China Takes On Pollution With Biggest Changes in 25 Years

China passed the biggest changes to its environmental protection laws in 25 years, outlining plans to punish polluters more severely as leaders work to limit contaminated water, air and soil linked to economic growth.

The amended law “sets environmental protection as the country’s basic policy,” according to a copy posted on the government’s website. The rules hadn’t been changed since first enacted in 1989 as China began consuming more energy and the world’s most-populous country transformed into a global manufacturing hub.