THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN LEPING, East China's Jiangxi province, has more than once used public money to cover the charges for disposing of pollutants, which according to the law should have been paid by 36 local enterprises. Beijing News commented on Saturday:

It is laudable that more local governments are stepping up their anti-pollution efforts, but that is not enough if there are some local officials who place their "political legacies" before public health.

Charging polluting enterprises is about both punishing the polluters and sponsoring pollution-alleviation efforts. It is also intended to prompt polluting enterprises to clean up their operations, as without this legal push, enterprises would feel little motivation to curb or treat the pollution they produce.