January 18th, 2012:

Hong Kong Standard – 18 Jan 2012

You Can Trust me, I am a highly paid Minister

I know the Air Pollution Ordinance allows me to change the AQO’s

in consultation with the Advisory Council on the Environment without going to Legco

but I will keep on telling Legco this will not be done until 2014 so we can build some

more infrastructure white elephants first.

Clearing the air

A breath of fresh air is on the way at last – if you can hold out to 2014.

Kenneth Foo

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A breath of fresh air is on the way at last – if you can hold out to 2014.

That’s the date for tying Hong Kong pollution gauges to air-quality standards of the World Health Organization.

And new measures to clear the foul air will include car-free zones, more railways and scrapping old polluting vehicles.

Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah yesterday revealed a series of steps to update the Air Quality Objectives.

Seven types of emissions will be monitored, and sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead will be subject to the most stringent standards of the WHO.

The remainder – including respirable and fine particulates – will be monitored according to the lower end of WHO standards. The objectives will be reviewed every five years.

But some experts slammed the moves as not tough enough.

Anthony Hedley, honorary professor of the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, accused the government of setting up ” lax and interim targets that masquerade as long-term solutions to a problem that requires more drastic action.”

Yau said the government will adopt the new standards as the benchmark for conducting environmental impact reports for its construction projects.

But there will be a three-year transitional period for private developments to adjust to the new rules.

“For the standards to be implemented, clearly defined goals, effective means and an emission- reduction package with the consensus of the people are of paramount importance,” Yau said.

He declined to estimate the social and economic costs of the new objectives.

They come as Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who had pledged to clean up the city’s air, enters the last months of his administration.

During his election campaign in 2006, he vowed a ” blue sky” policy.

While pollutants from the mainland have declined following an emission control pact with the Guangdong government, pollution from vehicles has hurt efforts.

The Airport Authority backed the proposed new objectives and will use them if the government allows it to build a third runway.

The authority said it will follow them for conducting air-quality assessments.

It also backed the retirement of old vehicles and a tree-planting campaign.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong General Chamber of Chamber supported the moves as it said pollution is the top environmental concern of business.

But campaigners are critical.

The head of environmental strategy at Civic Exchange, Mike Kilburn, said: ” It is a move that we have been waiting years for years but we are extremely disappointed as the objectives are not strict enough to make any positive impact on air quality.”

Hedley said public health safety demands that the cap on sulfur dioxide should be set much lower than the proposed rate of 125 micrograms per cubic meter.

The University of Hong Kong yesterday released an update of its Hedley Environmental Index, which shows the impact of pollution on public health.

The new index will have a map showing real-time levels of pollutants at 14 monitoring stations and will benchmark itself to WHO standards.

Based on calculations made from the index, experts have raised their estimates to an average of 3,200 deaths annually – compared with 1,000 made in the previous study.

Economic loss is estimated to be HK$40 billion a year.

South China Morning Post

It is not just pollution on the streets lawmakers have to worry about – even the air in the new Legislative Council complex could leave them coughing and rubbing their eyes.

A two-day air-purification exercise failed t clear toxic substances from the building in Admiralty, and the poor air has forced some legislators to move out, while others say they are concerned for the health of their staff.

The level of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) – substances normally found in construction material such as wallpaper glue and oil paint – was more than 170 times above the safety level of 261 parts per billion (ppb) before the purification work, readings taken last week in the office of New People Power chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee showed. “I have relocated my staff to my other regional offices,” Ip said. “Although it is troublesome to commute … it is safer to stop using the office now. I have asthma.”

Readings taken over the past two mornings showed TVOC levels on four of the 13 floors of the Legco complex remained above the 261ppb level, with the figure on the fifth floor reaching 320. Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan and the Civic Party’s Tanya Chan said they recorded levels of more than 600ppb in their offices yesterday.

Ip recorded levels of 44,000ppb before the purification work.

Architectural Services Department staff said TVOC levels would be increased by human presence.

Ho Sai-king, assistant director of the department, said another reason for the high figures was because air purification was not carried out  during the day, when they relied on air-conditioning.

Toxic compounds in the building were mainly brought about by defective rectification and adjustment work during the Christmas holiday,” said Priscilla Tam, the department’s project director.

People’s Health Action chairman Dr Lo Wing-lok said toxic materials used in construction could lead to infertility if chronically inhaled.

“In the short term, TVOC will lead to sore eyes and irritation of the respiratory system,” Lo said. He advised members to use charcoal filters and open their office windows to improve air quality.

But for Chan, this was not an option.

“There is only one movable window in my office and due to its design we need to ask for Legco staff’s help whenever we open it,” she said.

“I am worried for my staff’s health and I have already asked a pregnant member of staff not to return to this office.”

tanna.chong@scmp.com

South China Morning Post – 18 Jan 2012

Why is it that whenever Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah speaks about the quality of Hong Kong’s air you get the impression he means the opposite to what he says. At yesterday’s press conference announcing that the government would implement new air quality objectives (AQOs), he said it was, “A clear demonstration that the government and the community is very eager and keen to update the air quality objectives”.

This is presumably why, under his leadership, the government did nothing for two years after public consultation on the AQOs, and why his department dragged its feet so much it had to be told by the ombudsman to get a move on. Now it’s going to take another two years to implement them.

Yau reeks of insincerity. Indeed, so sincere is the government that it will allow environmental impact assessments for infrastructure projects to use the current outdated air quality standards. This is not a government “eager and keen” to clean Hong Kong’s air.

It follows publication of a report on the government’s record on cleaning the air by the Civic Exchange think tank last week. It also coincides with the release of an updated Hedley Environmental Index, which reveals the average annual number of avoidable deaths attributable to air pollution over the last five years was 3,200, more than three times the previous annual estimates of 1,000 avoidable deaths.

“Even though the these new figures are substantially higher, the truly frightening thing about them is that they are still conservative figures that account for only short-term health impacts of Hong Kong’s air pollution,” said the index’s author, Anthony Hedley.