In Brief

Chinese Man Sues Government Over Air Pollution

News
By
published
boy wearing a face mask in beijing against pollution
A boy wears a face mask in Beijing to protect himself from air pollution (Image credit: Hung Chung Chih | Shutterstock.com)

In a first, a man in a smog-filled city in China is suing the government for failing to rein in air pollution. 

Li Guixin, a resident of the northern city of Shijiazhuang, submitted a formal complaint in the district court and is also seeking compensation for residents of the city, arguing that the municipal environmental protection bureau had a duty to control air pollution. Li bought air masks and a treadmill to cope with the choking miasma that beset his city this winter. "The reason that I'm proposing administrative compensation is to let every citizen see that amid this haze, we're the real victims," Li told the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily.

On paper, China has stiff penalties for environmental polluters, but local enforcement is often weak, because the government depends on tax revenue from polluters, Reuters reported.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+.

Tia Ghose
Tia Ghose
Managing Editor

Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.