An Assessment of Environmental Regulation of the Steel Industry in China
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March 2009 An Assessment of Environmental Regulation of the Steel Industry in China i Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center NASA satellite image of eastern Asia shows a dense blanket of polluted air over central eastern China -- dense enough that the coastline around Shanghai virtually disappears. The "Asian Brown Cloud" is a toxic mix of ash, acids and airborne particles. The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on board the Orbview 2 satellite captured this image January 10, 2003. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................iv List of Acronyms..................................................................................................................................v Executive Summary and Introduction ................................................................................................vi Chapter I: The Chinese Steel Industry and its Environmental Record ....................................................................................................................1 Chapter II: The Process for Developing Pollution Control Regulations in China .............................................................................................................13 Chapter III: The Structure of the Pollution Control Regime in China ...................................................................................................................27 Chapter IV: Pollution Control Standards and Emissions in China ..................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter V: Pollution Control Technologies and Costs ......................................................................66 Chapter VI: Enforcement and Compliance ........................................................................................79 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................93 Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center On July 26, 2008, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this picture of eastern China. This image shows a thick band of haze snaking through the region, largely hugging the coastal lowlands along Bo Hai and the Yellow Sea. The haze mixes with clouds, and an especially thick band of clouds occurs just west of the Yellow Sea. South of this, the brown-green color along the coast results from sediments in the water, although some haze likely occurs directly overhead. In the mountainous region to the west, skies are relatively clear. iii Acknowledgements The law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer assisted the Alliance for American Manufacturing in the preparation of this report. The following individuals in the firm’s Washington D.C. office worked on this report: Buzz Bailey, Paul Hoff, Ma Tianjie, Peter Matthews, Rachel Rothschild, Joel Swerdlow, Yvon Wang, and Richard Wegman. A team based in Beijing carried out the project’s investigative work in China. Confidential interviews were conducted in Beijing and other locations in China under the direction of Garvey Schubert Barer’s Beijing office. AAM is grateful to the following individuals who reviewed and provided very helpful comments and suggestions in connection with the preparation of this report: Dan Baker, US Steel Corp.; Dan Guttman, professor, Peking University Law School and Johns Hopkins Center for American Government; Jun Bi, professor and Deputy Dean, Nanjing University Environmental School; Larry Kavanagh, American Iron and Steel Institute; Bonnie Liu, Nanjing University Environmental School; Bill McKim, US Steel Corp.; Jeremy Schreifels, Environmental Protection Agency; Jim Schultz, Council on Environmental Quality; Song Guojun, Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Remmin University; Bruce Steiner, American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute; Sun Xiaopu, Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development; Steve Wolfson, Environmental Protection Agency; and Laney Zhang, Law Library of Congress. ConstructionPhotography Benxi steelworks and city, Liaoning Province, near Shenyang, China. iv List of Acronyms AISI American Iron and Steel Institute APA Administrative Procedure Act BAT Best Available Technology Economically Achievable BCT Best Conventional Technology BOF Basic Oxygen Furnace BPT Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available BSO Benzene Soluble Organics CAA Clean Air Act CEMs Continuous Emissions Monitoring systems CO Carbon Monoxide CO2 Carbon Dioxide COMs Continuous Opacity Monitoring systems CPMs Continuous Parameter Monitoring systems EAF Electric Arc Furnace EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EPA Environmental Protection Agency EPB Environmental Protection Bureau FOIA Freedom of Information Act FWPCA Federal Water Pollution Control Act GDP Gross Domestic Product GHG Greenhouse Gases HCl Hydrochloric Acid IISI International Iron and Steel Institute MACT Maximum Achievable Control Technology MEP Ministry of Environmental Protection NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards NAICS North American Industry Classification System NDRC National Development and Reform Commission NEI National Emissions Inventory NESHAPs National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants NOX Nitrogen Oxides NPC National People’s Congress NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NSPS New Source Performance Standards O & M Operations & Maintenance OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development pH The measure of acidity or alkalinity of a solution PM Particulate Matter POTW Publicly Owned Treatment Works RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act SEPA State Environmental Protection Administration SIP State Implementation Plan SMA Steel Manufacturing Association SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises SO2 Sulfur Dioxide TDS Total Dissolved Solids TRI Toxic Release Inventories VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds v Executive Summary and Introduction China is by far the leading source of steel in the world. It produces more than the U.S., Russia and Japan combined. Between 2000 and the end of 2007 China nearly quadrupled its production of steel, and now produces more than one-third of the world’s total steel output. Only the world’s current economic troubles may now interrupt the industry’s rapid growth. China has also become one of the world’s biggest polluters. Much of this is due to increased emissions from rapid industrial expansion in steel and other industries, and the fact that China applies less stringent environmental standards than most developed countries to industrial pollution, including pollution from the steel industry. China now produces more sulfur dioxide than any other country in the world, and reports suggest that China has recently become the number one generator of carbon dioxide as well. This report documents how China’s steel industry has been advantaged by less stringent pollution control standards, as it expands into global markets. Not only is our environment imperiled by this activity, but U.S. steelmakers must compete with Chinese companies that play under a different set of rules. Steelmaking in China clearly poses global environmental concerns. Recent data show that one- quarter of the particulate matter in the air in Los Angeles on some days originates in China. China’s steel industry now accounts for 50 percent of the world’s production of carbon dioxide from steelmaking— approximately equal to all the other steel mills in the world combined. Other countries have an obvious stake in addressing the level of carbon dioxide production in any future international agreement on global warming. There are also economic considerations. The Chinese steel industry benefits economically from environmental requirements that are less stringent than those the U.S. and many other countries have adopted. Curtailing pollution requires considerable capital investment and continued spending to operate and maintain pollution control equipment. The failure of many Chinese steel companies to adequately invest in pollution control may have contributed to China’s growing strength in markets around the world, including the U.S. market. An economist serving in China’s Ministry of Commerce told The New York Times that, with respect to steel, “the shortfall of environmental protection is one of the main reasons why our exports are cheaper.” Another reason the official cited was cheap energy. Officials in China’s central government have indicated that they are aware of the problem. They know that China’s pollution control standards are less stringent than those that apply in the U.S., and while they have stated their desire to address this situation, the state of the country’s current regulations, enforcement efforts, and pollution levels continue to suggest that sufficient concrete steps have yet to be taken. China President Hu Jintao pledged to improve the situation in October 2007, saying “our economic growth is realized at an excessively high cost of resources and the environment.” In early 2008 the State Environmental Protection Administration was elevated to full ministry status, in order to give greater prominence to China’s pollution-fighting efforts, but the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s low staffing levels and inadequate legal authority continue to undermine the ministry’s effectiveness. China has been seeking to close some of the smaller, less efficient steel mills that