China vows to curb smog for Olympics as athletes drop out

[babylonsister]

China vows to curb smog for Olympics as athletes drop out
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2008



BEIJING — China on Tuesday confidently predicted that Beijing’s poor air quality would improve by the Summer Olympic Games and said it had reached an agreement with four provinces surrounding Beijing to limit industrial production during the period around the Games in an effort to reduce regional air pollution.

The announcement came after an Ethiopian marathon world-record holder became the latest athlete to say he wouldn't compete at the Games because of pollution.

“We will ensure that during the Beijing Olympic Games, the air quality in Beijing will be fine,” said Zhang Lijun, deputy chief of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

The skies over Beijing have improved in recent years, but haze regularly blankets the capital, and pollution occasionally rises to unhealthy _ even dangerous _ levels.

The Aug. 8-24 Summer Games occur during a season when winds from Mongolia rarely sweep away the haze, allowing pollution levels to build. Zhang said the city has reached agreements with the neighboring provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shandong, as well as the bustling port city of Tianjin, to limit output by cement, chemical and steel factories and coal-fired power plants during the period around the Games. He also said the government has spent about $16.9 billion on “over 200 air pollution control measures” in the past decade, and that contaminants like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and microscopic inhalable particulates have decreased.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/29987.html

[Kittycat]

1. Again, Why was it decided to have it there?

Teams are having to bring in their own food. Athletes are dropping out?!?! How is this supposed to be a valid contest under these conditions?

[babylonsister]

2. They won the bid, I guess. I, for one, don't have much interest

in watching the Olympics this year, and that's sad to me. But your comment about a valid contest is what's driving my disinterest.

[FSogol]

6. Because corporations will wet themselves over all the opportunities here.

Sad but true.

[mtnester]

3. Their water pollution levels are a crime against humanity and the earth

Everyone should Google China/Pollution

Start here:
http://www.stephenvoss.com/stories/ChinaWaterPollution/story.html

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. How in the heck did they get picked for this anyway?

It really irks me.

[ForeignSpectator]

5. Because china is so prosperous, it's the future of the world...

...so much so that people stop learning English and start learning chinese instead. Haven't you heard?

After the great games 2000, we are in for the next disappointment after athens 2004...