The World's Mary Kay Magistad reports on China's efforts to reduce air pollution. Officials in the southern regions of Guandong say they're taking tough measure to cut back on emissions. But the air doesn't seem to be getting cleaner.
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KATY CLARK: I'm Katy Clark. This is The World. Australia has issued a health warning about air pollution for travelers to Hong Kong. Australians with pre-existing breathing conditions or heart problems should be careful visiting the city. Much of the bad air in Hong Kong blows in from Guangdong, China's most important manufacturing province. But there is plenty of evidence many factories are closing and many workers have left because the international economic crisis has cut demand for Guangdong's industrial goods. That should mean less air pollution. The World's Mary Kay Magistad investigates the seeming paradox.
MARY KAY MAGISTAD: Ask Guangzhou toll booth operator Yu how the air these days compares with a few months ago, and he's sure it's worse. He says, “It's got to be worse than it was. I have sinus problems all the time now. It hurts every day.†But a Guangzhou parking attendant named Jiang thinks differently. He says, “It's much easier to breathe than two or three years ago.†And as for the past few months, he doesn't see much difference. Guangzhou's air pollution index suggests they're both right – to a point. Air quality got better last year, up until December. Ironically, that's about when the economic crisis started to be felt around here. Since then, air pollution in Guangzhou has been worse than in the same months a year earlier.
CHRISTINE LOH: Well, I don't know what to make of it, to be honest.
MAGISTAD: Christine Loh heads the group Civic Exchange in nearby Hong Kong. Her group has done extensive reports on pollution across the border in southern China.
LOH: You know, we hear lots of anecdotal stories about many factories have closed down, the ports and cargo sitting around. There's obviously a lot less activity.
MAGISTAD: So what's happening? Trade associations had been pressuring the local government to ease up on enforcing environmental regulations on struggling factories. But Wu Hong Jie, who heads the Pollution Control Division in Guangdong's Environmental Protection Department, says no one's backing down on enforcement. He says, “Whatever happens, we should stick to the environmental standards. We can find other ways to help companies survive. We shouldn't just let them pollute.†But economic growth has long come first in this region. An example? Some officials are pushing to put a huge new oil refinery smack in the middle of the Pearl River Delta, where its emissions and any potential oil spill would affect residents of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and other cities. A public outcry in southern China and Hong Kong apparently led the Guangzhou government to issue an order to try to block online discussion of it. When asked about the project, Pollution Control Division head Wu Hong Jie is skittish. He says, “We're not involved. It's not my department that's assessing the project.†But eventually, he admits that what environmentalists have been saying is true – that wind flows at the proposed site are sluggish, so pollution could build up. An alternative plan being considered is to move the plant to Guangdong's west coast, away from population centers and where prevailing winds can carry pollution out to sea. The debate is still on. But old habits to put economic growth first and to think about the environment later are proving hard to break. For The World, I'm Mary Kay Magistad, Guangzhou, southern China.
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