CCTV News (Focus Interview): The production, storage, and operation of hazardous chemicals have extremely strict safety and environmental protection thresholds. However, in reality, driven by profit, illegal small chemical industries are repeatedly banned in some places. Major safety risks are intertwined with potential environmental pollution hazards, just like a time bomb planted at the door of your home. In February this year, the Office of the State Council Safety Committee specially deployed the work of "cracking down on illegal and illegal activities" in production safety, requiring in-depth investigations into "black dens" and "small workshops" that are illegally engaged in the production, storage, and operation of hazardous chemicals, and strictly investigating the production and operation of hazardous chemicals without permission or beyond the scope of the permission. However, some viewers recently reported to "Focus" that in Xiaoxukou Village, Dongguang County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, there are many "black dens" and "small workshops" engaged in the blending and storage of hazardous chemicals operating on a large scale. Is this true?
Based on clues, the reporter came to Xiaoxukou Village, Qincun Town, Dongguang County, Hebei Province, and saw many large tank trucks of hazardous chemicals coming in and out at the fork in the road. The reporter followed a large tank truck and saw some large storage tanks standing tall in the village from a distance. After entering the village, the car stopped at the door of a company called Dongguang County Kaijia Chemical Co., Ltd., and then several large tank trucks appeared, with warning words such as "methanol", "ethanol", "flammable liquid", "explosive", "flammable" and "dangerous goods" clearly marked on them.
In the village, the reporter found that there were actually seven chemical companies. Among them, except for another company called Dongguang County Tianrun Chemical Trading Co., Ltd., the others had no brands. The doors of these factories were locked, and they were only opened when large tankers came in and out, and they were opened and closed quickly. They were extremely wary of strangers. The reporter stopped outside the door and immediately came out for questioning.
What do these chemical companies do? The reporter learned that most of the so-called "methanol by-products" brought by large tank trucks are the waste by-product mixtures produced during the production and distillation processes of coal-to-methanol. They are also called "crude alcohol", "fusel alcohol", "low-alcohol alcohol", etc., and are hazardous chemicals. Most of them come from some coal chemical companies in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and other places. So, what do these chemical companies use "methanol by-products" for?
The person in charge of a chemical company in Dongguang County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province: "We have a lot of chemical companies here, including kerosene."
The so-called "burning oil" refers to blending waste materials such as "methanol by-products" into alcohol-based fuels with different calorific values required by different customers, and then selling them to restaurants in various places for stove fuel, or to grain stations for drying fuel, etc. This is the main business of these chemical companies in the village.
Methanol is one of the 20 hazardous chemicals specially controlled by the state. So, is it legal for chemical companies like Xiaoxukou Village to blend methanol by-products? Is there any harm?
Wang Rujun, a distinguished professor at the Chinese Academy of Work Safety and the Hazardous Chemicals Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Emergency Management: "Blending in the village is itself a hazardous chemical production behavior and is illegal (blending) production. Methanol by-products are highly toxic, and long-term inhalation may cause cancer, teratogenesis, and mutagenesis, which will have an impact on the long-term health of the people and be harmful to the environment."
The reporter found that these chemical companies in the village store a large amount of hazardous chemicals. Each factory area has many large vertical and horizontal tanks, as many as 20 or 30. Taking "Tianrun" Chemical as an example, there are more than 20 vertical storage tanks with a single tank capacity of 500 cubic meters, among which there are at least 5 vertical tanks marked "methanol", accounting for nearly 2,000 tons. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the national standard "Identification of Major Hazard Sources of Hazardous Chemicals" (GB 18218-2018), the actual amount of hazardous chemical storage tanks is determined based on the designed maximum amount. Methanol storage reaching or exceeding 500 tons constitutes a major hazard source.
Reporters found that these chemical companies also disguised the labels on storage tanks as non-hazardous chemicals such as "refrigerant" and "antifreeze" under the banner of so-called "general goods" and "general chemicals" to evade supervision, while the actual storage was still hazardous chemicals.
Xiaoxukou Village is less than one kilometer away from Provincial Highway 383 and has a permanent population of 600 to 700 people. However, there are 8 chemical companies engaged in illegal storage and blending of hazardous chemicals. Some of them are only separated from residential houses by an alley, and some are even separated by a wall. Villagers said that this situation has been going on for more than ten years, and its harm is unspeakable.
In addition to the impact on physical health and living environment, these fixed or mobile safety risks make the villagers living here even more worried. The villagers' concerns are not groundless. Fire accidents have occurred frequently in local chemical companies in recent years.
Despite all the safety hazards, reporters discovered that hazardous chemical storage tanks are currently being built in the village.
Wang Rujun: "Methanol by-products are flammable. Once an accident occurs, the dangers of fire, explosion, leakage, and poisoning are too high. It is difficult to put out the fire after it breaks out. Methanol fires can be easily extinguished with water. The entire village is on fire, and many people may be killed and injured, jeopardizing the safety of the people."
So, why are these chemical companies that harm villagers built in villages? The reporter went to the village committee, but the door was locked for several days. After repeated inquiries, I learned that the village party secretary usually stayed in the Kaijia Chemical Factory area. What was going on?
A villager in Xiaoxukou Village, Qincun Town, Dongguang County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province: "The factories in the village are owned by the party secretary's family, and there is nothing others can do about it. There are seven brothers in the family (chemical companies), and the other family (chemical company) is owned by the village director. No one else can stop this."
Is this really the case? The reporter went to Kaijia Chemical to find the village party secretary Yao Wenzhi. The person in charge of the company told reporters that the village party secretary has returned to Dongguang County and will come to work at 8 o'clock tomorrow. The next day, the reporter came to Kaijia Chemical to look for the village party secretary, and happened to see him entering the door.
The reporter then entered the Kaijia Chemical Industry Institute and saw that although there were relevant notices such as "explosive, toxic" and "hazardous waste" next to the storage tank, there were still hazardous chemicals that had just leaked out of the filling area.
The village party secretary does not seem to care about the safety risks in the village. So how does the local functional department Dongguang County Emergency Management Bureau treat it?
A reporter from the County Emergency Bureau learned that among the eight chemical companies in Xiaoxukou Village, five do not have hazardous chemicals business licenses for "storage and operation" and are typical illegal storage of hazardous chemicals. Although the other three companies, including Kaijia Chemical, have hazardous chemicals business licenses that can be "stored and operated", they are storing "exceeding the amount, exceeding the standard and exceeding the scope". So, how did these three chemical companies obtain hazardous chemicals business licenses after 2017?
The person in charge of administrative approval of the Dongguang County Emergency Management Bureau in Cangzhou, Hebei Province told reporters that the approval certificate requires a registration certificate, project registration certificate, and planning certificate. According to the person in charge of approving the hazardous chemicals business license, the reporter then came to the Dongguang County Natural Resources and Planning Bureau to learn about the approval status.
A staff member of the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau of Dongguang County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province: "We have never approved the planning of Xiaoxukou Village, and we have never done any planning review and approval."
So, have these chemical companies in Xiaoxukou Village passed the registration and approval of construction projects? The reporter went to the Dongguang County Development and Reform Bureau to learn more.
Administrative approval officer of the Development, Reform and Science and Technology Bureau of Dongguang County, Cangzhou, Hebei: "We can't approve (methanol) tanks. We don't have a chemical industry (park) here, and we can't get the chemical industry park indicators. Many places involve arable land and agricultural land, and you can't build anything. It can only be used by ordinary people for farming."
So why did the local emergency bureau apply for hazardous chemicals business licenses for "storage and operation" for these three chemical companies in Xiaoxukou Village without going through a series of relevant procedures?
The person in charge of administrative approval of the Dongguang County Emergency Management Bureau in Cangzhou, Hebei: "When Kaijia Chemical applied for a business license in 2018, it applied for approval from the Hebei Provincial Emergency Department. The Hebei Provincial Department issued a document telling what to do with these. For this special category, only one batch was issued."
The reporter conducted an investigation in Dongguang County for more than ten days and found that violations like the one in Xiaoxukou Village are not an isolated case. There are also many such hazardous chemical factories in five or six villages, including Daxukou Village and Zhendian Sun Village, which both belong to Qincun Town. The illegal situations are similar: some chemical companies are close to villagers' homes, some are directly planted in basic farmland in the name of "water purification companies", and some are right next to schools.
In fact, not only in Qincun Town, but also in the adjacent Dashan Town and along Provincial Highway 383, hazardous chemical factories and large tank trucks can be seen everywhere. The air around the factory is pungent, the river water is black and smelly, and the environment is seriously polluted. So, have so many chemical companies in Dongguang County received approval from relevant departments?
Administrative approval officer of the Development, Reform and Science and Technology Bureau of Dongguang County, Cangzhou, Hebei: "Projects involving chemical industry cannot be approved, and there is no land for chemical industry (park) in Dongguang County."
These large-scale illegal activities in Dongguang County have been reported by the public many times. Among them, in December 2025, some people reported to the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection Team: "More than 100 chemical companies in Qincun Town, Dashan Town and Denmingsi Town have no formalities. The kerosene stored in the storage tanks is chemical hazardous waste, and there is a peculiar smell near Provincial Highway 383." However, the local reply was "untrue." The Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law, which came into effect on May 1 this year, requires full-chain supervision of hazardous chemicals. Management is becoming more and more strict, but why do these chemical companies in Dongguang County continue to operate illegally?
Administrative approval officer of the Dongguang County Emergency Management Bureau in Cangzhou, Hebei Province: "Dongguang County won't allow the ban. According to the rules, they (chemical plants) have to be moved. In order to pay taxes to the county, the county won't let them go. There is no other way. The county still wants the tax revenue."
The long-term existence of these companies that illegally blend and store hazardous chemicals is no accident. On the one hand, the state has repeatedly issued orders to resolutely destroy illegal illegal dens of hazardous chemicals; on the other hand, some places lack supervision over obvious safety hazards and have lost their defense lines. There are no "multiple choice questions" about production safety, and villages are not chemical industry zones. Regarding this type of illegal processing and storage of hazardous chemicals, we must not only find out the illegal facts of the company and completely eliminate major safety hazards, but also investigate the underlying regulatory failures and approval failures, clarify responsibilities, and strictly pursue accountability.
