CHINA: Government sets limits on air pollutants from several industries in heavily polluted areas

Record ID: 217008

  • Title: CHINA: Government sets limits on air pollutants from several industries in heavily polluted areas
  • Date: 15th March 2013
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MARCH 15, 2013) (REUTERS) VICE MINISTER OF CHINESE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MINISTRY WALKING INTO CONFERENCE ROOM WITH OTHER OFFICIALS
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Environment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE45B9JH18PQHBV1PN7AG715I0
  • Story Text: China said Friday (March 15) that it plans to set limits on several industries in heavily polluted areas after Beijing experienced air pollution that hovered at worst-ever levels in January of this year.
    In January, the pollution, almost constant in the capital's skies, rocketed to far above hazardous levels, reaching 755 on an index that measures particulate matter in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers. A level of 300 is considered dangerous while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.
    At a news conference on Friday for China's Environmental Protection Bureau held on one of the final days of its annual two-week-long National People's Congress, Wu Xiaoqing, Vice Minister of China's Environmental Protection Bureau, laid out the reasons for the pollution rise in January and why air quality levels haven't completely dissipated.

    "(The reasons for pollution in China are) high energy, high emission, heavy pollution and over-capacity of production, irrational layout, energy over-consumption, coal-dependent energy structure, car numbers on the rise, the increase of pollution emission, construction sites everywhere and inadequate pollution controls," said Wu.
    In northern China, countless factories and power plants belch out smoke and other emissions just beside residential districts shrouded in grey haze.
    Beijing's recent record-breaking levels of toxic air pollution are part of a wider problem affecting much of China as the government looked for ways to clean up the city's air.

    "Starting this year, we have limits on air pollutant in heavily polluted areas, (including limits on) industries of thermal coal, iron steel, petroleum and chemical, cement and the coloured chemical industry. This is the toughest measure in the history of pollution control," said Wu.
    In the past, China has announced plans to cap total coal consumption at around 3.9 billion tonnes by 2015 but the government, environmental critics say, needs eventually to start cutting consumption.
    Smoke from factories and heating plants, winds blowing in from the Gobi Desert and fumes from millions of vehicles can combine to blanket northern Chinese cities in a pungent shroud for days on end.
    The government has promised repeatedly to resolve the problem, and in recent days has unveiled new measures, including taking 180,000 old vehicles off the road in Beijing this year and controlling the "excessive" growth of new car sales in the city.
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