Chinese air quality inspectors investigate pollution offences

China today said the air quality inspection teams sent to 18 cities including capital Beijingto investigate the recurring air pollution have detected 33 environmental offences.

The teams went to cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighbouring areas, including Shanxi, Shandong and Henan provinces, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said.

"China will push to revamp industrial and energy structures in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, home to some 50 per cent of China's coal consumption and steel production capacity," MEP deputy head Zhao Yingmin said.

"China will also reduce pollutants by acting on highly polluting companies, promoting clean use of coal and eliminating vehicles with excessive emissions," Zhao said.
 

By Thursday, the teams had found 33 problems after visiting 137 local government departments and companies.

The recurring air pollution in Beijing sparked by automobile and manufacturing units prompted Beijing local government to constitute environmental police to enforce rules specially the pollution alert system.

At the county level in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, the environmental bureau played the major role in implementing emergency responses to heavy air pollution, but other departments were not actively involved, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the Ministry statement.

Small companies producing medical intermediates in Shijiazhuang were highly polluting, it added.

Several companies in Cangzhou city, Hebei, failed to meet requirements for cutting pollutants and power use.

Shanxi Longhui Coal Gasification Company did not shut down its coke oven as required after environmental checks.

In Henan's Hebi city, two construction sites failed to stop working during top-level alerts for air pollution, the statement said.

A company in Hebi poorly managed its pollution-control facility, while another failed to take effective measures to prevent dust, it added.

The teams have forwarded the problems to local authorities for further investigation and correction.

Apart from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, which normally sees heavy pollution in February, air quality in more than 20 cities in provinces such as Shandong and Henan is deteriorates due to unfavourable weather conditions.