Why is air pollution worse in places? Inspectors in new round will find out
China's top environmental watchdog will soon launch a new round of air pollution control inspections that will involve its entire staff, as some cities in northern China saw deteriorating air quality in the first quarter of this year.
While unfavorable meteorological conditions are partly to blame for the lack of dispersal, the watchdog said that cannot be used as an excuse for excessive emissions and officials will be severely punished for their failure to fulfill their duties.
Cao Liping, head of the bureau of ecological and environmental supervision at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said 19,500 environmental officers across the country were mobilized in the yearlong air pollution inspection that concluded on Sunday and primarily covered the 28 major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei province cluster and the 11 major cities in Fenhe-Weihe River Plain area.