China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) is struggling to control two enterprises in north China's Shanxi Province that have ignored environmental laws and regulations and caused serious pollution.

SEPA said on Thursday that Zhenxing Group in Yuncheng City of Shanxi Province launched an electrolytic aluminum project in 1999 without carrying out an environmental impact assessment. The project, completed in April 2002, emits chemical pollutants and is located close to residential areas.

SEPA said that the project has caused serious pollution to the environment and harmed the health of area residents. To make matters worse, Zhenxing Group is currently constructing a power plant without approval from the environmental department, said SEPA officials.

A SEPA official said that the administration had sent the company three notices since January 2002 ordering them to stop the project, but the firm turned a deaf ear to their requests. They have now been ordered again to stop pollution and to solve the dispute with neighboring residents.

Another company in Yuncheng City, Haixin Iron and Steel Co., launched an iron and steel project without carrying out an environmental evaluation. Three blast furnaces have already been completed, according to SEPA.

Haixin Iron and Steel was ordered to stop the project and apply for approval from environmental authorities, but has so far failed to comply with the ruling.

"The two companies have ignored SEPA's rulings and are apparently only interested in economic benefits. They do not heed laws and regulations," said the official.

"The local government's management of polluting projects, such as iron and steel and metallurgy, is clearly inadequate and out of line with central government policy," he said.

SEPA will keep a close eye on the situation of the two companies, and the violation of laws and regulations despite repeated warnings will be punished according to law, the official added.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2007)