Hebei Province picks up Three Cities for laxation in Pollution Control Measures

China's biggest steel-producing province of Hebei has summoned the leaders of three cities including Handan, Hengshui, and Xingtai after they failed to control air pollution in the first half of this year, the local environmental protection agency said in a notice.

According to the notification, in the first half of 2019, in the face of extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions in January and February, the monthly average concentration of PM2.5 rebounded by 25% and 20%, respectively, in Hebei province.

On 9 August, the Hebei Provincial Atmospheric Office publicly interviewed the government of Xingtai and Hengshui City in Shijiazhuang city for the deterioration of air quality in the first half of the year. The meeting pointed out that in the first half of this year, the three cities of Handan, Xingtai and Hengshui adopted a series of measures in implementing the "Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defence War" and achieved certain results but there are still some gaps in the requirements of the provincial government and the expectations of the people. It has been pointed out that the air quality in all the three cities have deteriorated year on year, and environmental problems in some areas are still outstanding.

From January to June, the average concentration of PM2.5 in the province was 58 ug/m3, which was the same as that of the same period of last year. The average concentration of PM2.5 in Handan City was up 2.7% Y-o-y, in Xingtai city was up by 2.6% y-o-y and the average concentration of PM2.5 in Hengshui city surged by 1.6% y-o-y.

Subsequently, Hebei, which produces about a quarter of the country's steel, is set to impose tougher emission requirements on its industrial firms this year, and the province is under more pressure from neighboring Beijing after three of its cities failed to meet their smog targets in the first six months.

Chinese steel production hit record levels in the first half of this year, with much of the increase coming from smaller, polluting mills with lower environmental compliance costs, the country's official steel industry association said.