Other News Sources
Yangtze! Yangtze!
(February 17, 2009) An extraordinary collection of interviews, essays, and statements by Chinese scientists, journalists, and intellectuals opposed to the massive Three Gorges dam on China’s Yangtze River. Originally published in 1989 as the democracy movement was gathering momentum, Yangtze! Yangtze! is credited with pressuring the State Council to postpone the dam, and inspired the democracy movement by striking an unprecedented blow at powerful state authorities promoting the dam. This pioneering critique is now available in English, expanded to include post-Tiananmen events.
Patagonia Dams – Horseback Protest in Chile
(February 11, 2009) We had just landed after a 45 minute flight on LAN Chile from Puerto Montt at the Balmaceda airport outside the city of Coyhaique in the Patagonia. We were riding in an airport shuttle to central Coyhaique when we came around a bend to find a police car following a long line of horses. This was the Patagonia sin Represas horseback protest that has been making its way across the Patagonia for several weeks in an attempt to draw national and international attention to the proposed Dams that will be built in Southern Chile.
Probe corrects Mother Jones
(February 11, 2009) Probe International has called for an investigation into the role of the Three Gorges dam in the Chinese earthquake. Incorrect reporting had Probe claiming that the Three Gorges dam was responsible for the devastating earthquake
Behind China’s drought
(February 10, 2009) When the Chinese state media reported last week that China’s wheat-producing provinces have been hit by the worst drought in 50 years, the story immediately went global. But when we checked official Chinese news sites we noticed something odd. Many of the photos and video clips popping up under the “worst drought in 50 years” banner showed soldiers and farmers hosing down wheat fields with water. Lots of water.
Dam blamed for scale of Chinese earthquake
(February 9, 2009) Pressure from Zipingpu dam could have amplified Sichuan quake that killed 70,000
Three Gorges Dam Project, Yangtze River, China
(2008) Large reservoirs can cause seismic events as they fill and as the pressure on local faults increases. Such reservoir-induced seismicity was predicted for the Three Gorges region, which is already seismically active and indeed, there has been an increase in reported seismic activity in the region following construction of the dam and the filling of the reservoir.
The Guardian: Indian environmentalists criticize UN carbon credit scheme
(February 8, 2009) Environmentalists criticize the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism as “ineffectual,” the Guardian reported on February 5.
China must come clean on Zipingpu
(February 6, 2009) China’s deadly 2008 earthquake was probably not a natural disaster at all, experts say, but one induced by man – specifically by the four year old Zipingpu dam.
Dam may have triggered huge China quake: scientists
(February 5, 2009) A man-made dam may have triggered China’s devastating earthquake last year, some government officials and scientists are claiming, pitting them against others who insist it was a natural disaster.
SNC-Lavalin official arraigned in ‘Lavalingate’ – Indian hydro dam scandal: Export Development Canada provided funding
(February 5, 2009) According to recent Indian press reports, the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation has arraigned Claus Trendl, a senior vice president with Canada’s SNC-Lavalin, for the engineering giant’s role in a contract to overhaul three hydro-electric dams in the southwestern state of Kerala. It is alleged that irregularities occurred in the awarding of the contract and that Lavalin benefited from undue favour.
China Earthquake a Dam-Induced Disaster?
(February 4, 2009) Last year’s devastating Sichuan earthquake, which took at least 69,000 lives, may have been unleashed by the huge Zipingpu Dam. New scientific evidence links the impoundment of the Zipingpu reservoir to the activation of a fault line near the dam site. A thorough scientific assessment is needed before China builds more dams in earthquake-prone areas.
A link between dams and earthquakes?
(February 3, 2009) The earth is big, and so are the tectonic plates—it doesn’t seem possible that anything humans could do to the earth would have an effect on those immense plates. But evidence is mounting that we cause earthquakes.
Telegraph: Chinese earthquake may have been man-made, says scientists
(February 3, 2009) British newspaper Telegraph has joined an evergrowing list of international media outlets promoting the recent theory that last year’s devastating Sichuan earthquake was not an entirely ‘natural’ disaster. That it was potentially caused by the added pressure on the fault line as a result of the Zipingpu dam reservoir being constructed.
Did a new hydropower dam trigger China’s deadly 2008 earthquake?
(February 2, 2009) The devastating earthquake that killed 80,000 people in China’s Sichuan Province last May may have been triggered by a recently built hydropower dam that lies only three miles from the quake’s epicenter, some researchers are arguing.


