"SAID BARBARA FINAMORE, WHO HEADS THE NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENCE COUNCIL'S CHINA CLEAN ENERGY PROGRAMME "IT IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL TIME BOMB that, unless defused, THREATENS TO CONVULSE THE ENTIRE PLANET REGARDLESS OF PROGRESS IN ALL OTHER NATIONS.".
1/3/14, "Pollution heads south to Shanghai as steel mills driven from Beijing's environs," South China Morning Post
image from South China Morning Post, 1/3/14
"CHINESE STEEL PRODUCTION IS MOVING FROM ITS HEARTLAND in Hebei province IN THE WAKE OF GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO TACKLE POLLUTION NEAR BEIJING, but Shanghai could be paying the price as steel mills around the commercial capital ramp up output.
Stricter environmental checks in Hebei have also CREATED OPPORTUNITIES FOR POLLUTING INDUSTRIES SUCH AS CEMENT AND GLASS-MAKING PLANTS IN PROVINCES NEAR SHANGHAI.
While air pollution rates in Beijing and nearby cities in Hebei have been relatively low over the past month, index READINGS IN SHANGHAI AND ELSEWHERE ON THE EASTERN COAST HAVE HIT RECORD HIGHS.
FOLLOWING BEIJING'S LEAD to eliminate steel production in the city, Shanghai cut its steel output by more than 10 per cent last year. But it could be suffering owing to RISING PRODUCTION IN SURROUNDING PROVINCES such as Jiangsu, where small mills are taking advantage of a sustained government effort to shut plants in Hebei.Steel output fell sharply in Hebei at the end of last year BUT ROSE IN JIANGSU, ANHUI AND ZHEJIANG PROVINCES, ALL NEAR SHANGHAI, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. "We've seen production in Hebei dropping quite dramatically," said Graeme Train, a Shanghai-based commodities analyst with Macquarie.
"It could be that THEY REDUCE POLLUTION IN HEBEI AND IT JUST POPS UP AGAIN HERE IN SHANGHAI. What it does tell us is that CHINA HAS A HELL OF A LOT OF STEEL CAPACITY."
Environmentalists have said China's campaign to improve air quality in major northern cities such as Beijing is likely to mean the relocation of big polluting industries in the steel, cement and thermal power sectors. The most favoured destination is China's less-developed interior provinces, some of them around Shanghai.
HEBEI, A MAJOR INDUSTRIAL REGION THAT SURROUNDS BEIJING, WAS HOME to some of the most polluted cities in China. Its capital, Shijiazhuang, routinely recorded "beyond index" measurements of particulate matter (PM) early last year.
The province was also identified by the China Academy of Sciences as a major source of a noxious smog cloud that hung over Beijing a year ago.
CHINA HAS SINCE VOWED TO TACKLE POLLUTION IN HEBEI, saying in a wide-ranging action plan in September that it would ban new projects in certain industries, close outdated steel and cement facilities and slash coal use.
HEBEI HAS PROMISED TO CUT TOTAL STEEL CAPACITY by 86 million tonnes, about 40 per cent of last year's production, by 2020. Official data suggests that is starting to happen.
In November, crude steel output fell 24.41 per cent from October. At the same time, HEBEI'S SHARE OF NATIONAL OUTPUT FELL to 18.84 per cent in November versus 24.9 per cent for the first 11 months of the year. It also saw a 15 per cent decline in power generation from January to November, official data showed.
JIANGSU'S SHARE OF TOTAL STEEL OUTPUT ROSE TO 11.4 PER CENT IN NOVEMBER with production volumes UP 10.62 PER CENT IN THE FIRST 11 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
China's second-biggest steel producing province after Hebei, JIANGSU PRODUCED 74.2 MILLION TONNES IN 2012, UP 8 PER CENT on the year and accounting for 10.35 per cent of the country's total.
"THERE ARE A LOT OF SMALL PRIVATE MILLS IN JIANGSU," said Train. "The government isn't putting as much pressure on them as they are in Hebei - but that could easily change."
IN NOVEMBER, THERE WERE ALSO INCREASES IN STEEL OUTPUT from Liaoning province in the northeast of China and also in Shanxi.
Other polluting industries have also been affected.
Cement output in Hebei dropped 20 per cent in November from October and fell 1.82 per cent in the first 11 months of the year. MEANWHILE, PRODUCTION IN JIANGSU, CHINA'S BIGGEST cement producer, rose 8.3 per cent in November from October, or 8 per cent in the first 11 months.
PRODUCTION IN ZHEJIANG, ANHUI AND JIANGXI ALSO JUMPED BETWEEN 11 PER CENT AND 30 PER CENT IN NOVEMBER.
AIR POLLUTION IN SHANGHAI COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY INCREASED MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY IN THE YANGTZE RIVER DELTA, which encompasses provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
OUTPUT OF COPPER AND ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS as well as flat-glass in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui ALL POSTED DOUBLE-DIGIT GAINS in the first 11 months of the year.
"MANY COPPER AND ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS MANUFACTURERS HAVE RAMPED UP PRODUCTION because of better demand and a stronger economy," said Feng Juncong, an analyst at state-backed Antaike Research.
"THE PICK-UP IN MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY AND SMELTING CAPACITY may have contributed to the WORSENING SMOG IN SHANGHAI." map from ChinaMaps.org
"Said Barbara Finamore, WHO HEADS THE NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENCE COUNCIL'S China Clean Energy programme "It is an ENVIRONMENTAL TIME BOMB that, unless defused, THREATENS TO CONVULSE THE ENTIRE PLANET REGARDLESS OF PROGRESS IN ALL OTHER NATIONS.".
7/31/2006, "CHINA'S AIR POLLUTION HITS UNITED STATES," asianews.it
"POLLUTION COMING FROM CHINA HAS REACHED CALIFORNIA AND OTHER AMERICAN STATES. Experts say that short of drastic intervention, China's expanding industry and private consumption WILL AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE WHOLE WORLD."
Beijng (AsiaNews/Agencies), "Fumes and dust from industrial factories, coal-powered energy plants and privately owned cars in China are CROSSING THE OCEAN AND POLLUTING THE AIR IN THE UNITED STATES. If drastic intervention is not taken, the situation will deteriorate rapidly AND AFFECT THE ENTIRE GLOBE.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE COUNTRY'S RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DO NOT ONLY POLLUTE CHINA: THOUSANDS OF KM AWAY, ACROSS THE OCEAN, ON SOME DAYS, NEARLY 25% OF POLLUTING MATTER ABOVE LOS ANGELES CAN BE TRACED TO ASIA, ACCORDING TO THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. Scientists have confirmed that the pollution is carried by air currents and they fear that China COULD ONE DAY ACCOUNT FOR A THIRD OF ALL CALIFORNIA'S AIR POLLUTION.
OZONE, CARBON MONOXIDE, MERCURY AND POLLUTING MATTER from Asia HAVE BEEN DETECTED on Mount Bachelor IN OREGON AND Cheeka Peak IN WASHINGTON STATE, says Dan Jaffe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington.
"SO FAR, POLLUTION HAS SPREAD IN THE AIR AROUND THE WORLD," Professor Jaffe said. "There is no place you can put away your pollution any more."
DR CLIFF, A RESEARCH ENGINEER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, said: "FROM THE EXPANSION OF CHINA [with higher consumption of fossil fuels and more use of vehicles and private consumption], we're going to see increased pollution", and this will damage the climate too.
ABOUT A THIRD OF THE ASIAN POLLUTION IS DUST, which is increasing due to drought and deforestation, Dr Cliff said. THE REST COMES FROM FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION: SULFUR, SOOT AND TRACE METALS. This matter could also affect climate by trapping heat, reflecting light or changing rainfall patterns.
"IF THEY [THE CHINESE] STARTED DRIVING CARS AND USING ELECTRICITY AT THE RATE IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD, the amount of pollution they generate will increase many, many times," said Tony Van Curen, a researcher who works with Dr Cliff.
COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS SUPPLY TWO-THIRDS OF CHINA'S ENERGY AND A NEW COAL-POWERED PLANT IS BUILT EVERY WEEK. Every year, the number of Chinese people who own cars is increasing by about 10%, with a corresponding increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At the current rate of development, CHINA WILL SURPASS THE US AS THE WORLD'S LARGEST EMITTER of greenhouse gases in the next decade"...
[Ed. note: CHINA CO2 DID SURPASS THE US IN 2006, the year this article was written, and has continued to skyrocket. CHINA CO2 NOW DWARFS THE REST of the world. US CO2 HAS PLUNGED IN RECENT YEARS and is HEADING LOWER.]
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(continuing):
"said Barbara Finamore, who heads the NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENCE COUNCIL'S China Clean Energy programme. "It is an ENVIRONMENTAL TIME BOMB that, unless defused, THREATENS TO CONVULSE THE ENTIRE PLANET REGARDLESS OF PROGRESS IN ALL OTHER NATIONS.".
EVEN CHINESE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIALS FEAR THAT POLLUTION LEVELS COULD QUADRUPLE OVER THE NEXT 15 YEARS in the absence of radical interventions to rein in the trend. Beijing plans to spend US2 billion to clean the environment over the next five years, BUT THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM IS IMMENSE AND AGGRAVATED BY FREQUENT SERIOUS INDUSTRIAL INCIDENTS. On 12 June, a truck carrying more than 60 tons of coal tar, toxic and potentially causing tumours, fell "by accident" into Dosha River in Shanxi. The river is used for drinking water and feeds many other important water flows.
Also in June, the Zhejiang Longxin Chemical factory, which PRODUCES HYDROGEN PEROXIDE in Longquan, Zhejiang, discharged POISONOUS GAS AFTER SEVERAL BLASTS."
12/26/13, "SHANGHAI WARNS CHILDREN TO STAY INDOORS ON HAZE, PM2.5 SURGE," Bloomberg
SHANGHAI AIR POLLUTION CAUSES CANCELLATION OF AIR TRAVEL, road closures, halt in construction, Dec. 2013:
12/6/13, "SHANGHAI GRINDS TO A HALT AS SMOG NEARS TOP OF AIR POLLUTION SCALE," South China Morning Post
"FLIGHTS SCRAPPED, ROADS CLOSED AND CONSTRUCTION STOPPED as pollution hits east and south; no relief expected until Sunday at the earliest."
"CHINA'S NEIGHBOURS, SUCH AS SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN, are likely to complain about the effect of pollution on them. ENVIRONMENT OFFICIALS FROM THE SEOUL CITY GOVERNMENT WILL ARRIVE IN BEIJING next Wednesday. They are expected to urge China to begin sharing air pollution information with them."...
* Shanghai grinds to a halt as smog nears top of air pollution scale
* 'Severe' air pollution spikes in Beijing
6/5/12, "CHINA TELLS US EMBASSY TO STOP REPORTING BEIJING POLLUTION," worldnews.nbcnews.com
"While China tightened air pollution monitoring standards in January, THE OFFICIAL READING AND THE U.S. EMBASSY READING CAN OFTEN BE FAR APART."...
(Note: Maps below from the 2007 WSJ article which I copied some years ago don't appear in the archived article at the moment. Susan.)
7/20/2007, "HUGE DUST PLUMES FROM CHINA CAUSE CHANGES IN CLIMATE," Robert Lee Hotz, Wall St. Journal
"Courtesy SeaWiFS Project, NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER and ORBIMAGE"
"A satellite view from 2001 shows dust arriving in California from Asian deserts. Concentrations of DUST ARE VISIBLE to the south, near the coastline (lower right); To the west the dust is mixed with clouds over open ocean. This dust event caused a persistent haze in places like Death Valley, California, where skies are usually crystal clear." image via Wall St. Journal-"ONE TAINTED EXPORT FROM CHINA can't be avoided in North America -- air. An outpouring of dust layered with man-made sulfates, smog, industrial fumes, carbon grit and nitrates is CROSSING THE PACIFIC OCEAN on prevailing winds from booming Asian economies IN PLUMES SO VAST THEY ALTER THE CLIMATE. THESE RIVERS OF POLLUTED AIR CAN BE WIDER THAN THE AMAZON AND DEEPER than the Grand Canyon.
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"There are times when it covers the entire Pacific Ocean basin like a ribbon bent back and forth," said atmospheric physicist V. Ramanathan AT THE SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY IN LA JOLLA, CALIF.
On some days, ALMOST A THIRD OF THE AIR OVER LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO can be traced directly to Asia. With it comes up to three-quarters of the black carbon particulate pollution that reaches the West Coast, Dr. Ramanathan and his colleagues recently REPORTED IN THE JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH....ASIA IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST SOURCE OF AEROSOLS, MAN-MADE AND NATURAL. Every spring and summer, storms whip up silt from the Gobi desert of Mongolia and the hardpan of the Taklamakan desert of western China, where, FOR CENTURIES, DUST HAS SHAPED A WAY OF LIFE. From the dunes of Dunhuang, where VENDORS HAWK GAUZE FACE MASKS alongside braided leather camel whips, to the oasis of Kashgar at the feet of the Tian Shan Mountains 1,500 miles to the west, there is no escaping it.... ONCE ALOFT, THE PLUMES CAN CIRCLE THE WORLD IN THREE WEEKS. "In a very real and immediate sense, you can look at a dust event you are breathing in China and look at this same dust as it tracks across the Pacific and reaches the United States," SAID CLIMATE ANALYST Jeff Stith at the NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH IN COLORADO. "It is A REMARKABLE MIX of natural and man-made particles."
This spring, Dr. Ramanathan and Dr. Stith led an international research team in a 1 million National Science Foundation project TO TRACK SYSTEMATICALLY THE PLUMES across the Pacific. NASA satellites have monitored the clouds from orbit for several years, but this was the first effort to analyze them in detail.
FOR SIX WEEKS, THE RESEARCHERS CRUISED THE PACIFIC aboard a specially instrumented Gulfstream V jet to SAMPLE THESE EXOTIC AIRSTREAMS. Their findings, to be released this year, INVOLVED NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NINE U.S. UNIVERSITIES, as well as the National Institute for Environmental Studies in JAPAN, Seoul National University in KOREA, and Lanzhou University and Peking University in CHINA.
THE TEAM DETECTED A NEW HIGH-ALTITUDE PLUME EVERY THREE OR FOUR DAYS. Each one was UP TO 300 MILES WIDE AND SIX MILES DEEP, a vaporous layer cake of pollutants. The higher the plumes, the longer they lasted, the faster they traveled and the more pronounced their effect, the researchers said."...
"Courtesy SeaWiFS Project, NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, and ORBIMAGE.A satellite image from 2005 shows a PLUME OF DUST FLOWING FROM CHINA TO THE NORTH OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA and over the Sea of Japan. Such plumes can cross the Pacific and scatter dust across the Western U.S."
"Asia-Pacific," map showing proximity of China, India, and Australia
1/21/2013, "EX-MINISTER BLAMES CHINA'S POLLUTION MESS ON LACK OF RULE OF LAW," South China Morning Post, Li Jing
"Above-the-law leaders PASSED UP CHANCE TO AVOID ENVIRONMENTAL WOES decades ago,choosing frenzied growth instead of protecting resources"
Change in GLOBAL CO2 US V CHINA, 2005 TO 2011, energy related, US EIA (US Energy Dept.), WSJ, April 2013
4/18/13, "RISE IN U.S. GAS PRODUCTION FUELS UNEXPECTED PLUNGE IN EMISSIONS," WSJ, Russell Gold
"U.S. CARBON-DIOXIDE EMISSIONS HAVE FALLEN DRAMATICALLY IN RECENT YEARS, in large part because THE COUNTRY IS MAKING MORE ELECTRICITY WITH NATURAL GAS instead of coal."...
6/10/13, 2012 US CO2 continues to drop. CHART FROM IEA REPORT, China continues to rise. (Above chart is thru 2011) :
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1/29/13, "China Uses Nearly as Much Coal as Rest of World Combined, EIA Says," Wall St. Journal, Cassandra Sweet
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