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Insight - China's losing battle against state-backed polluters

March 31, 2013 17:30
By David Stanway SHANGHANG COUNTY, China (Reuters) - When Zijin Mining Group threatened to move its headquarters some 270 kms from its home county of Shanghang to Xiamen on China's southeast coast, a local Communist Party boss rushed to confront the company's chairman Chen Jinghe. "If you want to move, you'll have to move the Zijin Mountain to Xiamen as well," the official told Chen, referring to a vast local mine that has helped transform the firm into China's top gold producer and second-biggest copper miner.

New rules may ease China pollution, won't solve steel overcapacity

March 10, 2013 17:30
* China to impose "special restrictions" on steel mills * Moves likely to increase mills' operating costs * Unlikely to aid steel sector restructuring, consolidation By David Stanway and Ruby Lian BEIJING, March 11 (Reuters) - New rules aimed at making China's sprawling steel sector greener will do little to tackle rampant overcapacity or help Beijing protect its big state-owned mills from smaller, nimbler rivals.

RPT-In China, public anger over secrecy on environment

March 10, 2013 17:15
(Repeats March 10 story with no changes in text) By Sui-Lee Wee and Adam Jourdan BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 10 (Reuters) - When China's environment ministry told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn't have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a "state secret", it added to mounting public outrage over the worsening environment.

In China, public anger over secrecy on environment

March 9, 2013 22:15
By Sui-Lee Wee and Adam Jourdan BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 10 (Reuters) - When China's environment ministry told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn't have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a "state secret", it added to mounting public outrage over the worsening environment.

China lawyer appeals 'state secret' pollution claim

February 27, 2013 00:46
A Chinese lawyer has appealed against an official refusal to release the results of a national soil pollution survey on the grounds that it was a "state secret", he told AFP on Wednesday. China's environmental protection ministry said the survey results were a state secret after Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei applied for them to be released, the Legal Daily newspaper reported.

China admits pollution-linked 'cancer villages'

February 22, 2013 06:15
China's environment ministry has acknowledged the existence of "cancer villages", after years of assertions by academics and domestic media that polluted areas experience higher rates of the disease. The use of the term in an official report, thought to be unprecedented, comes as authorities face growing discontent over industrial waste, hazardous smog and other environmental and health consequences of years of rapid growth.

China admits pollution-linked 'cancer villages'

February 22, 2013 02:45
China's environment ministry has acknowledged the existence of "cancer villages", several years after widespread speculation first began that polluted areas were seeing a higher incidence of the disease. The use of the term in an official report, thought to be unprecedented, comes as authorities face growing discontent over industrial waste, hazardous smog and other environmental and health consequences after years of rapid development.

After China's multibillion-dollar cleanup, water still unfit to drink

February 20, 2013 17:15
By David Stanway BEIJING, Feb 21 (Reuters) - China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth.

China says major pollutant levels dropping, but hard task ahead

January 24, 2013 06:30
BEIJING, Jan 24 (Reuters) - China's environment minister said on Thursday that emissions of four major pollutants dropped last year and should fall by a similar level this year, but admitted the country faced a tough task in trying to end chronic air pollution. This winter's pollution, especially in northern China, has been so severe that even usually pliant state media has criticised government inaction, partly because it can't be hidden from the public unlike other sensitive subjects such as high-level corruption.
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