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March, 2008:

Sepa Admits It Lacks Sway To Block Big Oil Refinery

Mar 4th, 2008
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Shi Jiangtao in Beijing – Updated on Mar 04, 2008 – SCMP

The country’s top environmental watchdog has admitted it lacks the power to block the construction of a massive oil refinery near Guangzhou, which experts say will exacerbate air pollution problems in the Pearl River Delta.

Yesterday’s remarks by State Environmental Protection Administration deputy director Pan Yue follow mounting public concern over the project’s impact.

The mainland’s largest joint venture, the US$5 billion Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation project is located in Guangzhou’s Nansha district, about 40km from Yuen Long and Macau.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Mr Pan said more attention should be given to the environmental impact of the project, listed as a key development by the Guangzhou city government this year.

“Environmental factors should be thoroughly considered in the overall planning of any regions and industries,” he said. “However, the existing law does not make it mandatory to have an environmental assessment for the whole region before a specific project can be allowed to go ahead.”

Environmentalists have argued that the project, approved by the National Development and Reform Commission last year, should be halted pending the approval of environmental assessments for the whole Nansha industrial district by Sepa.

Fourteen Guangdong People’s Congress deputies submitted a motion last month asking the government to halt the project.

They said the project, situated in the heart of the Pearl River Delta, would inevitably aggravate air pollution in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai , Zhongshan , Dongguan , Hong Kong and Macau.

They cited concerns by mainland and Hong Kong environmentalists over pollution from the Nansha industrial district, and its effects on the air and marine environment in the region.

Villagers from the district were relocated in June and refinery construction was widely expected to start this summer, the Economic Observer newspaper reported.

The local government has insisted it can minimise possible environmental consequences on neighbouring cities.

Mr Pan said the Nansha refinery was just one of many large environmentally sensitive projects, most notably hydropower and petrochemical plants, that Sepa had failed to check due to the lack of legal support.

“The most important question we want to ask is whether environmental factors have ever been considered in authorities’ approval of large hydropower and urban development projects,” he said.

He refused to remark on the damming of the Nu (Salween) River in northwestern Yunnan , the longest undammed river in Southeast Asia. Final preparations have started for the construction of one of the 13 proposed dams despite a lack of Sepa approval.

On completion, the Nansha plant will be able to process up to 15 million tonnes of oil a year and produce 800,000 tonnes of ethylene, used to make plastic. It is scheduled to begin operation in 2010.

Hong Kong Air Pollution Hits Record High

Mar 4th, 2008
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Air Pollution Hits Record High

Celine Sun -Mar 04, 2008 – SCMP

Air pollution hit a record high for the year yesterday, with officials blaming light winds trapping vehicle emissions and high regional air pollution.

The air pollution index (API) reached 154 at the roadside station in Central, 146 in Causeway Bay and 132 in Mong Kok by 5pm, the highest readings this year. The stations in Kwai Chung and Sham Shui Po saw high readings of 109 and 117.

The API has been at a “high” to “very high” level for several days, but is expected to improve from today.

An Environmental Protection Department spokesman said Hong Kong was being affected by a continental air stream with relatively high background air pollution.

The Observatory said the weak winds had been a major factor pushing up the city’s index.

“In fact, a west wind and an east wind are converging in the city, resulting in weak winds and hard dispersion for air pollutants,” a spokeswoman said.

“But the east wind will strengthen over the next couple of days. We expect that the air pollution will be improved from late [today].”

The Environmental Protection Department reminded people with heart or respiratory problems to cut physical exertion and outdoor activities, and to try to avoid congested streets.

Calm Weather Leaves Air Pollution At High

Mar 4th, 2008
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Nishika Patel – Tuesday, March 04, 2008 – The StandardAir pollution in Hong Kong yesterday hit its highest level this year with the air pollution index in Central and Causeway Bay exceeding 150 and that in Mong Kok reaching 130.

An API in excess of 100 is described as bad and people with heart or respiratory illnesses may notice mild aggravation of their health conditions.

Generally healthy individuals may also notice some discomfort.

Environmental Protection Department official Dave Ho said the high pollution levels were caused by still air conditions, adding there should be an improvement today when winds are expected to pick up.

However, environmentalists have described the government’s explanation as inadequate, saying the real culprit was Hong Kong’s and the Pearl River Delta’s high combustion emissions.

“I must be critical of the government response. All maritime conditions do is push the pollution away. It does not disappear, it just goes to someone else’s air space,” said professor Anthony Hedley of the department of community medicine at Hong Kong University. He added the health impact on the elderly and children would be severe on days like yesterday.

“This is a very high level by any criteria. But it is the average daily levels that have the most serious effects. High pollution days just bring it to people’s attention,” Hedley said.

Survey Reveals Electricity Waste

Mar 3rd, 2008
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Scarlett Chiang – Updated on Mar 03, 2008 – SCMP

Hong Kong people waste electricity, a survey released yesterday shows, with one in five often forgetting to switch off lights and a third of them leaving televisions on and unwatched. The survey, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, canvassed 1,500 people last October.

While 88 per cent of those polled believed energy conservation improved air pollution, 71 per cent thought Hongkongers wasted electricity. Some 302 respondents said they forgot to switch off lights occasionally or frequently and 325 people said they left unwatched televisions switched on, sometimes or all the time.

About one in three interviewees left televisions on standby mode when they went to sleep.

About 74 per cent said they supported government recommendations about keeping air conditioning at 25.5 degrees Celsius, but 41 per cent maintained room temperatures below 25.5 degrees in summer. About 20 per cent of people said they woke up at night feeling cold occasionally or frequently when air conditioning was on. When asked what the biggest obstacle to energy conservation was, 412 people said it was “fondness for comfort” and 183 people said it was “dislike of annoyances”.

Friends of the Earth environmental affairs officer Angus Wong Chun-yin said survey results showed Hong Kong people were only paying lip service to saving energy.

Hong Kong Air Pollution Reaches Very High Levels

Mar 3rd, 2008
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HK air pollution reaches very high levels

Staff reporters – Updated on Mar 03, 2008 – SCMP

Hong Kong’s air pollution on Monday once again reached very high levels with the roadside station in Causeway Bay recording a worrying level of 153.

Readings taken at Central and Mongkok have reached 148 and 122, respectively, local radio reported.

General stations have also recorded high or very high levels. Readings done in Sham Shui Po reached as high as 116, while those at Kwai Chung were 111, and reading at Central and Western peaked at 110.

The government said people with heart or respiratory illnesses should reduce physical activity and outdoor activities.

Experts say the main factors causing air pollution in Hong Kong are industries, power generation, construction work and an increasing number of motor vehicles.

Pollution also drifts across to Hong Kong from southern China. With the mainland experiencing rapid economic growth, worsening pollution from factories in Guangdong impacts on the territory.

Air pollution is also affecting Hong Kong’s reputation as an international hub. Regional headquarters and offices set up by overseas companies in the territory have said air pollution was one of the top three issues which the government needed to address, a Census and Statistics Department report found.

An American Chamber of Commerce survey has also said the deteriorating quality of the environment was affecting member companies’ continued investment in Hong Kong.

Other studies show that poor air quality was costing companies millions of dollars each year in medical costs and lost productivity.

Clear the Air, is a volunteer environmental group, has warned that air pollution threatens Hong Kong’s public health, as well as its economic and social well being.

“Many districts in Hong Kong are failing to meet statutory health standards for air quality, and the associated health costs to individuals, businesses and society are estimated to cost billions of dollars each year,” it said.

Government projections show that the air quality will continue to deteriorate in the future. This is because of the growth in motor vehicles in Hong Kong and in the Pearl River region.

Air pollution reaches highest level of year in Hong Kong

Mar 3rd, 2008
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03.03.08 07:16 – Trend News

Hong Kong was wrapped in dense smog Monday as air pollution in the notoriously hazy city of 6.9 million reached its highest level of the year so far. ( dpa )

People with heart disease or respiratory illnesses were warned to avoid outdoor activities as readings on the city’s air pollution index topped 150 for the first time in 2008.

The highest readings were in the Causeway Bay shopping district where a reading of 155 was recorded while pollution levels in Central and Mongkok in Kowloon were also very high.

Any reading over 100 on the index, which measures pollutants at street level, is considered high while anything in the region of 150 upwards is considered very high.

Monday’s smog came as a stark reminder that pollution is a major issue in Hong Kong which will in August host the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Swiss team in January withdrew its dressage team because it fears conditions in Hong Kong in the height of summer will too much for horses to cope with.

Hong Kong’s government has taken measures to try to reduce pollution but much of it blows down from factories in neighbouring southern China.

Pollution levels have worsened sharply in the past decade with smog so thick on some days of the year that it is impossible to see from one side of the city’s landmark Victoria Harbour to the other.

Bio-diesel Plant To Recycle Used Cooking Oil

Mar 2nd, 2008
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Liz Heron – Mar 02, 2008

A bio-diesel plant that will recycle waste cooking oil from restaurants is to be built in Hong Kong by a Bahrain-based bank.

Al Salam Bank-Bahrain has set up a joint-venture company, ASB Bio-diesel (Hong Kong), with six partners to build and run the plant at Tseung Kwan O industrial estate.

Negotiations with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks on a 40-year lease for a HK$42.3 million waterfront site are expected to be clinched within days.

The plant – the second of its kind in Hong Kong – will produce up to 100,000 tonnes of bio-diesel per year for sale in Hong Kong and Europe. Dynamic Progress International opened a bio-diesel plant in Tuen Mun last year.

Bank chief executive Yousif Taqi said the plant would mainly use cooking oil, waste animal fat and grease-trap waste. This set it apart from the production of bio-diesel from edible vegetable oils, which has caused growing concern over destruction of tropical rainforests.

“This is an innovative investment,” he said. “It illustrates our bank’s strategy to meet clients’ expectations for attractive investment opportunities that are differentiated by sector and geography, and to ensure competitive returns to our shareholders.

“It also underlines our commitment to identify projects that have the potential to add value to the community and positively impact the environment.”

Mr Taqi said the project would have three environmental benefits: reducing harmful vehicle emissions and global warming through the use of bio-diesel; using materials that would otherwise go to landfills; and addressing the destruction of rainforests – felled to make way for vast oil-palm plantations grown to produce biofuels.

Bio-diesel is not subject to the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance because it is not based on hydrocarbons, and Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen pledged in his October policy address to introduce a duty-free policy on its use.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said: “We are drawing up a specification for the use of bio-diesel as motor- vehicle fuel. Our plan is to introduce a statutory specification on January 1, 2009. [After that date], bio-diesel offered for sale here will have to comply with the specification.”

The department also plans to require that all conventional diesel sold in Hong Kong meet the Euro V standard, which allows 80 per cent less sulfur than Euro IV diesel, by the same date.

Patrick Siu, senior development manager with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, said completion of the deal with the joint venture on the 18,000 square metre site was expected within “a day or two”.

“In Europe, they are increasing the percentage of bio-diesel in diesel oil and together with escalating petroleum prices, it’s quite an active area for business,” he said.

“We have quite a few firms showing interest in setting up bio-diesel plants at Tseung Kwan O.”

Christian Masset, chairman of green group Clear the Air, said: “If this plant uses exclusively Hong Kong-produced waste, this is a win-win situation. The waste will not end up in the Hong Kong environment and we will reduce noxious emissions from vehicles. But we will be watching the plant closely to see whether it lives up to expectations.”

Health Of Athletes In Hong Kong

Mar 2nd, 2008
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A letter sent to the Sunday Morning Post from Anthony J Hedley, School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong

The Editor

Sunday Morning Post

Dear Sir

False analysis of threat from air pollution

The majority of your readers’ letters on air pollution have been balanced and informed pleas for urgent intervention to protect environmental health. However Mitch Geall appears to want to want to trivialise this problem with misleading statements about pollution impacts on the health of athletes in Hong Kong (Sunday Post March 2).

Geall enjoyed his road running in extremely clean air in Australia between 1982-92,an opportunity denied to generations of runners in Hong Kong where average pollution levels are several hundred percent above those in any Australian city.

His attempts to make a trade-off between Hong Kong’s 2008 pollution and levels in Los Angeles in 1984 is pointless and cynical.At the 1984 Olympics there was considerable concern about air quality and incidentally during those games the 1980 British Olympic 800 meters champion Steve Ovett was admitted to hospital with severe inflammation of the lungs.

To argue that New York’s air pollution is anywhere near the sustained level in Hong Kong is simply nonsense.

Geall compounds his flawed analysis by saying “It’s only the one run after all”.

I suggest the dictum “First do no harm” must apply to any sports event for young people,including the year long preparation which runners here engage in for this endurance event while breathing filthy air.

Let’s hear the organisers and supporters of the Hong Kong marathon demand that the Chief Executive acts immediately to curb this environmental threat before further damage is done to athletes’ health and the image of Hong Kong, including its international marathon.

Anthony J Hedley
School of Public Health
University of Hong Kong

Britain’s Athletes To Wear Air Filters At China’s Olympics

Mar 2nd, 2008
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EXCLUSIVE Britain’s athletes to wear air filters at China’s smog-filled Olympics

By Nick Owens With Dick Jones Nick.Owens@Sundaymirror.Co.Uk 2/03/2008 Sunday Mirror UK

British athletes are to wear face masks at the China Olympics to protect them from Beijing’s smog.

Under Olympic rules they will have to remove them before their event begins – but they will be allowed to use them during warm-ups.

And the British Olympic Association is now trying to get officials to allow its athletes to wear the special air filters during heats.

Beijing has the world’s most toxic air – 12 times the “safe” level set by the World Health Organisation.

A source said: “There is a concern among British athletes about the terrible air in Beijing. The International Association of Athletics Federations have the final say on whether they can be worn once events start. If the rule is changed many British athletes will be keeping them on.”

The masks have been designed with the help of experts at the University of Exeter and have a mouthpiece allowing athletes to breathe in through a filter.

Britain’s best hope, marathon runner Paula Radcliffe, road-tested the mask during a training camp in South Africa. It has also been tried out by our 5,000-metre hopeful Mo Farah.

The move comes after all Britain’s track and field athletes refused to train in the Chinese capital.

To avoid the smog, they have set up training camps in Macau, close to Hong Kong. Our swimmers followed suit by training in Osaka, Japan.

The only athletes who have tried to train in Beijing are the US boxing team. But they found they could only jog outside for 30 minutes at a time. They had to train in their hotel while a new camp was found outside Beijing.

Coach Frank Filberto said: “They were coughing, wheezing and couldn’t breathe. Boxers are probably the fittest athletes in the world, which sends out a clear message about the scale of the problem.”

Duncan McFarlane, sports professor at Hong Kong University, said: “I am not sure wearing masks will help.

“It will be uncomfortable and the athletes will really struggle to get enough clean air for them to be able to perform at their best.”

The Chinese government has set up a website to report daily pollution levels.

Information is fed on to it from eight air-monitoring machines situated across Beijing.

Last week they announced the monitors showed air quality had improved in the capital.

But environmental campaigner Steven Andrews says the figures are distorted because the monitors have been moved to less-polluted areas of the city.

He said: “The reality is there has been a huge cover-up going on. Athletes really won’t know the full extent of the pollution problem.”

China has the top 16 most polluted cities in the world. An astonishing 750,000 people a year die from illnesses related to breathing in its foul, fume-filled air.

China is the world’s second biggest producer of carbon dioxide – contributing 16 per cent of total emissions. The only country producing more is the US.

The country burns more than two billion tonnes of “dirty” coal a year for cooking and heating, creating toxic clouds of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

More than 2,000 new cars take to the roads of Beijing EVERY DAY. But last year 1.2m old ones were ordered OFF the road due to high emission levels.

Repulse Bay Buses

Mar 1st, 2008
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Updated on Mar 01, 2008 – scmp

I would like to make a complaint about buses in Repulse Bay.

I was walking along the promenade at Repulse Bay at midday and I found myself squinting for the entire stretch to protect my eyes from the dust. I also had to hold my breath whenever one of those giant tourist coaches roared past every 15 seconds. I simply do not understand why tourists can’t be encouraged to use public transport in Hong Kong.

There are several buses that stop directly above the beach. They do not linger and they are frequent and comfortable. By contrast, the typical tourist coach is huge, extremely noisy and causes traffic congestion. Instead of moving on, they wait for their passengers – a row of unsightly vehicles, spoiling the backdrop to one of the last accessible public beaches in Hong Kong.

My stroll was further interrupted by having to politely signal (the key-twist hand motion) to two minibuses parked on the beach roadside to switch off their idling engines. Not only were these two buses empty apart from the resting driver, but the weather was breezy and it was a pleasant 17 degrees Celsius.

People come to a beach to be with nature, to listen to the birds and the waves, not to chugging engines. There are too many double-decker buses routed along the south side. Apart from rush hours and weekends, these huge vehicles are practically empty and cause problems, because of roadworks and narrow, winding roads. There should only be minibuses on the Stanley to Central route. They are suitable for these kinds of roads and faster.

At peak times, if need be, the bus firms can increase their frequency. The only large vehicles on that road should be school buses. These traffic measures have to be implemented if this area is remain a serene getaway destination from urban Hong Kong.

The south side and its public paths and beaches are very special, which, as Hongkongers, we should protect so this area can be enjoyed by us and future generations.

Sofie Shaw, Chung Hom Kok

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