This article was published in the "Sanlian Life Weekly" No. 38, 2020, the original title of the original article "Behind the "Escape from the Wutong Bridge": The Chemical Dilemma in the Old City", it is strictly forbidden to reprint it privately, and the infringement must be investigated
On August 20, a large area of pungent odor appeared in the Wutongqiao District of Leshan City, Sichuan Province, causing panic and flight from the public. More than half a month after the incident, the reporter of this magazine came to Wutong Bridge, and the city has returned to calm. But for people living in the local old town, the "8.20 incident" is neither the first nor the last.
Reporter/Li Xiuli
Photography / Liu Feiyue
The Helan family is one of the closest to the chemical plant in the city. Because she has been living in various odors for many years, she has lost her sense of smell
The whole city fled
The evacuation began at the factory, and the HeLan family witnessed this scene.
In the early morning of August 20, she was awakened by a pungent smell, and her perennial vigilance trained her reaction ability, and He Lan ran to the courtyard for the first time and looked across the Yongsi River. The first thing that catches the eye is a gray smoke, and only the faint outline of several factories along the river is left. He Lan tried to discern it, but did not see the specific direction of the smoke. At the other end of the riverbank, in a factory area tens of meters apart, workers wearing dark green uniforms are running outside while shouting "evacuate."
He Lan's home is located south of the Siwangguan Bridge and the Chengnan Bridge in the Wutongqiao District of Leshan City, Sichuan Province, which is the old town of Wutong Bridge and the area with the highest concentration of old chemical enterprises. Directly in front of He Lan's home is the east factory area of Fuhua Tongda Co., Ltd., which is mainly engaged in the production of pesticides, only one road away; on the hilltop behind the house, the polysilicon production enterprise under construction is JinkoSolar Holdings Co., Ltd.; a little farther away, it is across the bank from Sichuan Yongxiang Co., Ltd., which produces polysilicon and other chemical materials, and several old factories of Fuhua Tongda. With the chemical plant for many years, He Lan has long been immune to all kinds of odors in the air. But the smell of August 20, she still remembers it vividly, because it was "much stronger than usual."
The commotion grew louder. JinkoSolar workers on the top of the mountain also began to run outside, some people covered their mouths and noses with towels, some people started electric motorcycles, and the crowd said to each other, "The chemical plant leaked." He Lan did not dare to delay any longer, went back to the house to get his mobile phone, keys, pulled up his parents in their 70s, and drove to prepare to run along the leeward side of the Yongsi River upstream.
Soon, the news spread like ripples throughout the town. Lao Ma's home is in a residential area two kilometers away from the chemical plant. He told me that at about 8 a.m., someone in the community knocked on the door to inform them of the "chemical plant leak" and let everyone "how far to run." The old horse, still in a masked state, drove his own electric tricycle and ran out with the flow of people. On the way, two young girls stopped him and begged to take them for a ride. After getting into the car, the girls handed the old horse a mask and reminded him to wear it for "anti-poison".
At this time, many roads from Wutong Bridge to Leshan have begun to congest. Li Xinfeng was a reporter for a local media in Sichuan, and at about the same time, he received the news and rushed to the direction of Wutong Bridge. The 213 national highway from Leshan to Wutongqiao has a total of four lanes, and "some cars have been crazy enough to drive in the opposite direction, willing to crash with you and squeeze out." Traffic police maintain order on the side of the road, but with little success, cars, motorcycles, pedestrians mixed together, people wearing masks, carrying large bags and small bags, much like the "big escape" scene in the movie.
Afterwards, according to a source close to the government workers, the news of the "leak" first came from the workers in the chemical plant. In the morning, when the leaders of the district government rushed to the factory investigation of Fuhua Tongda, the person in charge of the enterprise showed the district leaders a message forwarded by the factory workers at more than 7 o'clock in the morning, which said that the Yongxiang Company next door notified the employees of the enterprise that the factory had leaked and please evacuate urgently. The news was screenshotted and sent to the group of workers in Fuhua Tongda, and then flowed to the group of fellow villagers, and finally passed on ten or ten hundred, triggering a large escape of the whole city.
The Wutongqiao District of Leshan City is a typical city along the Yangtze River, and the Min River runs through the central urban area and flows all the way south
What is the truth?
Because of the crowded road to escape, the journey from Leshan to Wutong Bridge, which is usually only 40 minutes, has been stretched to nearly two hours. At about 10 a.m., Li Xinfeng rushed to the scene. He remembered that at this time, the pungent smell of Wutong Bridge had been greatly weakened, and "there was no taste in the Yongxiang factory area." There is still some pungent smell in the Fuhua Tongda factory area, but the person in charge of the factory introduced that it is a normal phenomenon and usually has it." However, Li Xinfeng noticed that "some equipment in the factory area is still soaked in two meters of water." Two days before the "8.20 incident", Leshan suffered heavy precipitation, and the water level of the Min River rose for a while, and the water level of its tributary Yongsi River rose with it, and finally rushed through the embankment and flooded into the urban area of Wutong bridge, and several chemical plants on the banks of the Yongsi River were flooded.
On the evening of August 21, after repeatedly stressing that "there was no explosion in the dangerous chemical enterprises" and "no abnormal phenomena such as leakage was found", the Wutongqiao District Government finally issued a notice acknowledging the leakage of chemical gases for the first time. The circular mentioned: "Regarding the masses' feedback on the occurrence of irritating aerosol in the salt and phosphorus chemical circulation industrial park (south) of Wutongqiao District, after preliminary investigation by the provincial and municipal expert groups, the main reasons are: affected by the '8 · 18' extraordinarily large flood disaster, Sichuan Yongxiang Polysilicon Co., Ltd. (old factory area) in order to ensure safety, took the initiative to stop production, and then the plant area was flooded; on the morning of August 20, due to no electricity and no water, the company's exhaust gas leaching system could not function normally, resulting in the device pressure discharge into the leaching system Gas could not be fully absorbed and treated, forming an aerosol containing a small amount of irritating hydrogen chloride emitted into the air. ”
According to the data, hydrogen chloride is a colorless compressed liquefied gas, with a pungent odor, white smoke in the air, very soluble in water, generating hydrochloric acid. Its effects on the human body are divided into acute poisoning and chronic damage. When the human body is exposed to hydrogen chloride environment of more than 15mg/m3 concentration for a long time, chronic lesions such as dental acid etching and chronic bronchitis will occur. When inhaling 6400mg/m3 concentration of hydrogen chloride for 30 minutes, it can die due to laryngeal spasm, laryngeal edema, and pulmonary edema; inhalation of 5000mg/m3 concentration of hydrogen chloride for 1.5 hours, after 2 to 6 days of death. How high the concentration of hydrogen chloride in the air in the urban area of Wutongqiao on that day was, the government did not give clear data. Li Xinfeng analyzed that from the time people smell the pungent smell to the smell disappears, it takes about an hour or so, according to this judgment, "there may be a little leakage, but within a controllable range."
Sichuan Yongxiang Co., Ltd., mentioned in the circular, was established in November 2002, is a large private technology-based enterprise under the listed group Tongwei, with a registered capital of 1.255 billion yuan, and its business includes the production of polysilicon, monocrystalline silicon, high-purity crystalline silicon, calcium carbide slag and other materials. According to the data, Sichuan Yongxiang Co., Ltd. is one of the three modern chemical bases in Sichuan and belongs to the "top ten taxpayers" in Leshan City. A few minutes after the official notice was issued, Yongxiang Company also issued its own statement: "On the 21st, the relevant government briefing was known. Our units involved in Yongxiang Resin, Yongxiang Polysilicon, Yongxiang New Materials, Yongxiang Silicon Materials organized and carried out carpet inspections synchronously, and all the equipment and devices involved in the company are normal, safe and reliable. The company will continue to carry out dredging and clean-up work in an all-round way according to the established plan, and strive to resume production as soon as possible. The statement did not respond to the "8.20 incident" that caused panic throughout the city, nor did it mention whether the incident was related to the previous equipment failure of the factory.
Half a month later, when the reporter of this magazine came to Wutongqiao District, the city had returned to calm. At 7 o'clock in the morning, the street food stalls selling rice balls were already full of people working, skewer shops, leaf erzhuang, sweet skin ducks, and beef shops lined up along the river, and some shops still had traces of being washed by floods, and the owner was cleaning the floor with a mop to prepare for reopening. On the road, electric vehicles, tricycles, and taxis are mixed together, and the sound of whistles rises and falls. At the entrance of The Yongxiang factory, workers wearing blue overalls came in groups of three or five, coming in and out. The "8/20 incident" seems to have faded quietly from the city, like the floods. An employee of Yongxiang's public relations department even denied the claim of a gas leak. She told this reporter: "I have no way to tell you directly what this incident is, but from our standpoint, Yongxiang did not have any leaks or related things in the '8.20 incident'. ”
However, in Li Xinfeng's view, in this "city-wide escape" incident that has aroused the attention of the Internet, the panic shown by the People of Wutongqiao is more interesting than whether there is a gas leak itself. "It's a result of more than a decade of accumulation." Li Xinfeng said.
In Wutongqiao, there are more than 60 industrial enterprises above designated size and 5 listed companies
Chemical siege
Standing on the roof of a 17-story building in the central area of Wutong Bridge, looking into the distance, the whole view of Wutong Bridge can be seen. This is a typical city along the Yangtze River, the minjiang river water through the central city, all the way to the south, several bridges in the river in turn. The place name of Wutong Bridge is related to the bridge. According to official sources, "During the Qianlong period, after the salt merchants of Wutong Bridge became rich because of salt, in order to facilitate salt transportation, they raised funds to build a stone arch bridge at the mouth of the Lianghe River, named 'Wutong Bridge', and the stone stele at the head of the bridge was engraved with the word 'Wutong Bridge'."
Built along the river, there are relatively sufficient water resources, there are convenient transportation of rivers, docks, Wutong Bridge has important resources and geographical location for the development of chemical industry, which seems to be doomed to the local people's life will be inseparable from the chemical industry. As early as 1988, Sichuan Emeishan Salt Chemical Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., which was jointly established by Sichuan Wutongqiao Salt Factory and other enterprises, was listed, becoming the first listed company in southwest China. Chen Guang is a native of Wutongqiao, in his impression, the stock issuance is a sensation, enterprises across the country have come to learn from the experience, but also created the first batch of wutongqiao millionaires.
After 2000, Sichuan Emeishan Salt Chemical Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. was in trouble due to incomplete structural reform. It was eventually acquired by a private company called Hebang Chemical. Hebang is mainly engaged in the production of salt and phosphorus and other chemical raw materials. At the end of the 1990s, a large number of traditional enterprises collapsed, and the urban economy was in trouble, salt and phosphorus chemical industry was an opportunity for the development of Wutongqiao. "In 2002, marked by the 200,000-ton alkali project of Hebang Group, the modern salt and phosphorus chemical industry in Wutongqiao began to take off." Liang Jiehong, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Seventh People's Congress of Leshan City, said.
While relying on the old industrial base to develop the salt and phosphorus industry, Wutongqiao also introduced other emerging chemical industries such as silicon materials and photovoltaic industry. In 2007, with the rapid growth of market demand in China's photovoltaic industry, the polysilicon industry ushered in the first round of great development, and the Yongxiang Polysilicon Co., Ltd. mentioned in the official notice was established during this period. Polysilicon is the electronic information basic material of contemporary artificial intelligence, automatic control, information processing, photoelectric conversion and other semiconductor devices, and the cost of electricity, raw materials and depreciation in the production process is relatively high, and lower electricity prices are the key to reducing costs of polysilicon production enterprises. The natural resources of Wutong Bridge have once again allowed it to be selected by new industries. Because the Min River runs through the north and south of the district, with a total length of 27.1 kilometers and a height difference of 17 meters, there are abundant hydropower resources such as Shilin Power Station, Tianxian Bridge Power Station, Qiaogou Substation, and Moxi Substation in Wutongqiao. The rich silica resources and high hydrite quartz in Leshan are also a vital silicon metal resource for the development of the photovoltaic industry.
From the perspective of industrial development, Wutong Bridge is lucky - it is a city that has been repeatedly selected by the direction of chemical industry development. In 2009, the output value of leshan (Wutongqiao) salt and phosphorus chemical recycling industrial park built along the Minjiang River took the lead in breaking through 10 billion yuan in the city. In 2013, the production capacity of 120,000 tons of glyphosate in the region ranked first in the country and second in the world, the production capacity of 1.5 million tons of well salt ranked second in the country, the extraction capacity of rare earths of 25,000 tons ranked first in the southwest, and the production capacity of 5,500 tons of polysilicon ranked first in the southwest. At present, there are more than 60 industrial enterprises above the scale of Wutongqiao, including five listed companies such as Hebang, Yongxiang and Fuhua Tongda.
From the perspective of industrial development, Wutong Bridge is lucky, it is a city that has been repeatedly selected by the development direction of chemical industry
Neighbors with danger
Li Xinning, a Wutongqiao person who once worked at Sichuan Emeishan Salt Chemical Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., told this reporter that in the early years, when Yongxiang just came to Wutongqiao to invest and build a factory, there was a saying circulating in the anecdote, "The price of tofu is moved into meat." It means that vehicles in Zhejiang, Fujian and other places come thousands of miles to Wutong Bridge to get goods, which is costly. "It's like if you fly from Beijing to Sichuan and buy a lump of tofu and go back, it costs a lot of money." In Li Xinning's view, this phenomenon proves from the side that these chemical raw materials are necessary for large coastal cities, "but they don't want to produce themselves, because there is pollution."
The locals of Wutongqiao realized that there was "pollution" after the completion of the chemical plant. Lao Ma told this reporter that the factory area where Yongxiang is located used to be a farmland, because it is adjacent to the Min River, irrigation is convenient, and the harvest of crops is very good. In his memory, the water of the Min River at that time was crystal clear, and standing on the shore you could see large stones lying under the water far away. The year Yongxiang came, it was just a small factory, and the locals did not have the awareness of environmental protection, and most of them obediently took the compensation and sold the land. When the factory was located, and later the air of Wutong Bridge began to be filled with pungent smells and the rumble of machines did not stop day and night, they realized that they were "deceived.".
Yongxiang is not the only chemical company along the coast that produces noise and pungent odors, and He Lan, who is only one road away from another listed chemical company Fuhua Tongda, is deeply touched by this. In He Lan's memory, since these factories landed here, the air has been full of odors all year round. In the early years, I was not used to it, but later I smelled more, and my sense of smell had been blunted, and sometimes I couldn't even smell the aroma of food. He Lan's mother, 70 years old this year, has lived in the old town along the river in Wutong Bridge for most of her life, suffering from chronic pharyngitis, and the problem of decreased sense of smell is more serious. On August 20, the pungent smell that caused panic in the city, she didn't feel anything. Wang Zhen, a villager in the same village, told this reporter that he usually can't even walk too fast, "too fast, I start to breathe." If you run, the smoke in the air will rush into your eyes and lungs, your tears will flow, and sometimes your cough will be bloody." The crops could not stand it either. Wang Zhen said that in the year when Fuhua Tongda first arrived, all 90 jujube trees planted in the family died. They went to companies to ask for an explanation, and the companies said they had paid the government pollution fees. Wang Zhen's family took this to the Environmental Protection Bureau, which said it did not have the money. The village chief was sent to the field to take a look around and inquire about the situation, and the matter was not resolved.
Some people express their anger and helplessness online. Compared with the daily pollution, what makes the people of the old city feel more terrifying is the chemical plant leakage and explosion accident. Looking at the local news, almost every few years there will be similar accidents in the media, like a timeline of chemical accidents, documenting the lives of local people who have been repeatedly disturbed by the booming chemical industry over the years:
On June 17, 2004, a chlorine leakage accident occurred in Fuhua Chemical Company in the Wutongqiao area, resulting in 1 moderate poisoning and 4 mild poisoning.
In 2007, 820 kilograms of yellow phosphorus and 6 tons of phosphorus trichloride occurred in the phosphorus trichloride workshop of Wutongqiao Fuhua Chemical Factory, resulting in more than 10 meters of smoke.
On May 23, 2013, during the production process of Yongxiang Company, the heat exchanger of the "hydrogenation process" recovery device leaked and spontaneously ignited (the main component chlorosilane) to produce toxic fumes.
In 2015, the pipe of the hydrochloric acid storage tank of the Shuangganphosphate Project of Sichuan Hebang Agricultural Science Company was damaged due to the damage of the valve sealing surface, resulting in a small amount of hydrochloric acid leakage.
On July 13, 2015, Yongxiang Polysilicon Company had a phase II chlorosilane leakage combustion accident, and the material transfer pump under Tower 7 of the Phase II rectification tower failed, causing chlorosilane to leak and burn, producing hydrogen chloride gas, and a large amount of smoke filled.
On August 18, 2020, two days before the spill, according to media reports, there was also a pungent fog in the local area. On the evening of the same day, the official microblog of Wutongqiao District released a message saying that after the on-site investigation of the emergency management and ecological environment departments of Wutongqiao District, the cause of the smoke was the normal pressure relief of the safety system of Yongxiang Co., Ltd.
Accidents that have happened and are happening are intertwined in the hearts of the locals. After the "8.20 incident", a video of "black smoke from the rectification tower equipment" circulated on the Internet, which was officially identified as a rumor and did not belong to the accident. But the staff of the Hazardous Chemical Safety Supervision Unit of the Wutongqiao District Emergency Management Bureau confirmed that this is an old video of the sudden leakage and combustion of the distillation tower of Yongxiang Polysilicon Company in 2015.
Wang Zhen's most impressive accident was the explosion of waste equipment at Fuhua Tongda Pesticide Technology Co., Ltd. in front of his home in January 2013. At that time, she was doing housework at home, when suddenly there was a "bang" outside, short and powerful. Then she heard the windows of three rooms on the first floor of the house shattered in unison. Wang Zhen ran out and saw an iron lid lying in the courtyard that had exploded in from the outside, weighing 50 kilograms. When the reporter of this magazine came to Wang Zhen's house, she pointed out to me that the windows that had been blown up in the past had not been repaired, the opening of the cave was two or three fists large, and the remaining glass was covered with a thick layer of ash, which was in the same color system as the gray sky. Afterwards, the district government came forward and closed the matter with a compensation of 11,000 yuan.
Accidents like these are like an untimed bomb hanging over the minds of the residents of the old town next to the chemical plant. "Even if the tires on the road burst, I have to giggle and come out to see what's going on." He Lan said. Only when the machine stops running is when they feel safe. Li Xinning's daughter studied at Wutongqiao Middle School, adjacent to the Fuhua Tongda Chemical Factory. He told this reporter that every year during the college entrance examination, "in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong", the chemical plant will stop production for three days.
Just after the flood, the minjiang river rises, and the residents of Wutongqiao are fishing on the riverside, and on the other side of the river is a row of chemical factory areas
leave
Chen Guang has moved away from the old town of Wutong bridge and lived in Leshan. Only occasionally I miss the Wutong Bridge I remember when I was a child. "At that time, Wutong Bridge was divided into three districts: Zhugen Beach, Siwangguan, and Qinglongzui." Each of the three districts has a different function. Siwangguan is the center of the city and the center of cultural tourism. "There's an entertainment city there, and when we were kids, we loved watching movies and playing the first desktop games." Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, a dragon boat race is held, with a special viewing platform for residents to watch. On this day, Chen Guang and his friends will leave work early, step on the bicycle, and run to the competition site, and the atmosphere is as exciting as the New Year. At the peak of popularity, some people rushed from other places to visit this small southwest city with the nickname of "Little West Lake".
Decades later, dragon boat racing has not been held since the beginning of the year, and the entertainment city has become a three-story supermarket. The center of the city is shifting, the once prosperous scene is gone, and time seems to have stalled here. "Bounded by Zhugentan Beach, after crossing the Siwangguan Bridge and the Chengnan Bridge, they are all old towns in the past, and there has been basically no change in the past 20 years." Chen Guang told this reporter. Walking on the streets of the old city, I saw that the houses on both sides of the river were exposed to a humid environment all year round, the white outer walls had been mottled and peeled off, and some houses were empty, and the branches and leaves of the vines spread freely and fell from the balcony. Modern cinemas, comprehensive shopping malls and other cultural entertainment life is not available in Wutong Bridge, some newly built high-rise buildings along the river, few occupants, at night it is dark. "The capable young people are gone." Li Xinning said helplessly. House prices may be the most favorable proof of not being able to retain people, the house prices in the old town of Wutongqiao are now 3,000 to 4,000 yuan / square meter, which is the cheapest compared with the house prices of several surrounding districts and counties. "I looked at a new real estate project opened in our local area, more than 400,000, thought about it, or did not dare to buy." I am afraid that after the new factory area next to Hebang is put into operation, the pollution problem will be even greater. Li Xinning told me.
In recent years, the chemical industry of Wutongqiao has also been upgrading and changing. In 2018, Yongxiang New Energy Plant started construction in Hongdoupo, Wutongqiao. It is 8 kilometers away from the Siwangguan Bridge in the central area of Wutong Bridge, far from residential areas and along the Minjiang River, and is part of the "green Silicon Valley" that Wutong Bridge wants to build. The new industrial park has a planned area of 28 square kilometers in the near and medium term, with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan in completed construction. Yongxiang's new polysilicon production line has been completed and put into operation, with a total investment of 10 billion yuan. The local government regards it as an introduction project of large-scale key enterprises, and also regards "green environmental protection" as one of its core publicity points. A staff member of the public relations department of Yongxiang Company told this reporter: "Our safety work has been doing very well, if you have the opportunity, you can come to our new energy plant to have a look, we are really doing a very advanced and excellent job in technology and safety management." ”
But these upgrades and changes seem to have nothing to do with the people living in the old city. They are left behind in the city's antiquated chemical corners, and in the dangerous shadow of the once barbaric growth of the chemical industry. Those aging factories are no longer the engines of the city's economy, but they may still be the makers of life's troubles. The "8/20 incident" is neither the first time nor the last of the people who remain in the old city. When I left Ho Lan's house, Ho Lan's mother stuffed a bag of walnuts into my hand. She repeatedly told me to appeal to the government to at least move away from these chemical plants.
(Except for Li Xinfeng, the other characters in the text are pseudonyms)