BY WEDNESDAY, the Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, as well as several cities in neighboring Hebei and Henan provinces, had sounded yellow alerts for air pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection sent inspection groups to these cities and found that some local governments failed to take the proper measures and actions to curb air pollution. An editorial on Beijing News comments:

It should be noted that Baoding city in Hebei province is also on the list. Its local officials even tried to hide the environmental problems. For example, a new hospital under construction on 10,000 square meters of land caused severe dust pollution, but the local authorities reported the land concerned was just 900 sq m.

What makes Baoding special is the fact that on April 1, the central leadership announced the decision to build Xiongan New Area in three of the counties under its governance. The new area will thus very likely face high environmental pressure.