Beijing gets tough on big polluters

Beijing is imposing harsh fines against polluting enterprises in an attempt to cut down on the region's notorious smog.

Beijing's environmental watchdog said it levied fines of 7.09 million yuan ($1.14 million) on owners of 266 coal-fired boilers from November to March. That is more than double the figure from the previous season, when regulators fined 127 companies a total of 3.01 million yuan.

Most of the companies were fined for excessive smoke exhaust, lacking or having faulty emission-monitoring facilities and leaving coal dumps uncovered, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said during a news briefing on Tuesday.