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Eight Chinese cities fined for air pollution

Local governments in eight cities in northeast China’s Liaoning Province have been fined a total of 54.2 million yuan (8.9 million U.S. dollars) for air pollution, the provincial department of environment protection said Tuesday. The fines, the first the provincial agency has imposed on lower-level governments, send a clear signal that the provincial government is becoming more serious about tackling air pollution. The tough penalties come as severely polluted air has become a main source of complaints and frustration over health concerns among urban residents. Choking smog attracted wide attention again last week as it blanketed 100 cities across more than half the country. Many rushed to buy face masks and air purifiers to ward it off, and primary and middle schools in the eastern city of Nanjing were even forced to close for two days. According to a regulation which went into effect […]

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China environmentalists slam inaction over smog

The smog that blanketed over 100 cities in half of China last week has rekindled criticism of insufficient efforts in the fight against air pollution. Among urban residents, severely polluted air has become a main source of complaints and frustration over health concerns. Late last week, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in dozens of cities in eastern China topped or neared 500. AQI of over 300 cities is defined as “serious pollution.” Many rushed to buy face masks and air purifiers to ward off the choking smog, a result of decades of breakneck economic growth. The dirty air even forced all primary and middle schools in the eastern city of Nanjing to close for two days. “The smog is everywhere,” said Xiong Yuehui, head of the science and technology department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, at a meeting on Sunday in Shanghai. “If […]

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Obama’s Pollution-Control Agenda Goes to Court Tomorrow

Two of President Barack Obama ’s top pollution-control measures face courtroom tests tomorrow as coal-dependent utilities, miners and some states challenge what they call overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency. Efforts to regulate pollutants that cause smog and soot, as well as mercury from coal plants, have moved in fits and starts for more than a decade. If both rules go forward it would cause power producers such as American Electric Power Co. (AEP) and Southern Co. (SO) to shutter old plants or invest billions of dollars in pollution-control technology. Health and environmental groups say the rules clean the air and reduce heart attacks, asthma and related illnesses. The decisions in these cases — one being argued before the Supreme Court and the other in federal appeals court — could have a longstanding impact on how the Clean Air Act is implemented. “This is the biggest day for clean […]

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Shanghai Hit by Heavy Air Pollution

Shanghai’s air pollution went off the charts on Friday as a thick gray smog shrouded its famously luminous skyline, in the latest high-profile episode highlighting China’s pervasive environmental woes. Officials called for factory closures and curbs on official car use to counter hazardous levels of particulate matter in the air, while airlines delayed or canceled some flights, according to local authorities. Commuters wore face masks and some rushed to purchase air purifiers at supermarkets. Parks were left empty. Schools remained open, although the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau suggested children, the aged and people with heart, lung, or other chronic diseases stay indoors. “It’s too hazardous to let him go to the kindergarten on such a smoggy day,” said Shen Lan, a 32-year-old airport manager, referring to her five-year old son. “I have kept the air purifier working at home all day and night,” she said. “But that’s not enough. […]

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Record air pollution cancels flights in Shanghai

Shanghai smog Shanghai smog Shanghai smog Shanghai smog Shanghai smog Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled Friday in Shanghai as record levels of air pollution shrouded China’s commercial hub in smog, prompting authorities to urge residents to stay indoors. On Friday afternoon, the Shanghai government issued its most severe health warning as the city’s pollution index ranged between 23 times and 31 times the levels recommended by international health officials. In the first such advice since a new health warning system was launched in April, authorities urged residents to stay indoors and asked factories to either cut or halt production. Most of the flights leaving Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, one of the world’s busiest cargo airports, were delayed due to decreased visibility, according to the airport’s website. Hazardous air pollution forced schools to shut or suspend outdoor activities in at least two other cities in eastern China on […]

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China Chases Renewable Energy as Coast Chokes on Air

New figures in China show the country adding clean, renewable electricity generation faster than it is expanding capacity of more polluting sources. But change can’t happen fast enough for residents in eastern China, who are now choking on soupy air associated with coal-burning plants more often associated with the country’s north. Led by hydropower, renewable energy sources made up 57% of newly installed electricity-generating capacity during the first 10 months of 2013, according to China’s National Energy Administration. The figures, published to the NEA’s website Wednesday, showed 20% expansion from the same period a year earlier. Renewable energy accounted for a larger portion of growth in electricity-generating capacity than traditional, more polluting sources such as coal. Thermal-power capacity accounted for 43% of the additional capacity added. Hydropower […]

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Shanghai suffers another morning of heavy air pollution

Shanghai continued to suffer smoggy weather this morning with the air quality index stayed at 246 by 9am today. The city’s air has been in the several polluted zone since yesterday, the worst day for air pollution since the index was launched last December. PM2.5 density stayed above 160 micrograms per cubic meter by 8am, double the national limit of 75. PM2.5 refers to airborne particles which are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. They are the main cause of urban smog and are harmful to human health. Pedestrians put on masks to avoid the particles that can cause lung or cardiopulmonary health problems. The Shanghai Education Commission issued a directive to schools before classes began that they should reduce outdoor activities. A second notice in the morning ordered a halt to outdoor activities. Students who were late or absent yesterday and today would […]

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Methane Emissions in U.S. Probably Top Estimates: Study

U.S. emissions of methane — a greenhouse gas — are probably 50 percent higher than current estimates show, according to a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The study estimated emissions in 2007 and 2008, using measurements on the ground, in telecommunications towers and from aircraft for a comprehensive inventory of the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. It found that the U.S. now underestimates methane releases from the raising of livestock and the extraction of oil and natural gas. That may mean methane has a bigger role in climate change than now thought, as state officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consider new rules designed to limit emissions that may lead to global warming. “Methane is a powerful climate change pollutant, and the study gives greater impetus to the EPA and states to establish stronger standards to reduce leaks […]

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Analysis: U.S. air pollution authority faces Supreme Court tests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government’s authority to regulate air pollution nationwide, often against the wishes of Republican-leaning states, could face new curbs when the Supreme Court takes on two high-stakes cases in coming months. The cases focus on the broad-ranging power wielded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the landmark Clean Air Act, first enacted in 1970. The law was envisioned as a cooperative effort between the federal government and states in which the EPA sets standards but states have to set plans to comply. That flexibility has allowed states which favor looser regulations, like Texas and Kansas, to resist – with the support of industry groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers – when the agency wants to impose more stringent standards. In both cases before the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, mainly Republican-led states and industry groups have challenged different EPA […]

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Urbanites Flee China’s Smog for Blue Skies

DALI, China — A typical morning for Lin Liya, a native of Shanghai transplanted to this ancient town in southwest China, goes like this: See her 3-year-old son off to school near the mountains; go for a half-hour run on the shores of Erhai Lake; and browse the local market for fresh vegetables and meat. She finished her run one morning beneath cloudless blue skies and sat down with a visitor from Beijing in the lakeside boutique hotel started by her and her husband. “I think luxury is sunshine, good air and good water,” she said. “But in the big city, you can’t get those things.” More than two years ago, Ms. Lin, 34, and her husband gave up comfortable careers in the booming southern city of Guangzhou — she at a Norwegian risk management company , he at an advertising firm that he had founded — to join […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple