China is turning to aerial drones to monitor pollution, with its biggest mission to date finding illegal emissions by some of the largest industrial companies in the country’s northern provinces.
A unit of Hebei Iron and Steel Group, China’s No. 1 steelmaker, Shanxi Huaze Aluminum and Power Co, as well as Inner Mongolia Yihua Chemical Co, were found to have “serious environmental problems,” the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its Web site yesterday.
Data gathered by the drones indicate one-quarter of the 254 businesses targeted may be involved in illegal practices, it said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) declared war on pollution in March after swathes of northern China were blanketed in smog and the government’s climate-change adviser said the situation had reached intolerable levels.
Poor air quality in the world’s biggest carbon emitter is a regional health issue and is damaging foreign investment and talent retention, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍) warned the same month.
This month’s use of drones for law-enforcement purposes follows trial monitoring from November last year through February in Hebei Province, the ministry said.
Unmanned aircraft equipped with thermal infrared cameras covered 1,000km2 across the regions of Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia from June 16 through Friday, according to its statement.
The ministry said it would follow up with on-the-ground inspections to ensure companies stop their illegal emissions.
Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia are among the worst polluters and the focus of government efforts to clean the environment.
Seven of the 10 Chinese cities with the worst air pollution in the third quarter of last year were located in Hebei, according to government data.
Hebei, which surrounds the Chinese capital, Beijing, is the country’s biggest steelmaking region and accounted for about one-quarter of national output last year. Shanxi and Inner Mongolia are among the country’s biggest coal-producing provinces.
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