China’s economic-planning and environmental protection arms are again at odds on whether to continue the more-stringent auto-emissions standards as planned, said the Wall Street Journal.
The National Development and Reform Commission said it wants to delay the implementation of the standards after the July 1 deadline, while the Environmental Protection Administration insisted that it will go ahead with enforcing its rules on the deadline.
China’s new standards for auto emissions attempt to match the so-called Euro III rules imposed in the European Union seven years ago. Strangely, while the commission claimed oil refiners are not ready to produce enough low-sulfur gasoline for the standards to be rolled out, China’s main oil refiners, Sinopec and PetroChina, said they already have the capacity to make the cleaner fuel, according to the WSJ.
From the WSJ, By Shai Oster and Gordon Fairlough:
China’s economic planners say they want to delay nationwide enforcement of more-stringent auto-emissions standards, a decision that could mean greater levels of pollution in already-dirty skies as 24,000 new cars, trucks and buses hit Chinese roads each day.
The National Development and Reform Commission has in effect overruled the country’s relatively weak environmental-protection agency, saying its July 1 deadline for tighter emission controls is impractical. The commission said enforcement of the new standard should instead be phased in over years.
China’s State Environmental Protection Administration has set new standards for auto emissions that are essentially the same as the so-called Euro III rules imposed in the European Union seven years ago.[Full Text and Subscribers Only]
