China’s steel city Tangshan vows to crack down on pollution after weeks of heavy smog
- The city authorities say factories must limit production when a heavy pollution alert is in place to halve harmful emissions
- Steel or cement plants warned they will lose their permits and have production suspended if they fail to comply and owners face criminal sanctions
Officials in China’s steelmaking hub have vowed to crack down on illicit emissions after two weeks of heavy smog across northern China.
In an emergency municipal meeting on Saturday night, Li Guifu, the vice mayor of Tangshan, a city in Hebei, ordered factories to limit or halt production on days when a heavy pollution alert was in place to reduce the overall emissions of air pollutants such as sulphuric dioxide or nitrogen oxide by 50 per cent.
Li issued the warning after a surprise inspection by central government found four plants had failed to comply with regulations.
Li told all factories to follow the city’s environmental protection plan, and warned that any steel and cement plants that fail to do so will have their pollutant discharge permits revoked and production suspended.
He added that the consequences of failing to meet the requirements also include detention or criminal liability for the plant owner, adding that the plants and their owner will be “exposed by media outlets” and added to the social credit blacklist.
Tangshan is one of China’s most polluted cities because of the heavy industries and the smog it emits also affects the air in Beijing which is less than 200km (120 miles) away.