Dong said again, "Besides, based on my personal analysis of the results of the previous investigation, I personally think that the so-called 'excessive pesticide application' is completely untenable. The old corn farmers all know that it is enough to apply the pesticide three times in a season. The first time is to remove weeds, the second time is to kill insects, and the third time is to treat diseases. If the corn is not sick, it can be exempted from applying the pesticide for the third time. In other words, it is enough to apply the pesticide two or three times. There is no need to apply the pesticide more. Besides, applying the pesticide is a laborious job. You have to prepare the medicine, collect water, and spray it forward step by step. You have to be busy for one mu of land for an hour or even longer. No one is willing to apply the pesticide more than once. Besides, applying the pesticide more means that you have to buy more medicine, which will increase your expenses. Who is so stupid to spend more money on unnecessary things? "
Li Rui nodded as he listened. After listening, he said with a smile, "There is another suspicious point. The villagers of the eight households must have applied the pesticide this way every year. However, why didn't they apply the pesticide more in the past? Why did the brick factory apply the pesticide more after it started producing? Obviously, it has something to do with the brick factory. "
Dong said, "Later, we will go to the scene to see the exhaust gas and smoke emission of the brick factory. Maybe we can find the reason."
The official car drove past the Fairy River and reached the Manshui Bridge, which was two miles northeast of the county town. It drove quickly along the secondary rural road to Liqing Town. The remaining four or five miles of the road was almost reached in the blink of an eye.
The driver pointed to a village on the west side of the road and said, "This is Xiliqing Village. There is a fork in the road to the west about 500 meters away. Drive through the fork and it will lead to the brick factory that we are going to."
Li Rui said, "Let's not go to the brick factory first. We don't want to act rashly and alert the enemy. You find an alley near the brick factory and stop there. We will walk there and take a look."
The driver agreed. He slowed down the car and observed the alleys on the left side of the road. Soon, he found an alley where the car could enter. He turned on the lights and drove in. The alley was not deep. After driving for about a hundred meters, they arrived at the outskirts of the village. In front of them was a field of crops.
Li Rui asked the driver to stop the car and got off the car with Ma Yuming and Chief Dong. They walked along the ridge and walked towards the brick factory. After walking for a short distance, they could see the courtyard of the brick factory in the north. The courtyard was very large and was surrounded by a red brick wall. Inside the wall, there were piles of dark brown clay bricks piled high like a small hill. The hill of clay blocked the factory and kiln behind it. They couldn't even see the chimney, but they could see a brown smoke spurting out from behind the hill, forming a large cloud of smoke in the air.
"Cough …"
At this time, Li Rui also smelled the smoke in the air. It was neither thick nor light. It was not pungent, but it was uncomfortable. His sensitive respiratory tract could not stand the stimulation, and he immediately coughed.
"Look!"
Ma Yuming suddenly stopped and pointed at the wheat seedlings in the field.
Li Rui squatted down and looked carefully. He saw that the wheat seedlings in the field were still in the state of growth in winter. They were not taller than a squeeze, and the leaves were yellow and withered. Almost all of them had died. When he looked again, there was a layer of grey-brown dust on the leaves. He tried to wipe it with his hands, but he could only wipe off the top layer. There was at least a layer of dust on the bottom layer. It was clear that the smoke from the brick factory had affected the nearby fields.
Chief Dong pinched a handful of dust on the wheat seedlings. He took out a magnifying glass from his bag and observed it carefully. He then put it under his nose and sniffed.
Ma Yuming asked curiously, "Can you smell anything?"
Chief Dong shook his head and said, "I can't smell anything, but the smell in the air is very obvious. I suspect that the brick factory did not install environmental protection equipment, or it installed but did not turn it on in order to save money. This led to excessive chemical pollution in the smoke. It was these chemicals that harmed the nearby fields."
Li Rui asked, "Can you test what kind of chemicals are on the spot?"
Chief Dong nodded and said, "Almost. I'll try now." After that, he opened his bag and began to take out the testing equipment.
Li Rui thought for a while. If he could detect the main cause of the crop damage, he and others might need to go to the brick factory to check the environmental protection equipment to determine the culprit. In this way, environmental protection personnel would be needed. Since he was in charge of environmental protection, he could immediately call people from the Environmental Protection Bureau. He told Ma Yuming, "Contact Niu Jin, the director of the Environmental Protection Bureau, and ask him to send one or two environmental protection personnel to help."
Ma Yuming took out his mobile phone and called Niu Jin.
At this time, Li Rui realized that the reason why Bo Yubing assigned this task to him was not only because she was used to using him, but also because he was in charge of environmental protection. She had long thought that the root cause of this incident was in environmental protection, and it was most suitable to send him. That was why she did not hesitate to appoint him. Tut tut, she was really a smart woman.
Half squatting and half kneeling on the ground, Director Dong fiddled with the test tube container, H-test paper, and other tools for a while. Finally, he stood up excitedly, raised the H-test paper in his hand, and said to the other two, "County Magistrate Li, the results are out. The amount of acidic chemicals in the smoke and dust emitted by the brick factory is too high. According to my estimation, it should be due to the high amount of sulfur dioxide, and sulfur dioxide has a very strong destructive effect on crops. For example, a high concentration of sulfur dioxide gas will cause acute harm to plants, which can make the plants' leaves scorch, fall off, or even wither and die in a short period of time. The chronic harm can't be ignored, either. If plants are exposed to an environment with low concentration of sulfur dioxide pollution for a long time, they will show a state of poor growth or even stop growing.
Li Rui nodded and said, "Keep this H-test paper. Let's continue to move forward and wait for the people from the Environmental Protection Bureau to come."
After Chief Dong cleaned up, the three of them continued to move forward. After walking to the edge of the brick factory's wall, they circled around the wall. What they saw and heard was the same as the previous field. Li Rui deliberately walked further away and found that even if they walked to a place 200 meters away from the brick factory's wall, the crops in the field still showed signs of withering and yellowing, but the range was smaller. Based on this analysis, the 30 acres of farmland and the eight families of villagers were far more damaged by the pollution. It was just that the eight families of villagers suffered the most damage, so they rose up to resist. The villagers who were not seriously damaged were likely to pinch their noses and accept their bad luck.
When the three of them circled to the gate of the brick factory, two cadres of the environmental monitoring team sent by the Environmental Protection Bureau also drove there. The two sides met and walked into the courtyard of the brick factory together after getting to know each other.
"Captain Zhang, has your monitoring team checked the environmental protection facilities of this brick factory before?"
Walking on the gray ground, Li Rui looked at the scene in the courtyard while asking the leader of the monitoring team of the Environmental Protection Bureau this time.
Captain Zhang nodded and said, "Yes, it has been checked and accepted. It must have passed the inspection. Otherwise, they can't start work. But I'm not the one who led the inspection, so I don't know much about the situation here."
Li Rui asked again, "There is a clear pungent smell in the air here. Do you smell it?"
Captain Zhang sniffed twice and said, "Yes, a little …"
Li Rui said, "Then how did the inspection by the Environmental Protection Bureau pass the inspection?"
Captain Zhang laughed dryly and said, "I don't know. After all, I'm not the one who led the team here."
In fact, Li Rui knew the answer. The reason why this brick factory could pass the inspection by the Environmental Protection Bureau was that either they had used their connections to spend money, or they had turned on the environmental protection equipment during the inspection. Besides these two possibilities, there was no other reason. He knew the answer but still asked, because he wanted to see if Captain Zhang was an honest person. However, he was disappointed after he asked. Captain Zhang avoided the truth and talked about the truth. He also shirked responsibility and did not have any political consciousness. It seemed that he was not very useful.
There was no gatehouse in the brick factory, and there were no workers in the courtyard. Therefore, Li Rui and his team did not encounter any obstacles or questions. They went directly to the operation room next to the brick kiln, where the main switches of ignition, drying, environmental protection equipment, and other equipment were arranged.
There were four or five workers in the operation room. Seeing Li Rui and his team suddenly break in, two of whom were wearing environmental protection uniforms, a man in his forties who was the leader of the workers came forward and asked, "Ah, are you … here for inspection? Didn't you receive any notice? "He looked nervous and awkward, but he still smiled. His expression was very ugly.
Captain Zhang went forward and said, "Ask your factory director to come here. If there is no factory director, ask your boss to come here." After that, he walked around in the factory.
The man smiled and followed him. "Our boss is not here now. Shall I call him to come here?"
Captain Zhang said, "Forget it!" Then he asked, "Where did you install the environmental protection equipment? Why didn't I see it?"
"Here, here!" The man said and led them to the inner room.
Li Rui and his team walked over and saw the man pointing at the main switch of the equipment that looked like a big electric meter on the red brick wall. Captain Zhang and his team went forward and looked at it. They frowned and said, "You didn't turn it on?"
The man smiled and said, "It was under maintenance these two days, so it was not turned on temporarily. However, it was always turned on before."
Captain Zhang rubbed his nose and said, "I was wondering why there was a smell in the air. Let me tell you, hurry up and repair it. It must be repaired today. Once it is repaired, it must be turned on immediately. Otherwise, I will ask you to stop work. "
The man nodded repeatedly. "Of course, of course. I will ask someone to come and fix it. It must be repaired today."
Captain Zhang went back to Li Rui and said, "County Magistrate Li, you smelled the smell just now because their environmental protection equipment is under maintenance. There is no work. I have ordered them to repair it today. I believe the air will be better tomorrow."
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