Smog plan measures lost in haze

While Beijingers have finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief after winds blew away this week's heavy pollution, environmentalists said Thursday that the government's emergency pollution relief plan had little to no effect.

The emergency pollution prevention plan, announced on January 1, should kick in when one or more districts reach an air quality index (AQI) of 201-300, described as "heavy pollution," but at this level, Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) will only make suggestions such as advising residents to stay inside.

At levels of 300-500, or "severe pollution," they will order extra street cleaning, and ask factories to reduce emissions by 15 percent.

At an AQI of over 500, or "extreme pollution," there is to be a 30 percent reduction in government-owned vehicles, and a reduction of 30 percent in factory emissions.

The emergency plan is initiated if there is a forecast of 24 hours of pollution.

On Wednesday, most districts were severely polluted, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center.

Qiu Qihong, an engineer from the center, said smog enveloped some areas of the city Tuesday, worsening on Wednesday.

"The current emergency measures have had little effect. You could hardly detect if the plan had launched or not," he said, adding he thinks the measures should be toughened.

One major reason is that there are no similar plans in neighboring areas where pollution is also severe, said Qiu. On Wednesday, the pollution index in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, reached 500, while many other cities in the province were heavily or severely polluted, according to Hebei EPB.

Beijing burns around 20 million tons of coal a year, but the figure is over 200 million tons in Hebei, said Qiu.

"So how much pollution could be reduced [in Beijing]?" he said.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, agreed the plan needs to be tougher.

"Schools should be asked to stop outdoor activities on heavily polluted days as well as extremely polluted. You shouldn't see trucks laden with sand driving around," he said.

"Otherwise, the public will not trust the effectiveness of the emergency plans," Ma noted.

An anonymous employee from Beijing Cement Factory said it has shut down one production line since January 10 for two reasons.

"One is because it's the off season for production and another is because of the government advocating on emission reduction for environmental protection," he said, adding that their emissions meet the standard. He denied his factory contributed to the recent smog.

"It's the auto industry that has contributed the most to the heavy pollution, not us," he said.

Wang Xiaoming, media officer of the EPB, said they did initiate the emergency plan Wednesday, but there were no compulsory measures to reduce carbon emissions because pollution levels were not severe everywhere in the city.

"The plan is more of a suggestion, not an obligation to reduce emissions," he said, noting that it depends on individual manufacturers to follow suggestions.

Beijing resident Liu Hui, 33, said that he really doubts the emergency plan will work well.

"There might be differences but I guess few people can tell, since the measures lack supervision from third parties like the public," he said.

Zhang Yuanxun, professor of resources and environment at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that while tackling pollution is important, emission reduction will cut productivity, which will affect growth.

"The tougher the better for the emergency plans, but I think the current plan is tough enough," he said.

"I think the plan should be appreciated since residents can at least be aware of the severity of the pollution and take measures to protect themselves," said Zhang Yuanxun.

Zhang Lun, media officer of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement, said it is difficult to implement the plan.

"If it's issued at short notice, we can't tackle the pollution. There are many polluted spots in town, requiring long-term regulatory work," she said.

The Beijing Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention has launched an investigation into how PM2.5 affects people's health, and also plans to analyze indoor PM2.5. The results will be used to help classify air pollution, as well as provide warnings of infectious disease, the Beijing Times reported Thursday.