the third-party monitoring unit on the wastewater from the main outlet of the company's sewage treatment station showed that the chemical oxygen demand concentration exceeded the discharge limit by 0.56 times.

After investigation, it was confirmed that the person in charge of the sewage treatment station and the process supervisor Huang illegally used the senior administrator account to log in the embedded software system hidden by the automatic monitoring equipment of chemical oxygen demand. By setting relevant parameters, the equipment randomly generated standard data and uploaded to the monitoring platform, resulting in the distortion of the automatic monitoring data of the chemical oxygen demand. The Xiangyang Ecological Environment Bureau ordered the company to correct its illegal behavior, fined it 500,000 yuan for violating the Regulations on the management of emission permits, and transferred the case to public security organs in accordance with the law.

Using COD remover interferes with online monitoring data

On May 12, 2021, according to the clues provided by the model warning of the public security organs, Huzhou City Ecological Environment Protection Comprehensive Administrative Enforcement Team and Huzhou City Ecological Environment Bureau Xing Branch jointly carried out a night surprise inspection on Changxing Xintidi Environmental Protection Technology Co., LTD., and found that the company had added a dilution of "chemical oxygen demand removal agent" into the discharge wastewater through plastic pipes. After testing, the main component of the remover is sodium chlorate, which will interfere with the determination process of chemical oxygen demand, so that the determination result is low.

After investigation, the company's factory director surnamed Xia, in order to reduce the automatic monitoring value of COD, added "COD remover" to the discharged wastewater for many times by himself or instructed his employees, leading to the distortion of the company's automatic monitoring data of COD. According to law, the case was transferred to the public security Bureau by Xing Branch of Huzhou's ecological environment Bureau, and criminal coercive measures have been taken against the four suspects.

Environment Ministry says' zero tolerance 'for monitoring fraud

A variety of pollution fraud methods have been staged in succession. Many "beautiful" data are actually wrapped in the illegal "poison". The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has expressed "zero tolerance" for such illegal cases.

In May last year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said at a press conference that it would have "zero tolerance" for falsification of monitoring data, resolutely implement the requirements of the Opinions, give priority to law-based monitoring, scientific monitoring and integrity monitoring, and work with relevant departments to ensure that the monitoring data of ecological environment is comprehensive, accurate, objective and true.

Bai Qiouyong, director of the environmental monitoring department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, pointed out that in the field of environmental monitoring, the legal system has been improved, and the severe punishment of fraud has been basically realized. In particular, it is clear in the criminal law and the two high judicial interpretations that monitoring fraud should bear criminal responsibility.

At the same time, a responsibility traceability system has been established for "who is responsible for counting and who is responsible for signing", and monitoring agencies and their leaders are responsible for the authenticity and accuracy of data. And maintain the high pressure against counterfeiting, in accordance with the crime of environmental pollution, providing false documents, the crime of damaging computer information system fraud, strictly punished in accordance with the law, forming a strong deterrent.

At the same time, we will use a combination of legal, economic, technical, administrative and other means to crack down on fraud and deception and accelerate the realization of "not daring to fake".

The maximum sentence for monitoring fraud is 10 years

The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security promulgated the Provisions on the Standards for Filing and Prosecution of Criminal Cases under the Jurisdiction of Public Security Organs (II) (hereinafter referred to as the Standards for Filing), which will come into force on May 15, 2022. In particular, it stipulates that environmental impact assessment and environmental monitoring agencies who falsified three times within two years will be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

On April 29, the Ministry of Public Security issued "Provisions on the Standards for filing and Prosecution of criminal cases under the jurisdiction of Public Security Organs (II)" (hereinafter referred to as "filing standards"), which will be officially implemented on May 15. The filing standards re-clarify the filing and prosecution standards for environmental assessment and environmental monitoring data fraud.

On March 1 last year, the 11th Amendment to the Criminal Law came into effect. Article 229 stipulates that those who intentionally falsify environmental assessment and environmental monitoring agencies, if the circumstances are serious, will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and fined. Whoever provides false environmental impact assessment and other supporting documents in major projects or projects involving public security, thus causing especially heavy losses to public property and the interests of the state and the people, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of five to 10 years and shall also be fined. Therefore, the maximum sentence for environmental assessment and monitoring fraud is 10 years, but the minimum sentence is less than five years. The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security have just released the Standards for filing cases, which provide detailed regulations on the standards for deliberately falsifying cases.

"Filing standards" also for although not deliberately falsified, but seriously irresponsible, issued certification documents have serious misinformation and caused direct economic losses of more than 1 million yuan, also to be sentenced.

The most alarming case in which people were sentenced for falsifying EIA and monitoring was the March 21, 2019 explosion in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province, in which 22 people responsible for six falsified EIA agencies were sentenced.