If China is to achieve its green target of cutting emission of major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010, the authorities should punish more harshly enterprises and local governments that are dragging heels at environmental protection.

By dispatching 20 teams of experts and officials to examine latest progress of pollution reduction around the country, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has launched a fresh round of attacks on industrial polluters since this week.

Given the warning the State Council recently issued on too fast growth of energy-consuming and polluting industries, it looks more than likely that the environmental watchdog needs to wage another tough war this year to keep pollutant discharge under control.

Thanks to the enforcement of higher environmental standards and increased investment on green technologies, a long-anticipated fall of two key measures of pollution last year has made China's double-digit economic growth relatively cleaner that it was before.

Emissions for sulfur dioxide (SO2), which belches from smokestacks and causes acid rain, fell by 4.7 percent in 2007 compared with the same period a year before while chemical oxygen demand (COD), a measure of water pollution, dropped by 3.2 percent.

It was heartening to see such solid progress on pollution control after the country failed in 2006 to meet its environmental target.

But it is not easy to maintain the momentum of pollution reduction since energy-consuming and polluting industries still grow fast.

On the one hand, soaring oil prices had led to increased consumption of coal which is more polluting.

On the other hand, the severe snowstorms that hit central and south China in the winter and the earthquake in May that rocked southwestern China have destroyed many facilities for pollution control and monitoring, adding to the difficulties to cut pollutant discharge.

The environment ministry has blacklisted several cities and power plants for their sluggish and ineffective actions to reduce pollution.

Some local governments have been criticized for poor wastewater treatment and are penalized by having their approvals of new city projects suspended.

The ministry will also impose heavy fines on the power plants not fulfilling their commitments and urge them to improve their SO2 reducing technology.

This is the sense of urgency needed to ensure China can meet its environmental goal this year.

(China Daily July 9, 2008)