On your mark, get set, go green
15th April 2008
The Chinese government earlier this week outlined its remaining plans to clear the air for the summer Games. The International Herald Tribune reports on the details.
The measures announced Monday include a two-month halt in construction, beginning July 20, and government directives that will force coal-burning power plants to reduce their emissions by 30 percent throughout most of the summer. Officials said that 19 heavy-polluting enterprises, including steel mills, coke plants and refineries, would be either temporarily mothballed or forced to reduce production. Gas stations that do not meet environmental standards will closed, as will all cement production, and the use toxic solvents outdoors will be forbidden.
Read the whole article.
The article goes on to quote Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau urging reporters to “just tell everybody they don’t have to worry.”