BEIJING, May 8 (AP) -- China, wrestling to control pollution as its economy booms, shut more than 3,000 companies last year for environmental offenses, a government-run newspaper reported Monday.

The China Daily said pollution sources around industrial parks and construction sites were targeted, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration.

"Pollution by industrial parks has been curbed effectively," the newspaper quoted an unidentified SEPA official as saying.

It said 3,176 enterprises were closed for pollution offenses last year after checks were made on 720,000 companies.

China failed to meet its energy conservation and pollution control targets last year, the China Daily said, and environmental degradation threatens economic development.

China's 30-year economic boom has left waterways and coastlines polluted by industrial and farm chemicals and domestic sewage. Towns are littered with garbage and construction waste, and its cities are enveloped in smog.