2008 Summer Games: Beijing dirty air should be under control

BEIJING — Construction will halt, heavy industries will close, and even spray painting will stop in order to clean Beijing's polluted air for the Olympics — an issue that suddenly has taken a back seat to political protests.

An aggressive plan to temporarily shutter belching steel and chemical plants, cut back emissions by 30 percent at 19 heavy-polluting companies and stop excavation and pouring of concrete at hundreds of sites around the city was explained Monday by the city's Environmental Protection Bureau.

"From the suggestions of experts we think that we need to take these measures to guarantee the air quality of Beijing," said Du Shaozhong, the bureau's deputy director.

The measures are severe and will be in effect officially for two months — July 20-Sept. 20 — although reports a few months ago suggest some production cutbacks may come even sooner.

Officials also are expected to ban about half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles for the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. Du said specific details would be announced later.

A month ago, pollution looked like the biggest threat to the Olympics, which are supposed to mark the emergence of China as an economic and political power. Since then, deadly riots in Lhasa have triggered worldwide demonstrations by pro-Tibet and human rights groups, threatening the country's image on a stage it has spent billions to build.

Last week, chaotic protests disrupted legs of the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco, prompting usually cautions International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to say the IOC was facing "a crisis" — one of its toughest tests since the boycotts of the 1970s and '80s.

More demonstrations along the relay route are expected.

Beijing's noxious pollution still presents an enormous problem, a health menace and a public relations minefield.

Rogge has said endurance events of more than an hour will be postponed if the air quality is poor, and he's acknowledged some performances might be "slightly reduced." Many top athletes are reported staying away from the games until the last minute, and some have been advised to wear masks in non-competition situations.

Du did not say if shuttered companies would receive compensation for lost production.

"Enterprises have made active sacrifices for the Olympics in terms of how to allocate their production and how to offset all these negative impacts," he said.