Ministry Watching Every Breath You Take

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Kyodo: Law mulled to curb big shops, other car-drawing magnets in big cities
The Environment Ministry is eyeing the introduction of legislation which would regulate the construction of department stores, offices and other facilities that may generate heavy vehicle traffic as a way to reduce air pollution from vehicle emissions in the key metropolises of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, ministry sources said Wednesday. Under the legislation to be drafted, the ministry is also planning to empower prefectural governors to formulate anti-pollution measures such as building flyover roadways at intersections or other designated areas polluted heavily with nitrogen oxides and particles from vehicle emissions that cause asthma, the sources said...It will be the central pillar of measures the government is proposing in the upcoming settlement talks with asthma sufferers and others who are battling against the state, the Tokyo metropolitan government and automakers in seeking compensation...more...

[dimwit]

Well, it is nice to see that they have been forced to concede there is a link between asthma and air pollution, unlike cigarettes and cancer.

The best way to reduce air pollution is to increase the amount of greenspace in the cities. To do this you a) must have effective city planning b) must have a somewhat less than bloodlyminded approach towards turning every tambo into a parking lot. Neither of these things benefit any group that is likely to vote LDP.

This is nothing more than a the usual ploy to support the LDP's core constituents; the construction industry (notice how they want to build more overpasses -which do little to reduce to amount of NOX but do distribute it over a wider area) and the small shop/land owners in the downtown core (who are concerned about deceasing land value and empty shops).