Beijing on pollution alert

With the capital still 40 days short of its 227 clean air days target for 2004, Beijing's Environmental Bureau called the situation a state of emergency and asked companies to cut production till yearend. Steelmaker Shougang Group, which is considering relocating out of the city eventually, responded to the bureau's call by announcing it would cut back production and use the downtime to repair and clean equipment. The success of the 2008 Games hangs on Beijing fixing the pollution problem. Plans call for relocation of the areas most polluting factories and cleaning up the capital's stinking canal and sewage network.