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.
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