Report highlights environmental costs of China's surging economy

SHOTLIST Beijing - June 2, 2005 1. Wide interior of news conference 2. Journalists 3. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Wang Jirong, Vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration Bureau: "We have to face a series of environmental and other consequences as a result of this urbanisation process. Partially because of the rapid flow of the population as well as raw material. And the problem also could be found in the infrastructure and public transportation as well as the conflict between conservation and development." FILE Shanxi Province - June 2003 4. Tilt up from polluted water on ground near fertiliser factory with smoke stack 5. Active smoke stack 6. Truck moving on road above waste water spill out 7. Tilt down to waste water spilling onto ground Beijing - June 2, 2005 8. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Wang Jirong, Vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration Bureau: "In recent years I have seen an increasing number of complaints from the public on environmental issues. Such a trend is still accelerating and the speed of increase is 30 percent annually." FILE Shanxi Province - June 2003 9. Wide of power plant in distance with field and stream in foreground 10. Polluted stream 11. Power plant smoke stacks Beijing - June 2, 2005 12. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Wang Jirong, Vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration Bureau: "Last year we addressed 208 cases which is a reflection of local protectionism in violation of implementation of environmental legislation. And some of them are the local policies promulgated by the local governments to lower the environmental barriers or the environmental standards for entry into markets of the enterprises in order to attract more investment." 13. Wide of news conference STORYLINE More of China's cities are suffering from acid rain and its major rivers and lakes are heavily polluted, the government said on Thursday in a report that highlighted the environmental costs of surging economic growth. Two-thirds of the nation's household sewage was untreated last year, while "heavy pollution" tainted some cities' air, said a report by the State Environmental Protection Administration, or SEPA. Acid rain blamed on smoke from coal-burning factories and power plants is spreading, with the number of cities suffering from levels considered severe rising last year to 218, compared with 210 in 2003, the report said. China's environment has been ravaged by two decades of rapid growth, and by the pressure of feeding and housing a population of 1.3 (b) billion. Vice minister Wang Jirong of SEPA said the problem also could be found "in the infrastructure and public transportation as well as the conflict between conservation and development." Official efforts to reduce pollution in recent years have had limited success. Public anger at pollution damage to farmland, crops, drinking water and fishing grounds has become a volatile issue for the communist government. In April, scores of people were injured when police clashed with villagers who occupied an industrial complex, which they said ruined their crops by polluting water supplies. The government has forced polluting factories to close, and is spending heavily on switching its power generation from abundant but dirty coal to cleaner natural gas. In Beijing, the government is pouring money into moving polluting industries out of the city in an effort to clean up the Chinese capital before the 2008 Summer Olympics. But economic growth, projected to pass nine percent this year, has fed soaring demand for power, causing shortages nationwide and forcing China to keep older coal-fired plants in service. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/284fcc7e1e7407bc07202d9c9059e213 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork