奥运前夕中国加紧空气治理

Chinese authorities will close more than 200 factories near Beijing and restrict traffic in four surrounding cities if its skies don't clear in time for the Olympics, a tacit admission that its anti-pollution policies haven't gone far enough.

The measures, unveiled nine days before the Games are set to begin Aug. 8, will be implemented 48 hours in advance if weather and pollution forecasts predict unhealthy air, government environmental officials said.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

The new measures come on top of a series of steps already taken since July 20th in Beijing, the nearby port city of Tianjin and four surrounding provinces. Those efforts were meant to undo in a few weeks the environmental damage of decades of nearly unrestrained growth.

Hundreds of steel mills, cement plants, power plants and factories making everything from chemicals to furniture to building supplies already have either been shut down or told to cut back production. Inside Beijing's city limits, strict traffic controls have removed about half the city's 3.3 million automobiles from the roads. These measures have forced some workers home on extended leave with lower pay, while others struggle to get to work on streets still jammed because of special Olympics VIP-only lanes on major roads.

Officials say all these measures already have cut pollution by about 20% compared to last year. But they acknowledge that may still not be enough if the weather goes against them. Some nations have worried about their athletes in outdoor endurance sports such as biking and marathons. Olympic officials said they would postpone or even cancel such sports in the case of heavy pollution.

Experts say that pollution can be scattered within days under the right conditions of a strong breeze. And in the first few days of the initial set of measures, Beijing's air quickly cleared.

But muggy air smothered Beijing over the weekend, sending its air pollution index above 100, the maximum level for what officials call the city's 'blue sky days,' or days of acceptable air quality. China ranks air quality on a scale of zero to 500 with anything below 50 ranked 'good' and above 251 'hazardous.' China says days just above 100 are 'unhealthy for sensitive groups.'

Still, even a level of 100 exceeds typical levels in most European and U.S. cities, and is well above World Health Organization guidelines on some types of pollutants.

Officials blamed bad weekend weather but acknowledged that more could be done.

The new plan announced by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs Thursday said Beijing could shut down all construction sites and another 105 factories, while nearby Tianjin would shut some 56 power plants and factories and surrounding Hebei province could close another 61 plants. Traffic restrictions could be expanded to four more cities.

Beijing has already shut down some 100 plants and the city of nearby Tangshan has already temporarily stopped 267 factories. Restrictions are in effect as far away as Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia, regions rich in coal and heavy industry. Studies show as much as 70% of Beijing's pollution can blow in from outside the city.

如果奥运会期间天气状况仍未达标，中国政府将关闭北京附近的二百余家工厂并对周边四座城市实施交通限制，这意味着北京默认其治污措施至今仍未收到预期成效。

这些措施是在距离奥运会开幕只剩9天的时候公布的，规定将从8月8日起开始实施。政府环保官员称，上述举措将在天气和污染指数预报显示空气质量不达标时提前48小时予以执行。

从7月20日开始，北京、天津以及周边四省已采取了一系列措施。通过这些措施，北京试图在短短几周时间里消除数十年来几乎毫无拘束的经济增长对环境产生的破坏性影响。

数百家钢铁厂、水泥厂、电厂以及包括化工厂、家具厂和建筑材料生产商在内的企业都已经关停或是被要求减产。而在北京市内，严格的交通管制使这座城市保有的330万辆机动车减少了大约二分之一。一些工人根据规定被强制回家休假，而那些照常上班的人路上仍会遭遇交通拥堵，因为主干道上特别划出了奥运专用车道。

官员们指出，实行这些措施后，北京的污染程度与去年相比已经降低了约20%。但他们承认如果天气状况不佳，只靠这些措施可能还不够。有些国家担心他们的运动员在参加公路自行车、马拉松等户外耐力性项目时健康会受到损害。奥运官员表示，如果出现重度污染，他们将推迟甚至取消这类项目。

专家指出，未来几天如果出现大风天气，空气中的污染物会在几天内消散。在实行一系列措施后的最初几天，北京的空气质量迅速得到了改善。

但就在措施启动后的第一个周末，北京又笼罩在闷热的空气中，空气污染指数超过了100，这个数字是官方认为能够看见蓝天（也就是空气质量勉强达标）的最高污染水平。中国的空气质量评估指标是0到500，50以下代表“优”，251以上表明“有害健康”，而略高于100意味着“不适于敏感人群”。

然而，即便是100的空气质量水平不仅超过多数欧美城市的普遍水平，还远远高于世界卫生组织(WHO)对于某些污染物水平的指导标准。

政府官员将此归咎于周末期间天气状况不利，不过他们也承认还有很多工作要做。

上述新举措是环境保护部于周四发布的，它指出，北京将关闭所有建筑工地及另外105家工厂，天津将关停约56座电站及工厂，临近的河北省也将再关闭61座工厂。交通管制措施也将扩展至四座城市。

在这之前，北京已经关停了约100家工厂，临近的唐山市也已对267家工厂下达了暂时停产令。身为煤炭和重工业大省的山西和内蒙古也实行了一些限制措施，因为有研究显示，北京地区约七成污染物都是从京外地区扩散过来的。 （实习编辑：顾萍）