Reuters
June 12, 2000

‘There are better methods of electricity production being locked out in order to protect a bigger project like the Three Gorges,’ says Probe International’s Patricia Adams.

Beijing: Construction on China’s Three Gorges Dam is set to finish next week but its critics warn the lessons about the environmental consequences of the world’s largest hydropower project have yet to be learned. … "If we look at the four purposes, only the first has been realized — it can produce power," said Dai Qing, China’s most outspoken opponent of the Three Gorges. "But compared to other methods of generating power that electricity is much more expensive," she told Reuters. … "I think the government can really only proceed with more dams if they can maintain a fiction that Three Gorges makes sense," said Patricia Adams, executive-director of Probe International, a Canadian environmental think-tank. "There are better methods of electricity production being locked out in order to protect a bigger project like the Three Gorges," she said. (excerpt)