In recent days, it has been revealed that 8 chemical enterprises in Xiaofan Village, Dongguang County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province have long been engaged in illegal blending and storage of methanol by-products. Some factories are only separated by a wall from residential houses, posing a serious threat to the lives of villagers.
According to a report from CCTV’s “Focus Interview” on October 18, Xiaofan Village has a population of six to seven hundred permanent residents, with 8 chemical enterprises engaging in illegal storage and blending activities. The main business of these factories is to illegally blend the “methanol by-products” (commonly known as crude alcohol, miscellaneous alcohol) brought in from other places into alcohol-based fuels of different calorific values (commonly known as “burning oil”), and then sell them to restaurants and grain stations across the region.
Experts point out that methanol is one of the 20 types of hazardous chemicals specially controlled by the state. Not only is it highly toxic, with long-term inhalation potentially leading to cancer, birth defects, and mutations, but it is also extremely flammable and cannot be extinguished with water in the event of a fire.
However, some high-risk factories are just across the street or even separated by only a wall from residential houses. The amount stored is also staggering, with just one company storing nearly 2000 tons of methanol. According to relevant regulations, storing over 500 tons of methanol constitutes a “major hazard source”.
Furthermore, among the 8 companies involved, 5 do not have a permit for “storage and management” of hazardous chemicals, which falls under illegal storage of hazardous materials. The remaining 3 companies, although having permits, are also engaged in serious violations of “excessive quantity, exceeding standards, and exceeding scope” in storage.
Local villagers revealed that this situation has been ongoing for more than a decade, with frequent chemical factory fires in recent years. What is even more shocking is that 7 of the factories are owned by a village party secretary and his brothers (a family of 7 brothers), while the other company is owned by the village director. Currently, the village is still constructing hazardous chemical storage tanks.
Faced with such significant safety hazards, the involved village party secretary casually responded, “There’s no problem, we’re used to it.” Administrative approval personnel from the Emergency Management Bureau of Dongguang County stated that according to regulations, these chemical factories should be relocated, but the county is reluctant to shut them down for the sake of tax revenue, making enforcement difficult.
According to reports, in other villages like Daxia Village and Zhendi Sun Village in Qinchun Town, and along the 383 Provincial Road in neighboring areas, hazardous chemical factories and large tanker trucks are seen everywhere, causing the surrounding air to be pungent and the river water to be foul-smelling, leading to severe environmental pollution.
As early as December 2025, members of the public reported to the Central Committee’s Ecological Environment Protection Inspection Team that over a hundred chemical enterprises in towns like Qinchun and Dadian were illegally storing hazardous waste. However, the local investigation response was deemed “untrue”.