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Choked By Smog, Beijing Creates A New Environmental Police Force (csmonitor.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Christian Science Monitor:
A new police force will crack down on environmental offenders in Beijing, city officials announced Saturday, marking the Chinese government's latest attempt to reduce smog... Other measures included cutting coal use by 30 percent in 2017, shutting down 500 higher-polluting factories and upgrading 2,500 others, phasing out 300,000 higher-polluting older vehicles, and supplying cleaner gas and diesel at fuel stations starting February 15. The announcement came one day after municipal authorities in Beijing announced they would install air purifiers in the city's schools and kindergartens.
Beijing's mayor said that smoke from trash burning and open-air barbecues and even dust from roads "are actually the result of lax supervision and weak law enforcement."
Beijing's mayor said that smoke from trash burning and open-air barbecues and even dust from roads "are actually the result of lax supervision and weak law enforcement."
In related news, Beijing announces the creation of a pollution enforcement squad. You'll see them driving up and down the streets in big vans, looking for violators.
Have gnu, will travel.
Yeah, it couldn't be all those coal burning plants they are building and bringing online faster than the rest of the world can reduce pollution. Definitely the outdoor bbqs.
-- Will program for bandwidth
The bigger story is that they are investing $360 billion on renewable energy over the next 4 years.
That's a plan that will not only pay dividends in pollution reduction, it will keep them on the cutting edge of energy technology. An industry that is obviously a growth market because India and Africa both have tons of unmet demand for energy and Chinese companies are going to own that market.
Meanwhile, the US has just voted for more coal. Maybe, if we are lucky, some more fracking too.
The future is bright! (for china)