Panzhihua, a city in the remote mountainous southern end of southwest China's Sichuan province, is home to Panzhihua Iron and Steel (Group) Co, or "Pangang", the largest steel production base in western China.

The steel complex, constructed in a narrow river valley of the headwater of Jinsha River in 1960s, is regarded as the centerpiece of "the Third Front construction" in a mass mobilization campaign initiated by the central government to build a huge self-sufficient industrial base in China's remote inland areas to serve as a new industrial strategic reserve.

That was an era when the spirit of man over nature epitomized people's attitudes and actions.

From 1964 to 1971, under the slogan, "Prepare for War, Prepare for Famine, for the Sake of the People", some 100,000 construction workers converged on Panzhihua from all over the country in the large-scale campaign of "the war against nature".

However, the massive natural resources exploitation, industrial production and extensive growth caused serious air and water pollution for decades and the once pristine region became an environmental nightmare.

"We are in debt to the environment, so we should pay it back now," says Fan Zhengwei, president of Panzhihua Iron Steel (Group) Co.

Pangang, the Third Front mega-project which embodied the "Humans Must Conquer Nature" campaign, has since reversed its philosophy to "Harmony between Heaven and Humans", an extensive energy saving and emissions control campaign.

Since 2000, Pangang has invested a total of 700 million yuan on energy conservation.

It also allocated about 1.6 billion yuan for anti-air pollution projects in the 10th Five-Year Plan period ( 2000-05).

In 2007, Pangang reported 82,624 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and 1,187 tons of chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions, respectively a 5 percent and 10 percent year-on-year reduction from the previous year.

Situated on the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers, Pangang also invested 204 million yuan for a waste-water treatment project, and now has reached the goal of zero-emissions of polluted industrial wastewater.

As most of the steel production plants are constructed along the riverside of Jinsha River, Pangang has earmarked 21 million yuan to build a wall 550 meters long and 17 meters high to prevent the steel waste flowing into the river.

Pangang Group Chengdu Iron Steel Co, the group's seamless steel tube production unit, has said its total energy consumption was reduced from 1.54 million tons of coal equivalent to 1.19 tons from 2004 to 2007, and energy consumption fell from 2.38 tons of coal equivalent to 1.32 tons. Water consumption to produce a ton of steel declined from 12.4 tons to 8.18 tons.

"In 1960s and 1970s , we never thought about saving water, since we have huge water resource in Jinsha River to utilize, or saving energy such like natural gas, since we have vast natural gas reservoir in Sichuan Basin, or the comprehensive utility of iron ore mines, since we have rich mineral resources in Panzhihua," says Fan.

"In the past, we preferred to invest in new production lines rather than spending it on energy saving or emissions control technology," says Yu Zisu, general manager of Panzhihua Iron Steel Group Co.

Now, the environmental protection task is a top priority for every factory and company leaders, Yu says.

The company says every senior management executives have signed a contract on their environmental obligations, and if their factory cannot reach certain standards on emission controls by the year's end, they face stiff punishments, including pay cuts or even firings.

"The people who benefit the most from Pangang's environmental protection accomplishment are actually ourselves, since more than 90 percent residents living in Panzhihua are Pangang employees," says Zhou Yiping, vice-general manager of Panzhihua Iron Steel Group Co.

(China Daily 04/28/2008 page5)