EVLN(Hong Kong EV driver promotes polluters pay bill)
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http://asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1446166
Hong Kong faces uphill battle in fight against pollution
13 September, 2002 21:22 GMT+08:00 By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's environment minister said
on Friday that the tiny territory would take "a very long
time" to clear its serious air pollution due to relentless
industrial growth in China, and local resistance to
necessary solutions.
Sarah Liao, Secretary for the Environment, Transport and
Works, said in an interview that Hong Kong and the
neighbouring Guangdong provincial government were both
committed to sweeping plans to bring air quality back to
acceptable levels by 2010.
"We have a hinterland that's undergoing economic growth, so
the pressure of growing (economically) and yet reducing
emission is tough," she said. "It's an uphill battle," she
added.
A former environment consultant who drives an electric car
at weekends to try to make a point, Liao was environment
ambassador for the team which ran China's successful
campaign for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, another city
which chokes on smog.
Liao said in her new job she plans a cross-border pollution
credits system to cut factory smog, and added she will
propose a bill in the months ahead which would make
polluters pay.
But she says such bold plans will not work unless regional
power companies genuinely join the effort, and governments,
industry and citizens in general take real action.
BAD AIR DAY
On Monday, Hong Kong's air pollution index soared to a
record high, adding another psychological black spot for the
city in the minds of foreign investors and business folk who
live here, and reigniting people's fears of health
problems.
Activists have blamed the air pollution that has bedevilled
Hong Kong for years on the city's massive fleets of
diesel-run vehicles, and on smog drifting south from
fast-growing Guangdong province, particularly the
neighbouring Pearl River Delta region.
Liao is candid about the origins of Hong Kong's dirty air
and has few illusions.
"Guangdong's Pearl River Delta is much bigger than Hong
Kong, with more industries, power plants and people," she
said, adding that 80 percent of the region's polluted air
originated from the delta, while Hong Kong was responsible
for 20 percent.
She said she is now discussing with the Guangdong
authorities a cross-border emissions trading scheme, but
that will be launched at the earliest in 2005.
The scheme would require cleaner firms in Hong Kong and
Guangdong to invest in poorly equipped companies to minimise
their excessive emissions in order to reach tighter targets
set by local governments.
A similar scheme in Nantong, north of Shanghai, has proven
successful since it was introduced last year, Liao said.
The scheme, however, would need the support of power
companies in both Hong Kong and Guangdong, she added.
"We want companies to bear their social responsibilities in
mind. They must not just think why Hong Kong's air is so
bad, but they have to do something about it," she said.
PERSONAL EXAMPLE
Liao, one of the most popular members of Hong Kong's
cabinet, is trying to persuade her own government to ditch
its petrol-guzzling fleet of official limousines for
environmentally friendly makes.
On the day she assumed office last July, she pledged to
lobby transport companies to cut fares, and railway
operators moved immediately to launch concessions, such as
giving commuters one free ride for every 10 made in a week.
Liao said lawmakers recently approved a measure to subsidise
minibus operators to convert to liquefied petroleum gas as
fuel.
She said she will also table a "polluters pay" bill in
coming months to get companies, and later households, to cut
waste.
The bill is likely to be unpopular, underlining the
contradiction amongst those in business and the community
who demand the government clean up the environment so long
as it does not affect them.
Most businesses have been dead against such a system for
years, and the plan is almost certain to face even more
hostility now due to the economic downturn.
"We will run out of landfill space in 15 years. Unless we
hit home the point, it won't be sustainable," she said,
adding that she would push to have the bill enacted into law
by end-2003.
Hong Kong has three main landfills. More than 16,000 tonnes
of garbage are dumped every day.
The 51-year-old minister swam across Hong Kong's famous
Victoria Harbour in 1964 when it was possible to do so
without facing serious health risks.
She hopes to repeat the feat some day and is pushing to
clean up local waters.
"I am getting my department to look at water recycling and
waste water treatment," she said.
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