Gas Gets Boost as China Pollution Grabs Political Limelight

摘要

Use of natural gas as a less polluting fossil fuel, along with alternative energy sources like renewables, has received a strong political boost in China since an environmental documentary, "Under the Dome," aired early this month. The film reverberated with millions of Chinese fed up with health-threatening smog and other toxic pollutants and pushed the issue up the agenda of the annual high-level political meetings that opened around the same time in Beijing. New Environment Minister Chen Jining pledged to make 2015 the start of thorough enforcement of environmental protection legislation passed in 1989 to equip the law with "iron teeth," while Premier Li Keqiang reiterated his determination to fight the environmental battle with an "iron fist."