China Releases Detailed Regulations to Reduce Acid Rain

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 20, 2002

China Releases Detailed Regulations to Reduce Acid Rain

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A detailed plan aimed at reducing acid rain damage caused by widespread emissions of sulphur dioxide was released in Beijing on March 19, 2002, by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

According to SEPA, more than 10 provinces and municipalities across the country, which makes up 30 per cent of Chinese territory, have been suffering problems caused by acid rain.

China, along with part of Europe and North America, has become the world's three major areas affected by acid rain.

The State Council in its 10th Five-Year Plan for Environmental Protection (2001-05) said the country will reduce its total discharge of sulphur dioxide to below 18 million tons, 10 per cent less than levels in 2000.

SEPA, together with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Economic and Trade Commission, recently released a series of detailed regulations for the control of exhaust gases from the use of coal - the country's biggest source of sulphur dioxide emissions, accounting for 90 per cent of the total.

The regulations said coal mines across the country are forbidden from producing coal containing more than 3 per cent of sulphur by the end of 2005.

All coal mines containing sulphur are required to set up desulphurization facilities by 2005.

Luo Yi, deputy director with the Science and Technology Department under SEPA, noted yesterday that environmental officials are to inspect coal mines across the country to shut down "all unqualified mines" - especially those small coal mines with no funds to upgrade their equipment.

The regulations require industrial businesses, especially power plants, to establish desulphurization facilities and to save on total coal use.

Chen Chuanhong, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology, yesterday promised an increase in financial support to scientific research into cleaner coal combustion methods.

"At present, our technologies, compared with those of European countries, are not advanced," said Chen. "But the promotion of current technologies seems more urgent."

Chen spoke highly of the regulations, under which legal pressure will be imposed on those businesses to incorporate new technologies for coal use.

Zhai Qing, an official from the State Economic and Trade Commission, said pollution from the consumption of coal remained a big challenge for the country's environmental protection strategists.

Zhai predicted coal's dominant role in the country's energy consumption will not change in the following two decades.

The government has shut down more than 43,000 small coal mines on pollution grounds - mostly for their highly sulphurous products - in the past five years, according to statistics with the State Economic and Trade Commission.

Excessive sulphur dioxide emissions can cause acid rain, which harms forests and crops, corrodes metals and damages certain building materials, in particular historical assets, according to SEPA experts.

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