RECENTLY CHEN JINING, the newly appointed minister of environmental protection, said that his ministry will strictly enforce the updated environmental law this year. The old normal in which enterprises broke the law and government agencies did not follow the law closely must be changed, he said, adding that abiding by the law is the bottom requirement. Comments:

While welcoming the minister's words, a question emerges: How can the environmental agencies nationwide strictly enforce the law? Most of the polluting enterprises are under the protection of local governments; in order to break this protection, the media can be invited to intervene so that local officials won't dare to protect them. Environmental protection agencies should consider getting some journalists to accompany them when enforcing the laws, so that even the local officials will retreat.

rednet.cn, March 3