LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - There are growing fears among the population that the government is covering up pollution. The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported over the weekend that Beijing has enjoyed 274 days of "blue sky" in 2011.

"Beijing has seen an overall decline in the concentration of various pollutants in 2011," Zhuang Zhidong, deputy director of Beijing's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.

While conceding that the capital also experienced "several days of poor air quality as a result of bad weather conditions," the bureau blamed such factors such as weaker winds and a rise in humidity for failing to disperse atmospheric pollutants.

"Is today April Fool's Day?" asked one Weibo-user, on one of China's unofficial blogs. "I suggest that Beijing's environmental authorities wear sunglasses with a blue lens, so that every day is a blue sky day!"

"The BJEPB has lost credibility with the Chinese people," the Beijing-based environmental consultant Steven Q. Andrews tells IPS over email. "Ozone and fine particulate are monitored by the government but not publicly reported. Significant concerns have also been raised regarding the accuracy of BJEPB monitoring.

"For example, previously the BJEPB shut down monitoring stations set up to measure roadway pollution and claimed that air quality had improved as a result even though the concentrations of various pollutants would have increased if the monitoring locations had remained consistent.

"By not reporting fine particulate the government is able to claim that air quality has improved in the capital, even when the severity of air pollution and the health impacts have been increasing," he adds.

Beijing's population was in uproar over large discrepancies between the BJEPB's official air quality readings and the U.S. embassy's monitor readings last month.

According to a report by Andrews published on the environmental Web site China Dialogue, officials in Beijing over the last two years have announced that there has been good, or excellent, air quality in the capital almost 80 percent of the time. By contrast, the U.S. embassy measured that over 80 percent of days have had unhealthy levels of pollution.

Increasing public pressure has led to announcements last month that officials are revising air quality evaluation standards.

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