To the Ministry of Environmental Protection,

The year 2013 began with stressful smog. People are experiencing environmental hazards in their everyday life. The pollution problems are becoming complex and inter-regional. You know the situation is extremely bleak.

Last February, you declined to disclose data and survey methods regarding national soil pollution, claiming it was a “state secret.” This has certainly brought heckles since today people are more and more aware of the environment and their own rights. We demand open and transparent information. We demand concrete laws on the environment. We demand wide participation in your policy-making process. Your secretive nature doesn’t help.

Since you have been talking about energy savings, emissions reductions and ecological protection for over a decade, we'd like to remind you that actions speak louder than words. We expect real acts on inter-regional prevention and control of pollution.

You should remember how blue the sky was during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. That was because all the coal-fired furnaces, boilers and construction sites around the city were shut down.

Our current production layout is beyond the environment’s capacity. Just look around Beijing. 300 million tons of iron and steel production capacity and 300 million tons of coal burning obviously pose a threat to the air.

An overall plan can help reduce coal and gas burning. Apart from that we hope you can set a strict timeline for the reduction of major pollutants. You should make local governments cooperate in inter-regional prevention and control.

Please quicken your pace.

Song Fuli (宋馥李)
Original article: [Chinese]