In Longkou, Shandong Province, the police said that there were still people inciting demonstrations because of public opposition to stopping the Yulong petrochemical base project.

After Ningbo, Kunming, Maoming and other places, another petrochemical project was opposed by "public opinion" and faced with dismounting.

On May 10, 2016, in the turbulent opposition of citizens, the Longkou Municipal Government of Shandong Province stopped the environmental impact assessment of a large petrochemical industrial park project jointly invested with Singapore. The Public Security Bureau of Longkou City, Shandong Province issued notices on May 10th and 11th, and the environmental assessment and demonstration work of Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base stopped. Please ask the masses not to continue gathering, not to believe or spread rumors. Police said on the 11th that some people still instigate, plan, organize and participate in illegal assemblies, processions and demonstrations.

On May 4th, according to the relevant provisions of the national environmental protection laws and regulations, Longkou Environmental Protection Bureau made the first EIA announcement on the overall development plan of Longkou Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base. This EIA publicity is the legal pre-stage of the EIA approval of the project planning, and its purpose is to solicit opinions and suggestions from the general public.

According to the public notice, Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base is located in the west of Longkou City, with a total planned area of about 50.4 square kilometers. It is planned to build 40 million tons of oil refining, 2.2 million tons of ethylene, 6 million tons of aromatic hydrocarbons and its middle and lower reaches industrial chain projects, which will be implemented in stages.

Location map of Yulong petrochemical industrial base

At present, in the process of publicity, some Longkou citizens have doubts about the safety and environmental protection of the overall development plan of the base, and they are worried about the potential environmental impact of this petrochemical project on human health and reflect it through various channels.

Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base is a cooperative project between Nanshan Group in China and Jurong International in Singapore. In June 2014, the two sides signed a memorandum of cooperation, and planned to learn from Singapore’s experience in establishing a petrochemical industrial park on Jurong Island, which was artificially reclaimed from the sea, to build a petrochemical industrial base in Bohai Bay, China. Song Jianbo, chairman of Nanshan Group, once told the media that the construction of Yulong Island should be in line with international first-class standards.

Jurong Island in Singapore is the third largest oil refining center in the world, located off the southwest coast of Singapore, only 5 kilometers away from the main city of Singapore. The distance between ExxonMobil’s 370,000-ton/year PX plant and residential areas on the island is less than 1 kilometer. Because it has never had a major pollution accident, it is called a great example of "chemical industry can coexist with blue sky and blue sea"

On the morning of May 10, 2016, some Longkou citizens gathered in front of the municipal government, calling on the government to stop launching this project and return the citizens to "blue sea and blue sky". "The government’s lack of public information about the project makes it impossible for us to have a deeper understanding of the project itself. But what we clearly know is that in recent ten years, the environment in Longkou has gone from bad to worse, and it is almost unsuitable for survival. " In a proposal, Longkou citizens wrote.

Faced with pressure, in the afternoon, the Longkou Municipal Government issued a reply to the environmental impact assessment publicity of Longkou Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base Project in official website, saying, "According to the opinions and suggestions of the masses during the publicity period, the municipal government decided to stop the environmental assessment and demonstration work."

The Longkou Municipal Government also stressed that the petrochemical project is now in the stage of planning and demonstration. The purpose of the previous EIA publicity was to solicit opinions and suggestions from the general public on the plan, but no final decision was made.

"In the near future, we will carefully analyze and sort out the opinions and suggestions collected from different channels and truthfully feedback them to the report preparation unit. In response to the environmental assessment of the overall development plan, we will review and check in strict accordance with relevant national laws and regulations, and earnestly perform our environmental protection duties. If the environmental assessment link fails to meet the requirements, we will resolutely not promote it. " The Longkou Municipal Government wrote in another announcement.

On the same day, Longkou Public Security Bureau also issued a notice on prohibiting illegal assembly, procession and demonstration: On May 10th, Longkou Municipal People’s Government and Longkou Public Security Bureau successively issued an announcement and a notice on the issue of Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base. But up to now, some people still incite, plan, organize and participate in illegal assemblies, processions and demonstrations.

According to the notice, on the morning of May 10th, the Longkou Municipal People’s Government has studied and decided and issued an announcement, and the environmental assessment and demonstration work of Yulong Petrochemical Industrial Base has stopped. In order to ensure the safety of life and property of the country and the people and maintain the normal order of work, production and life, the masses are requested not to continue to gather, not to believe in rumors and not to spread rumors. If you don’t listen to advice, continue to illegally organize, participate in or incite organizations, participate in assemblies, processions and demonstrations through mobile phones, the Internet, etc., the public security organs will deal with them in strict accordance with the provisions of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Assemblies, Processions and Demonstrations and the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), and severely crack down on illegal and criminal acts. At the same time, please ask the broad masses of people to consciously resist illegal assemblies, processions, demonstrations and other acts, take the initiative to report illegal and criminal activities to the public security organs, and jointly safeguard the harmony and stability of Longkou society.

On May 11th, Longkou Public Security Bureau issued a second notice with severe wording.

According to the law, the environmental impact assessment of new projects must be completed before the project is started. The construction and development activities that may affect the environment should be investigated, predicted and evaluated in advance, and a report on the environmental impact and prevention plan should be put forward. The construction can only be carried out after the approval of the competent department. The municipal government’s call to stop the EIA work means that this petrochemical project will also stagnate in theory.

According to a Longkou citizen interviewed by Caixin reporter, "At present, Longkou has been polluted by titanium dioxide and oil shale, so it is uninhabitable. This street trip is an outbreak of contradictions to a certain extent." She said that in the case that the old environmental problems have not been properly solved, it is difficult for Longkou citizens to tolerate a petrochemical project that may bring greater harm and threat. She believes that in recent years, there are more and more people suffering from leukemia among Longkou citizens, and some communities have become cancer communities, which are closely related to environmental pollution.

The announcement of the Longkou Municipal Government also promised to the public that the environmental problems in Longkou City will be intensified. "If the production is stopped, the ban will be banned."

Expert: Game between Petrochemical Industry and Real Estate Industry

Qu Ruijing, a senior expert of China Circular Economy Association and a senior researcher in the chemical industry, believes that the site selection and planned equipment of the project in Longkou Petrochemical Industrial Park have the conditions to minimize the impact of the people, but it is debatable that the local government hastily stopped the EIA demonstration work in the face of public opposition. The domestic demand for petrochemical industry is still high. Qu Ruijing introduced that in 2015, China’s imports of PX products reached one-fifth of the global production capacity, taking PX-p-xylene, which once caused strong neighborhood feelings, as an example, and the domestic production capacity of PX was seriously insufficient.

"Longkou’s environmental problems are problems left over from history and have little to do with the current project establishment. However, the petrochemical projects in our country have now entered a misunderstanding, not only because of people’s worries about environmental hazards, but also because of the game between the petrochemical industry and the real estate industry. " Qu Ruijing told reporters.

A reader’s comment on the official WeChat account "Longkou Youth" of Longkou Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League.

Observer Network integrates reports from Weibo, official of Longkou Public Security Bureau, WeChat WeChat official account of Longkou Municipal Committee of Youth League, Caixin.com, etc.