Enveloped in a smog of coal dust that softens the sunlight into a hazy glow is the An Tai Bao surface coal mine.

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The current challenge is not only the visible soot from wood and coal fires, or smog from poorly combusted gasoline and diesel, which affects human health in direct and obvious ways, but also invisible greenhouse gases, which do not directly affect human health but will impact our environment significantly.

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Ms. VICKIE PATTON (Environmental Defense): EPA has, in a number of instances, taken a step back from its proposal and instead will allow some of these high-polluting, older coal plants to continue to discharge smog-forming and haze-forming pollution at a level that doesn't really reflect what today's modern pollution control technology can, in fact, achieve.

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After speaking with a few experts, it seems clear what needs to be done: China has to reduce its reliance on coal, increase renewable energy, regulate the amount of smog-causing sulfur that can go into its diesel fuel and increase vehicle efficiency.

CNN: China needs smog-free air in a can

"In fact, when you burn coal, you emit more acid rain pollution, more air pollution, more smog and more global warming pollution which threatens the entire planet, " said Becker, global warming program director for the Sierra Club.

CNN: Energy debate may soon turn on 'cleaner' coal

Beijing catches so much of the pollution from coal-burning power plants because it sits at the center of a ring of mountains, which help trap the smog.

CNN: China needs smog-free air in a can