(September 16, 2006) An “unexpected environmental accident” occurred in China roughly every other day in the first half of this year, a situation the government is all too aware of.

(September 12, 2006) ‘China, if it is going to remedy pollution, has to put in wastewater treatment. But that process constitutes an opportunity, because it can leapfrog to the latest technology,’ said Paul Reiter, executive director of the International Water Association.

(September 11, 2006) The chemical plants blamed for polluting the Xinqiang River in central China’s Hunan province with arsenide have been closed down and their senior managers have been detained.

(September 10, 2006) Every few days, a chemical accident pollutes the Songhua River, Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, told the official Xinhua news agency.

(September 10, 2006) Fire trucks were providing water to villagers in central China’s Hunan province after high levels of arsenide poison were found in the Xinjiang River, although no one has been sickened, officials said Sunday.

(September 10, 2006) Environmental agencies even lack authority to intervene on their own as they answer to more powerful provincial bodies that are often in league with polluters, corrupt and riddled with nepotism.

(September 3, 2006) There is no shortage of environmental laws in China, but the dire pollution problems persist, in part because environmental protection is often subverted by local protectionism, corruption and regulatory inefficiency.