China
Number One Polluter

IBD Editorial by Kaslin

Pollution Control: The Beijing Olympics will expose the environmentalist fraud that the U.S. is the
world's biggest polluter. Compared with China, we get the gold medal for
energy efficiency. Can Al Gore speak Chinese?

Don't expect any protests
from groups such as Greenpeace in Tiananmen Square
as the Olympics open. China
doesn't allow open protests, and environmentalists are quietly ignoring China's new
status as the world's biggest polluter. But at these Olympics, oxygen tanks
will be an essential piece of athletic equipment.

Desperate not to be embarrassed in their golden
moment, Chinese authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on Beijing residents. The
plan includes suspending production at 105 factories and 56 coal-fired power
plants, chemical plants and other industries in nearby Tianjin.

On July 1, more than 300,000 high-polluting vehicles
were barred from Beijing
streets. On July 20, motorists were assigned odd or even days on which they could
drive, based on the last digit of their license plates.

China has overtaken the U.S.
as the world's top polluter, according to a University
of California, Berkeley, study published this year in the
Journal of Environment Economics & Management. The evidence is seen daily
in the skies over Beijing.