On September 17, 1990, Probe International filed
complaints against British Columbia Hydro International, Hydro-Québec
International, SNC, Lavalin International, and Acres International for
their work on the Three Gorges Water Control Project Feasibility Study.
The complaints were filed with the regulatory bodies that are legally
responsible for regulating the profession of engineering in the
provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. Using the findings
contained in Damming The Three Gorges: What Dam Builders Don’t Want You
To Know, Probe International accused the engineering companies of
negligence, incompetence, and professional misconduct.

1. The population subject to resettlement should, at a minimum,
maintain its current standard of living and should have the opportunity
to achieve a higher standard of living after resettlement has taken
place.

2. The resettlement transition period should be
minimized and adequate support of both a social and economic nature
should be provided during the transition period.

Economic and Financial Aspects

by Vijay Paranjpye, Ph.D.

The
feasibility study of the Three Gorges Project was conducted by the CIPM
Yangtze Joint Venture (CYJV) with the principal objective of providing
impartial technical input to the Government of China in its
decision-making process, and to provide the basis for securing funding
from international financing institutions. In the study summary, CYJV
states its objective as:

Missing Energy Perspectives

by Vaclav Smil, Ph.D.

Flood Control Analysis

by Philip B. Williams, Ph.D., P.E.

Background

Unresolved Issues: Perspectives from China

by Shiu-hung Luk, Ph.D., and Joseph Whitney, Ph.D.

The
Chinese feasibility study for the Three Gorges Project, which was
conducted under the aegis of the State Planning Commission,* remains a
secret government document. From 1987 to 1989, while official studies
were under way, numerous research papers¹ on the feasibility of the Three Gorges Project were circulated and published in Chinese journals.

Downstream Environmental Impacts

by Joseph S. Larson, Ph.D.

The
impacts which may occur downstream do not affect the overall
environmental feasibility and may indeed enhance the environment.¹

Potential Methyl Mercury Contamination in the Three Gorges Reservoir

by Alan Penn, M.Sc.

Background on Methyl Mercury Contamination

Three Gorges Reservoir: Environmental Impacts

by David L. Wegner, M.Sc.

Background

A
reservoir is an impounded body of water created when a river or stream
is dammed and water is allowed to store. This impoundment of water has
an immediate impact on the physical and biological systems within the
reservoir which needs to be understood before the full range of
environmental impacts can be properly evaluated.

Resettlement Plans for China’s Three Gorges Dam

by Philip M. Fearnside, Ph.D.

by Gráinne Ryder

Just weeks before the massacre at Tiananmen Square, China’s growing environmental movement had scored a momentous victory by successfully opposing the government’s plans to build the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Vice Premier Yao Yilin had announced that the highly contentious project would be postponed for at least five years, saying that: “people do not need to spend too much energy debating this issue for the time being.”1 The unprecedented public repudiation of the proposed Three Gorges Dam was short-lived, however. It ended at Tiananmen Square, when the critics of the Three Gorges Dam were jailed and silenced along with other members of the pro-democracy movement.