Beijing issues 1st smog red alert, urging schools to close

Beijing — Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for smog on
Monday, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on
factories and traffic that will keep half of the city's vehicles off
the roads.
The red alert — the most serious warning on a four-tier system
adopted a little over two years ago — means authorities have
forecast more than three consecutive days of severe smog.
An online notice from the Beijing Municipal Environmental
Protection Bureau said it issued the alert to "protect public
health and reduce levels of heavy air pollution."
Readings of PM2.5 particles climbed toward 300 micrograms
per cubic meter on Monday and are expected to continue
rising before the air begins to improve with the arrival of a cold
front on Thursday. The World Health Organization designates
the safe level for PM2.5 particles at 25.
Along with school closures and limiting cars to driving every
other day depending on the last number of their license plate,
a raft of other restrictions will seek to reduce the amount of
dust and other particulate matter in the city of 22.5 million
people. Officials said extra subway trains and buses would be
added to handle the additional strain on public transport.
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It's the second time this month that notoriously polluted
Beijing has experienced a prolonged bout of smog, sending
PM2.5 levels in the suburbs as high as 976 micrograms.
Beijing was also shrouded in persistent smog for most of
November, when power demand soared due to unusually cold
weather.
While pollution in the capital improved slightly in the first 10
months of the year, heavy smog that can be seen from outer
space regularly forces Beijing schools to suspend outdoor
activities and can even prompt highway closures because of
reduced visibility.
There previously have been stretches of severe smog that
lasted more than three straight days. However, those had been
forecast to last three days or less, so they did not trigger a red
alert. The alert requires a forecast of more than 72 straight
hours with PM2.5 levels of 200 micrograms per cubic meter or
more.
Polluted air throughout broad swaths of China has had severe
health effects. A study led by atmospheric chemist Jos
Lelieveld of Germany's Max Planck Institute and published this
year in Nature magazine estimated that 1.4 million people die
prematurely because of pollution in China each year.
Most of the pollution is blamed on coal-fired power plants,
along with vehicle emissions and construction and factory
work. China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, plans to
upgrade coal power plants over the next five years to tackle
the problem, and says its emissions will peak by around 2030
before starting to decline.
While emissions standards have been tightened and heavy
investments made in solar, wind and other renewable energy,
China still depends on coal for more than 60 percent of its
power.
- AP