THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION recently issued a notice criticizing some northern cities, including Daqing and Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, for understating the severity of the air pollution in the past few days. Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

The strongly worded notice from the ministry is more than justifiable, because governments at all levels are obliged to make adequate preparations for smog and initiate emergency plans when it is severe. However, Daqing, where the air quality index readings were 500 for 24 hours and where severe air pollution lasted for about 37 hours, only registered one day of heavy pollution and issued an orange alert instead of a red alert. Harbin also declared its air pollution was less severe than it was.

True, emergency plans are unlikely to eliminate the smog completely, but they do make a difference and help reduce heavy smog. Regretfully, the Daqing government refused to enforce the necessary measures to reduce the severity of the air pollution and warn residents of the high air pollution.