Clear The Air News Blog Rotating Header Image

November, 2011:

Landfills aren’t all bad, says minister

Nov 11th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

South China Morning Post – 11 Nov. 2011

Reclamation outside harbour would be a ‘green’ way to find space to dispose of construction fill and should not be demonised, Carrie Lam says

Reclamation in Hong Kong outside Victoria Harbour would be a “green” way to ease a space shortage for disposal of construction fill and should not be demonised, the development minister says. But green groups say the ocean should not be treated as a rubbish bin and the government should encourage recycling of the fill instead of dumping it.

Launching a public consultation on ways to increase land supply yesterday, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said reclamation in waters other than the much-shrunken harbour was not only a way to create more land, but also would help solve the mounting fill problem. “We have been sending surplus fill to Taishan , [Guangdong,] 170 kilometres away,” the secretary for development said, adding that fill always had to be processed somewhere in the world.

“Our environmentalist friends say we, as members of the global village, should take our own responsibilities. It does not seem justified to ask others to deal with our fill.”

Most fill – stone and mud sorted from construction waste – comes from infrastructure and land-formation works.

Shipping the materials to the mainland city caused carbon emissions of 50 tonnes a day and cost HK$70 a tonne to handle, HK$33 more than using it for local reclamation, she said.

“We will be using the latest technology and strictest monitoring for future projects,” the minister said.

“One should not demonise reclamation work.”

Two existing public fill banks in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun will be full by 2020.

The first-stage consultation, ending in February, does not identify reclamation areas but asks the public whether they agree with eight proposed criteria for site selection, including whether a project meets local needs, its environmental impact and cost effectiveness.

Officials expect the next reclamation project to be completed in 2019.

The exercise also seeks views on rock-cavern developments for various facilities from sewage plants to data centres and restaurants. An earlier feasibility study covered five sites in Lantau, Tuen Mun, Mount Davis, Sha Tin and Lion Rock.

The two strategies are among six to meet the government’s target of providing land for 40,000 flats a year.

Vincent Ng Wing-shun, vice-president of the Institute of Urban Design, agreed there was a need to reclaim land from the sea because other land-supply methods, such as resumption of rural land, incurred uncertainties, including compensation and relocation of residents.

Dr Man Chi-sum, chief executive of Green Power, said he had not “demonised” reclamation.

“Priority should always be given to using abandoned or abused land in the New Territories, like scrap-car storage,” he said. “The minister is treating the ocean as a rubbish bin. Once the shorelines are straightened, the natural habitat is lost.”

He said hardly any developers were using fill from the two existing banks, and the government should encourage them to recycle the materials stored there instead of finding places to dump them.

joyce.ng@scmp.com

You can Trust us – we are the Government

We never lie

Carrie Lam launched a consultation.

We protect the tycoons to secure our future jobs

Time running out for carbon tax deal

Nov 10th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

South China Morning Post – 10 Nov. 2011

Aircraft cause 2 to 3 per cent of the world’s air pollution, but airliners and passengers have had an easy ride when it comes to emissions. While industries such as power generation and steelmaking have been forced by governments to clean up their acts, firms involved in air travel and cargo have got off scot-free. The European Union’s plan to make aviation pay by forcing operators of flights to, from and within its borders buy tradeable permits to emit carbon dioxide has caused a stir, with sanctions threatened. Tit-for-tat measures are in no one’s interests. Common sense has to prevail so that a reasonable international emissions scheme can be put in place.

There is nothing wrong in European minds with what amounts to a tax of around HK$400 per passenger for each flight – it merely adds airlines to the EU’s existing Emissions Trading Scheme. Under it, the requirement to buy permits will apply to the entire length of a flight, not just the part within European airspace. Airlines and governments outside the EU perceive it as unfair, contending it imposes taxes beyond the EU’s territorial limits and discriminates against nations farthest from Europe. It is by no means perfect, but it satisfies EU environmental legislation which, in the absence of an international pact on emissions, is the standard to which many other nations aspire.

With the January 1 implementation date looming, the rhetoric has become increasingly heated. Last week, the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation, which sets the rules on air travel, adopted a working paper from China, the US and 24 other countries urging the EU to exclude non-European carriers from the scheme. Beijing in June blocked Hong Kong Airlines from buying 10 European-made Airbuses, reportedly in protest. A proposed law to ban American airlines from complying has cleared its first major hurdle by gaining the US House of Representatives’ approval, raising the unlikely, but not impossible, scenario of flights being suspended.

High oil prices have forced many airlines to look for alternatives to the kerosene that powers their planes. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific (SEHK: 0293) is investigating mainland-produced biofuels, while Virgin Atlantic Airways is studying waste gas from steel mills. They are welcome and voluntary moves, although years could pass before they are viable, if at all. The EU’s plan imposes a deadline.

Airlines claim that they could lose €1.2 billion (HK$12.8 billion) in 2012 – a quarter of estimated profits for this year – as a result of the scheme. They say they are worried about the pollution caused by emissions, but more than a decade of discussion has still not led to the best solution, a global carbon market. This is why the EU has decided on its own course. But avoiding the damage of trade disputes and instead pushing for a global trading deal makes the most sense.

but, we still need a third runway By the time it would be built the PRD will be an overpriced ghost town

Nov 9th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

20,000 factories on the brink of crisis

Bonnie Chen

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

More than 20,000 Hong Kong-owned factories in the Pearl River Delta may close or downsize because the Guangdong government is ready to raise the minimum wage once again in January, the Federation of Hong Kong industries warns.

Federation vice chairman Stanley Lau Chin-ho said provincial authorities are considering raising the minimum wage by 18-20 percent in January. The base wage was raised in March this year.

Overseas orders have fallen 5-30 percent and will decline further, Lau said, putting at risk 30 percent of 60,000 Hong Kong-owned factories in the delta.

The federation has now written to Guangdong authorities seeking delays in the implementation of the next increase in the base wage.

Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong vice president Johnny Yeung Chi-hung is holding out hope that wages will be adjusted upward in the second half of next year in stages, with a single-digit increase each time.

“Since 2009 the minimum wage increased at a double-digit rate yearly,” he said. “The latest rise was in March 2011. It was the worst time as many companies needed to settle outstanding payments.”

Lau said conditions are worse than during the 2008 financial tsunami, and he urged the SAR government to relaunch the special loan guarantee scheme introduced in 2008.

A government spokeswoman noted that while the scheme was wound up in 2010, the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme with 50-70 percent loan guarantees was launched in January this year.

To ride out the difficulties, Lau suggests that manufacturers move away from labor-intensive operations, enhance brand-building efforts and explore markets in emerging economies. He also points to selling more products in the domestic market.

In his policy address, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen proposed a HK$1 billion fund to help business explore the mainland market. Implementation details are being drawn up with the intention of applying for funding approval from the Legislative Council in the first half of next year.

Australia Senate backs carbon tax

Nov 7th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15632160

8 November 2011 Last updated at 02:54 GMT

Vapour rise from a steel mill chimney in the industrial town of Port Kembla, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Sydney, in this file photo taken July 7

Australia is the developed world’s worst polluter per head of population

Continue reading the main story

Australia’s Senate has approved a controversial law on pollution, after years of bitter political wrangling.

The Clean Energy Act will force the country’s 500 worst-polluting companies to pay a tax on their carbon emissions from 1 July next year.

The Senate vote is a victory for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who had given strong backing to the plan.

Environmentalists have broadly backed the scheme, but there have been large public protests against it.

Opposition parties have argued that the tax would cause job losses and raise the cost of living, and they have promised to repeal the legislation if they win the next election.

The government made the scheme the main plank in its climate-change policies.

The bill passed a vote in the lower house last month by just 74 votes for and 72.

The Senate vote was also tight – 36 votes in favour, 32 against – with the government relying on the support of the Greens to get the bill passed.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan said it was a “victory for the optimists”.

The government has set the initial price per tonne of carbon at A$23 ($23.80; £14.80), much higher than other similar schemes such as in the EU where the price is between $8.70 and $12.60 a tonne.

Australia has been debating pollution-limiting legislation for years.

Former Prime Minster Kevin Rudd swept to power in 2007 after making the carbon tax central to his election campaign.

But his plans were bogged down in political infighting, and analysts have blamed his inability to get the law passed for his eventual ousting by Ms Gillard

No Action Talk Only meanwhile roadside polution levels in December will be high to very high at CWB,, Mongkok and Central roadside stations without the need of monitoring equipment to report this

Nov 7th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

Well, the United States already has strict emissions controls and PM2.5 LAWS !

EPD collaborates with United States EPA to expand opportunities in environmental protection

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (October 26) signed a Statement of Intent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) that outlines a joint commitment for closer cooperation.

The joint statement was signed by Director of Environmental Protection, Ms Anissa Wong, on behalf of the department in the presence of Assistant Administrator of the US EPA, Mr Malcolm Jackson, at the Eco Expo Asia being held in Hong Kong. Under the agreement the EPD and the US EPA agree to leverage on their existing relationship to expand regional cooperation to promote “low carbon, high technology and low pollution” communities and expand capacity in environmental protection.

“Over the years, United States and Hong Kong environmental professionals have collaborated in capacity building and technical exchanges in many areas. The signing of thisStatement of Intent signifies the furtherance of our cooperation in environmental and sustainable development.We look forward to the exciting opportunities and fruitful exchanges under the strengthened partnership, which will help us move along the pathway of low pollution, low carbon development,” said Ms Wong.

By deepening collaboration between Hong Kong and the United States, the two agencies will seek to jointly address environmental challenges of mutual concern and drive further collaboration efforts in the region.

“Interdependent economies require sustainable development to continue to thrive. The US EPA and HK EPD recognise that pollution and environmental challenges are not confined by geographic or economic boundaries.

Through our collaboration we intend to promote and strengthen regional partnerships to advance shared environmental and health priorities,” said a spokesperson for the US EPA.

Collaboration between the two sides will focus on fundamental challenges, including air and water quality protection and waste management. Both sides believe that these efforts will protect the shared environment as well as support the development of practical and cost-effective environmental solutions that drive innovation and technology, environmental jobs, and economic opportunities.

Source: HKSAR Government

SE Asian brown cloud haze causes cyclones in the Arabian Gulf (and therefore possibly in SE Asia also ! ) The author informs us he is extending the study to this region

Nov 7th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

“Over much of south Asia, anthropogenic air pollution has led to the formation of thick layers of haze known as atmospheric brown clouds5. The main sources of the pollution are fossil-fuel consumption and biomass burning, which deposit black carbon in the atmosphere, with serious negative con­sequences for human health6. This pollu­tion produces brownish clouds of aerosol particles that can be several kilometres thick. The hazy conditions spread out over the Arabian Sea, blocking some of the Sun’s energy and preventing it from reaching the sea surface, and thus causing cooling in the upper ocean.

Evan et al.3 propose that these brown clouds have an interesting effect on tropi­cal cyclone environments. They argue that, by inhibiting the amount of incom­ing solar energy at the sea surface, brown clouds can effectively reduce the warmest Arabian Sea temperatures relative to the equatorial Indian Ocean.”

Download PDF : 47950NV

Air pollution fuels killer cyclones

Nov 7th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/full/nature10552.html

Arabian Sea tropical cyclones intensified by emissions of black carbon and other aerosols

Article tools

Throughout the year, average sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea are warm enough to support the development of tropical cyclones1, but the atmospheric monsoon circulation and associated strong vertical wind shear limits cyclone development and intensification, only permitting a pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period for cyclogenesis1, 2, 3, 4. Thus a recent increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones over the northern Indian Ocean5 is thought to be related to the weakening of the climatological vertical wind shear3, 4. At the same time, anthropogenic emissions of aerosols have increased sixfold since the 1930s, leading to a weakening of the southwesterly lower-level and easterly upper-level winds that define the monsoonal circulation over the Arabian Sea6, 7, 8, 9. In principle, this aerosol-driven circulation modification could affect tropical cyclone intensity over the Arabian Sea, but so far no such linkage has been shown. Here we report an increase in the intensity of pre-monsoon Arabian Sea tropical cyclones during the period 1979–2010, and show that this change in storm strength is a consequence of a simultaneous upward trend in anthropogenic black carbon and sulphate emissions. We use a combination of observational, reanalysis and model data to demonstrate that the anomalous circulation, which is radiatively forced by these anthropogenic aerosols, reduces the basin-wide vertical wind shear, creating an environment more favourable for tropical cyclone intensification. Because most Arabian Sea tropical cyclones make landfall1, our results suggest an additional impact on human health from regional air pollution.

Figure 1:Tropical cyclone tracks, aerosol optical depth and meridional SST trends in the Arabian

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/carousel/nature10552-f1.2.jpg

a, Genesis points (circles) and tracks (solid lines) of pre-monsoon tropical cyclones during the period 1979–2010. Storms with an lifetime maximum intensity (LMI) of more than 50 m s−1 are indicated with a filled circle at the genesis point and thick track lines. Shaded contours represent annual long-term mean fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the MODIS Terra and Aqua instruments averaged over 2003–2009.b, The 50-year change in observed SST, averaged over 55°–75° E. The SST change is defined as the average of the monthly linear trend from 1955–2004, multiplied by 50.

  1. Figure 2: Distributions of pre-monsoon and post-monsoon LMI and storm-ambient vertical wind shear.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/carousel/nature10552-f2.2.jpg

Box plots of LMI (a) and storm-ambient vertical wind shear (b) showing the medians (central lines), inner quartile ranges (boxes), and the 25th and 75th centiles minus and plus 1.5 times the inner quartile range, respectively (whiskers). Shear is calculated from the National Center for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy Reanalysis20. The significance of the separation of the median and mean values is given in Supplementary Table 1.

  1. Figure 3: Thirty-year trends in pre-monsoon SST and vertical wind shear.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/carousel/nature10552-f3.2.jpg

The 30-year trends in vertical wind shear (contours) based on reanalysis data from 1979–2010 (a) and numerical experiments designed to isolate the effect of the ABC on the regional circulation7 (b). Dashed contours indicate negative trends, and solid contours indicate positive trends; the zero contour is not shown. Positive and negative shear contours are in units of 0.5 m s−1. Shading shows the 30-year SST trends over the same period from observations (a), which is relative to the equatorial SST trend, and the aerosol-forced SST change prescribed in the model experiments (b).

SCMP  Scientists blame pollutants from South Asia spewed by factories, diesel exhaust and cooking fires
CLIMATE
Agence France-Presse 
Nov 04, 2011 in SCMP
Airborne pollution from South Asia is helping to brew monster storms in the Arabian Sea that have claimed thousands of lives and cost billions of US dollars, scientists said.

In a paper published on Wednesday in the British journal Nature, researchers pointed the finger at a haze known as the Asian brown cloud, which hangs over parts of the northern Indian Ocean, India and Pakistan. Several kilometres thick, the cloud comprises brownish particles of carbon soot and sulphates spewed by factories, diesel exhaust and cooking fires.

Previous research has implicated it in disrupting monsoon patterns and in glacier loss in the Himalayas.

Environmental scientists led by Amato Evan of the University of Virginia looked at patterns in cyclones in the Arabian Sea from 1979 to 2010.

They found the region historically only averaged two or three cyclones a year and these typically were weak — even though the sea was clearly hot enough to fuel very powerful storms.

The reason for the weakness and infrequency, they discovered, lies in a phenomenon called vertical wind shear which occurs in July and August during the hot months of the monsoon season.

Vertical wind shear occurs when strong winds flow in the upper and lower atmosphere in opposite directions. In the lower levels, it blows from the southwest, and in the upper atmosphere, from the east.

The shear rips the top off a would-be cyclone, preventing it from developing the circular winds that are its muscular hallmark.

As a result, the few cyclones that occurred in the Arabian Sea typically happened before or after the monsoon season — usually one in May or June and a couple more in August to December — when the wind shear was far less.

But in the past dozen or so years, the pattern has changed, with the emergence of storms in the weeks immediately before the monsoon season.

They include a cyclone that killed nearly 3,000 people in Gujarat, India, in June 1998. In June 2007, cyclone Gonu, a category-five storm, killed 49 people in Oman and Iran, causing more than US$4 billion in damage. It was the first documented storm ever to enter the Gulf of Oman.

And in June 2010, 26 people were killed in Pakistan and Oman by a category-four cyclone, Phet, inflicting losses of nearly US$2 billion.

The team says “brown cloud” particulates have grown sixfold in volume since the 1930s and the pollution is now a disruptive climatic phenomenon in its own right.

“This study is a striking example of how human reactions, on a large enough scale — in this case, massive regional air pollution caused by inefficient fuel combustion — can result in unintended consequences,” said Anjuli Bamzai of the US National Science Foundation.

“These consequences include highly destructive summer cyclones that were rare or non-existent in this monsoon region 30 or so years ago.”

Download full report : nature10552 (1)

Pro-Beijing camp achieves landslide in district polls

Nov 7th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

South China Morning Post – Nov. 7, 2011

The pro-Beijing camp scored a landslide victory in Monday’s district council elections – with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) and Federation of Trade Unions winning 146 of the 412 seats.

In contrast, the pan-democratic camp suffered an even worse defeat than it had experienced in 2007. On Monday, the Democratic Party won only 47 seats, while the Civic Party won seven.

A record turnout of 1.2 million people voted on Sunday in the most hotly contested district council elections in Hong Kong history – which saw 839 candidates contest 336 constituencies. Some 76 councillors were returned.

Of the 2.9 million eligible voters, 41.4 per cent cast their ballots – compared with a turnout of 38.8 per cent in the 2007 district council polls and 44.06 per cent in 2003 – when there were nearly 500,000 fewer registered voters.

DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung said he was satisfied his party had secured more seats.

DAB lawmaker Ip Kwok-him defeated Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrat (LSD). Ip received 2,723 votes, while Leung, also known as “Long Hair”, only got 973 votes. Ip said this showed voters were unwilling to back radical politicians.

All the results were released by 4am, and it was soon obvious the pan-democrats were in for a long, painful night.

Civic Party legislators Tanya Chan and Ronny Tong Ka-wah both lost their seats. Chan was beaten by Liberal Party first-time candidate Joseph Chan Ho-lim in the Peak constituency of Central and Western. Tong lost to incumbent independent Wong Ka-wing in City One, Sha Tin.

Civic Party leader Alan Leong Ka-kit said the goal of achieving full universal suffrage would be more difficult after the landslide defeat. The party only won seven seats, despite fielding 41 candidates.

The Democratic Party also suffered, as its lawmakers Lee Wing-tat and Wong Sing-chi were defeated in Kwai Tsing and North District, respectively. The party’s vice-chairman and former lawmaker Sin Chung-kai lost to incumbent councillor David Wong Chor-fung, of the New People’s Party, in Wan Chai’s Tai Hang constituency.

However, party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan fended off a challenge from People Power candidate Albert Chan Wai-yip and independent Shum Kam-tim in Lok Tsui, the Tuen Mun District.

Ho said the party had “passed a test” because it did not lose too many seats. However, the party now has three fewer seats. He said the pan-democrats would need to review their strategy.

Democrat lawmakers Kam Nai-wai and James To Kun-sun held on to their seats in Central, Western and the Yau Tsim Mong District.

Radical pan-democratic group People Power – whose goal was to punish the Democratic Party and Association of Democratic and People’s Livelihood for backing the government’s reform package for the 2012 elections – was the biggest loser. Of its 62 candidates, only one achieved a victory. Its campaign mostly received lukewarm support from voters.

The radical LSD which fielded 28 candidates failed to win any seats. Party chairman Andrew To Kwan-hang lost his seat in Chuk Yuen North, the Wong Tai Sin district.

The New People’s Party – which contested the elections for the first time – secured four seats. The party fielded 12 candidates this year.

The Electoral Affairs Commission said it had received about 2,200 complaints from voters.

Full list of elected district councillors.

Sad, sad tale of declining trade masks real growth area

Nov 6th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

South China Morning Post – Nov. 6, 2011

Gloom merchants telling the wrong story because HK$900b of good news seems to be right under their noses

Clear the Air says : service exports do not require a third runway to be built nor further port infrastructure or expansion when ‘ domestic exports’ continue to fall year on year

HSBC is slashing Hong Kong’s economic growth forecasts for both this year and the next as economists warn the euro-zone debt crisis will continue to hit local exports.

SCMP, November 2

In case you want numbers, slashing means that HSBC’s emboldened economists have revised their growth forecast for next year down to 4.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent.

Slashing, you know, as in taking a big chopper sharpened to a razor’s edge and then bringing it sweeping down with all their might to hack their forecasts through the bone, a full 0.9 per cent. Yes, they make big cuts, at this Home for Scottish Bank Clerks.

But the reason that I think these economists have been so emboldened (how would they otherwise have dared) is that none less than our financial secretary, John Tsang Chun-wah, gave them a lead last week by turning gloomy in public after the September trade figures showed a 3 per cent year-on-year decline in Hong Kong’s exports. What a sad, sad story.

But it’s the wrong one.

To start with, more than 98 per cent of these exports consist of re-exports, which our statisticians define as “products which have previously been imported into Hong Kong and which are re-exported without having undergone in Hong Kong a manufacturing process which has changed permanently the shape, nature, form or utility of the product”.

This is not quite the accepted international definition but a very convenient one as it allows us to pretend that we do at least some work on these products before shipping them out again. We claim, in fact, that we add about 17 per cent added value to them.

But don’t examine the claim too closely. It implies that we have an export reprocessing industry worth HK$500 billion a year. Look around. Have you ever seen any sign of it? Can you find even HK$500 worth of export reprocessing turnover here?

The answer is that mainland exporters find it convenient to evade mainland profit taxes by shipping their goods to Hong Kong at cost and adding on a profit margin only just before they go on the ship. We don’t tax them for this mark-up. It has nothing to do with Hong Kong.

The authorities in the mainland have gone along with it even though it costs them public revenue. They apparently think it is not worth upsetting relations with Hong Kong for revenue they would probably not collect anyway.

What is more, they can pretend that China’s trade surpluses with the United States and the European Union are not really so big at all. These were goods exported to Hong Kong, you see, not to the US or the EU.

I now refer you to the real picture as shown in the chart. Hong Kong’s real merchandise exports – goods actually made here (well, sort of) – are called domestic exports, and they have been falling for the past 20 years. That’s the red line in the chart.

They amount to only about HK$70 billion a year, which is tiny. This is the equivalent of about 4 per cent of gross domestic product. Net out the required raw material and component imports and the figure would be less than 1 per cent of GDP.

As to that bit about “euro-zone debt crisis will continue to hit local exports”, only about 8 per cent of our domestic exports go to Europe, and this is nothing. This figure has been falling steadily for the past five years, much longer than the euro-zone debt crisis.

And now, because I like ending with good news, look at the blue line on the chart. It represents our service exports, the new Hong Kong economy, the proof of an enormous transition that passed right underneath the noses of HSBC’s economists and they never saw it.

These service exports are running at almost HK$900 billion a year, the equivalent of almost half of our GDP and they show little sign of slowing down. Take heart, O ye of little faith

When one side’s interest is the only one that counts

Nov 5th, 2011
by Editor.
No comments yet

South China Morning Post – Nov. 5, 2011

The government is always telling us that it takes environmental issues seriously, while its actions tell a different story. We have seen this recently, with the chief executive saying that air quality objectives will be introduced in this Legislative Council session, but the Environmental Protection Department says there is no time allocated for the measures.

In another indication of the official attitude towards environmental matters, think tank Civic Exchange has drawn attention to the undermining of the department’s expertise when the government in 2005 merged the roles of director of environmental protection (DEP) and permanent secretary for the environment (PSE).

As Civic Exchange’s Mike Kilburn said in an article for the website CleanBiz Asia, the DEP was an environmental expert familiar with the technical and legal complexities inherent in presiding over the statutory environmental impact assessment mechanism.

The DEP was responsible for approving EIA reports and issuing environmental permits for projects. The PSE was concerned with formulating and delivering the administration’s policy objectives and the post was held by a career civil servant who did not have the technical expertise of the DEP.

In 2005, the government merged the posts, citing cost savings.

The then-PSE said: “The merger will achieve synergy between policy formulation and implementation, and is in line with the government’s commitment to streamlining and delayering the decision-making process.” He went on to say it would “improve service delivery and bring about efficiency gains in the area of environmental protection”.

The real effect has been a conflict of interest in the new PSE role, since the holder was both the regulator and at the same time beholden to political masters. The last professional DEP rejected the EIA for the MTR’s Lok Ma Chau spur line in 1999, which the EIA appeal board upheld, much to the consternation of the government.

This is in stark contrast to the recent judicial review of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, where these conflicts became apparent. As Civic Exchange said in its submission to Legco’s environmental affairs panel: “The potential for conflict is especially acute where the government is the proponent for a designated project, as is frequently the case in major infrastructure cases.” The government has clearly weakened environmental protection rather than strengthening it, as it so often likes us to believe.

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →