BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- A Chinese environmental official on Monday called for the development of an information releasing system to satisfy people's right to know about major environment pollution cases.

    From Nov. 13, 2005 to Feb. 1 this year, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) received reports on 45 major environment pollution cases across the country, the official with the SEPA said anonymously on its website.

    The official revealed six major pollution cases occurred during the past two and half months, including the cadmium pollution in the Beijiang River in Guangdong Province, the oil leak in the Yellow River in Henan Province and the oil tanker fire in the Ganjiang River in Jiangxi Province.

    "The SEPA and local environmental authorities took timely control measures after each of the major pollution cases occurred and sent expert teams to the scene," said the official.

    "The surveillance system needs to be strengthened and an information disclosure system needs to be established," he said.

    The SEPA will set up an efficient information disclosure system, including regular reporting procedures.

    "Those who refuse or delay disclosing information or cover up the cases will be punished in accordance with laws," said the official. Enditem

    SEPA calls for quick reporting of pollution    

    Pollution accidents must be reported within an hour after they are detected, SEPA said yesterday.

    Accidents should be reported to the local government or environmental protection bureaus. And serious accidents have to be notified directly to the State Council or SEPA.

    The authorities should investigate accidents on the spot immediately after receiving the report; and those who fail to report in time will be punished for dereliction of duty, SEPA said.

    "With such a reporting system, SEPA will keep the public updated with the latest and accurate information," a SEPA spokesman said.

    The announcement follows a series of pollution cases during the last three months, the biggest of which was benzene pollution in Northeast China's Songhua River, caused by a chemical factory explosion in November. Since then, SEPA has received reports of more than 40 environmental accidents.

    Most of them were related to water pollution, including cadmium pollution in Beijiang River in South China's Guangdong Province.

    "China will witness a high frequency of environmental accidents because of an imbalance in industrial structure," the spokesman said.

    According to a recent national survey, more than half of the 21,000 chemical enterprises are located along the country's two major river basins, the Yellow and the Yangtze. Many of the plants had not undergone environmental-impact assessments and were built in residential areas or upstream from rivers.

    After the Songhua River pollution, the environmental authorities of Jilin Province were criticized by SEPA for poor work in reporting the case.

(Source: China Daily)