The State Department staff were taken this week to publish data to control the air quality of the department directive and consulate.
CBS News reviewed the message sent to employees on March 4, now “No scheduled date is available for data available.” Embassy staff and their families based on reports to alert Poor air quality days.
“The prediction was surprised,” said a current staffer, because of concerns about their work, and who has decided that the decision does not have a great sense to control air quality already existing infrastructure. “I don’t aim to turn off these data, it doesn’t make sense,” said another department personnel.
A spokesman in the state department said CBS news, which are running air quality monitors, but efforts to transmit embassies and consular air pollution data is no longer due to the limitations that cause the underlying network. ” When the program was asked what it costs, the state department has not responded.
“The cost of maintaining these systems is trivial,” Rick Duke said, special deputies for the climate of the State department until January.climate ideology in Trump administration. “These monitors are not related to the climate,” Duke said, “Why remove health information Embassy staff and public?”
In the US Embassy air continuing was informally the only monitor in 2008 when he was placed in the embassy of China. Results were posted on Twitter, informing about the public Air pollution level in the city. The account is called Airbejing In 2010, the Internet became famous in 2010, when the air of November 11 was “bad” that “was a high level of machine Air pollution.
Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images
The aim of the monitoring was to inform the citizens living in the region of the city, but the information that Chinese public quickly gathered and the local government often began to deal with toxic contamination of local officials.
The state department opened air tracking in other embassies around the world, installing monitors elsewhere and put data available Airnow.gov. A 2022 Scientific Examination It was found that the embassy program was very successful to reduce air pollutants, “more than 300 million people living in the home of an Embassy Monitor in the US Embassy monitor.
But the program is complete, Embassy data website It only creates an error message. A The last reading available in Beijing was published on March 4The agency stopped transmitting data.
Current state staff told CBS news when they weigh foreign tasks.
“Theft of information workers who need health decisions for his children,” said a current Staffer, who spoke of the state of anonymity in fear of revenge.
A State Department spokesman said that he continued to collect air data and the “available” air data is safe and reliable.
Spokesperson also said the “Air Quality Monitoring Equipment” department is only a number of tools that use the health and safety of our staff “.
When CBS News asked the staff around other tools, they did not notice anyone and did not know how to enter other information.