Hong Kong may face legal challenge over dirty skies

A man covers his nose before walking across a road in the Central business district on Hong Kong island March 29, 2007. The Clean Air Foundation, a Hong Kong concern group, has launched an application for a judicial review of the government's efforts to improve air quality, local media said.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government may face its first legal battle over worsening air pollution after a green group asked for a review of its air quality laws on Thursday, arguing clean-up efforts were inadequate.

Environmental groups, foreign businesses and academics have been increasingly critical of the government's failure to tackle its smoggy skies, which the University of Hong Kong estimated contributed to 1,600 deaths each year.

"I believe the Hong Kong air is slowly poisoning us," said Gordon Oldham, founder of the Clean Air Foundation, which applied for the judicial review with the city's High Court.

"The government's current efforts ... to improve air quality fall woefully short of its fundamental obligations to its citizens," Oldham, who runs a law firm, told reporters.

The High Court must decide in the next few weeks whether to accept the application before it can proceed to court.

The Clean Air Foundation said it was taking legal action because scientific reports and studies had failed to change the government's attitude to the problem.

Coal-fired power generators cause most of Hong Kong's pollution, but a large portion of the smog is blown in from tens of thousands of factories in southern China.

The University of Hong Kong has estimated that cleaner air could bring cost annual savings of $2.7 billion.