Harsher air pollution penalties sought

Chinese lawmakers are seeking harsher punishment for air polluters, amid increasing demand from the public for better air quality.

Lawmakers should speed up their efforts to expand the punishment of those who illegally discharge air pollutants, said Shen Yueyue, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, on Saturday.

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Shen made the remarks during a seminar on the revision of the law on air pollution prevention and control. The seminar, organized by the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the NPC, was attended by lawmakers from provincial people's congresses.

The NPC Standing Committee plans to revise the air pollution law late this year. The law, adopted in 1987, has been revised twice, in 1995 and 2000.

Ji Zhenhai, a lawmaker in the Hebei Provincial People's Congress, said that the current law is too lenient for air polluters and the revision should focus on increasing punishment.

"Only when businesses pay a heavy price for polluting the air will they become more self-driven to abide by the law," Ji said, adding that the revised law should further specify punitive measures to accelerate law enforcement.

Under the current law, air polluters can be fined a maximum of 500,000 yuan ($80,000) for discharging pollutants in serious cases. The law does not have any provision for government officials who are held responsible for air pollution.

Sun Gang, a lawmaker from Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, said local governments should be responsible for air quality and officials should be evaluated according to their performance in air pollution prevention and control.