8/26/2007, "As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes," NY Times, J. Kahn and J. Yardley
"Energy and environmental officials have little influence in the bureaucracy. The environmental agency still has only about
- 200 full-time employees, compared with
- 18,000 at the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.
China has no Energy Ministry. The Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s central planning agency,
- has 100 full-time staff members.
- The Energy Department of the United States has 110,000 employees.
China does have an army of amateur regulators. Environmentalists expose pollution and press local government officials to enforce environmental laws. But private individuals and nongovernment organizations cannot cross the line between advocacy and political agitation without risking arrest.
At least two leading environmental organizers have been prosecuted in recent weeks, and several others have received sharp warnings to tone down their criticism of local officials."...(item on last page at end of article).
Communist Chinese coal mining town, Shenmu, Shaanxi Province, behind a village store. photo NY Times 8/26/07
P.S. "Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research."...
.
No comments:
Post a Comment