China adds rules to cut pollution

BEIJING:Chinese environmental regulators unveiled new, stricter emergency pollution control measures for the Olympic Games on Thursday that would close more factories and expand traffic restrictions if air quality failed to meet approved standards, once the competition began next week.The measures, posted on the Web site of the State Environmental Protection Administration, would be invoked during the Games only in the case of "extremely unfavorable weather conditions" - for example, hot, humid air without winds to disperse pollution.The plan would broaden existing temporary restrictions in Beijing and also include the nearby municipality of Tianjin, as well as surrounding Hebei Province. In all, the new measures would encompass a region of more than 91 million people. Pollution has been a persistent concern for the Games, even as Chinese officials have promised to deliver clean air by imposing restrictions on cars and factories.Those measures began July 1, when more than 300,000 high-polluting vehicles were barred from the streets in Beijing. Then on July 20, the city instituted driving restrictions in which motorists were limited to driving on either odd or even days, depending on the last number on their license plate.The traffic restrictions have removed about two million vehicles from city streets. In addition, many factories in Beijing and outlying areas reduced production while most major construction sites were closed.But the expected radiant, blue skies have yet to appear. For four consecutive days, Beijing's gray, stifling skies failed to meet China's national air quality standards, which are more lenient than those in the United States.The situation has improved in recent days as colder air and rainfall have washed out some of the pollution, even as the skies remain mostly milky or gray."I'm optimistic," said Zhu Tong, a Peking University professor who is an air quality adviser for the Olympics. "If it keeps raining like this, it would be great."Zhu added: "If I were an athlete, I would not be concerned."This week, China's state media warned that more restrictions were possible and cautioned that one proposal called for removing 90 percent of vehicles from the roads in Beijing. The plan unveiled Thursday is not so severe; it maintains the odd-even restrictions but adds a new prohibition that bans driving on days that match the last number on a motorist's license plate. (Anyone with a plate ending in 9 could not drive on Aug. 9 or Aug. 19, while other motorists with odd-numbered plates could still do so.) This would remove another 10 percent of all vehicles from the streets.The plan would also suspend production at 105 more factories in Beijing and at another 56 coal-fired power plants, chemical plants and other industries in nearby Tianjin, a municipality with more than 11 million people. Motorists there also would be subjected to the odd even restrictions.Meanwhile, in Hebei Province, motorists in major cities would face odd-even driving restrictions in the daytime and early evening. The province would also suspend or reduce operations at another 61 factories.The additional factory shutdowns could be an important step. Many smaller factories that use solvents generate volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that can contribute to ozone and smoggy skies."For Beijing city, a key variable for determining smog levels is VOCs," said Deborah Seligsohn, China climate program director of the World Resource Institute. "If you cut the car levels without cutting VOCs, you can end up with the problems they've faced in the last week. Cutting over 200 factories sounds like the right move."The leaden skies have hovered over Beijing as the initial wave of an expected 20,000 foreign journalists has begun to descend on the city. They have responded by sending out photographs or television footage of the Forbidden City or the new Olympic Village shrouded in gray.Environmental officials have argued that pollution levels have actually dropped by 20 percent in July and tried to counter the photographic images by arguing that much of the gray is not pollution but just weather."Pictures cannot reflect reality," contended Du Shaozhong, the deputy director of the Beijing environmental bureau, in comments in a report from Xinhua, the government news agency, posted on the state environmental agency's Web site. "They are not accurate. I really urge you not to use photos to base your assessment of air quality."
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.
By Jim Yardley
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/31/asia/beijing.php
As in the days of Noah...