China trying different things to improve air quality for Olympics

KATIE COURIC, anchor:

And finally tonight, the Beijing Olympics begin in just over three weeks, and the Chinese are trying to clear the air. In a recent test, Beijing's air failed to meet international health guidelines six days out of seven.

(Graphic on screen)

Source: BBC

COURIC: In fact, one day, the pollution reading was seven times the acceptable level. So, as Barry Petersen reports, the Chinese are trying to get the bad air out before the athletes move in.

BARRY PETERSEN reporting:

Beijing's 17 million can drive, construct, manufacture until Sunday. But then, construction stops, factories shut down, half the vehicles are banned every day until after the Olympics. Call it D-Day in a $16 billion battle against air pollution.

Is the air going to be clean?

Unidentified Man: (Foreign language spoken)

PETERSEN: `It will be safe,' says the man from the environmental bureau. `Everyone can be at ease.' Confidence that comes from perhaps the world's most sophisticated computer system for watching and, if need be, trying to change the weather, focusing heavily on surrounding provinces and their big polluters. This steel plant is 300 miles from the Chinese capital, where the boss is more than ready to shut the plant down if high winds start blowing this far-away pollution into Beijing, where it can get trapped by mountains. Then, the only solution is rain. And they'll try that, too, firing artillery shells into the sky with silver iodide, a chemical thought to concentrate moisture in the air and make it into raindrops. The Chinese hope they can trigger enough rain on demand to wash the air clean.

But even if China says it's a good air quality day, there are doubts. Some monitors have been moved to the suburbs, where cleaner air could skew daily results and make the overall pollution numbers look better. And if there's one thing that ultimately no one can control, it's Mother Nature.

Mr. JAY TURNER (Washington University in St. Louis): My prayers are with the Chinese. We could just experience a weather episode that is just so conducive to high air pollution levels that the air quality could be bad under those conditions. ...

•	China trying different things to improve air quality for Olympics CBS Evening News, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Byline: Barry Petersen, reporter