(April 17, 2009) Landslides and mudflows caused by rising and falling waters behind China’s gigantic Three Gorges Dam has forced the relocation of over 28,000 people since September, state press said Friday.
Three Gorges dam faces 14.5-billion-dollar cost overrun
(April 16, 2009) China’s Three Gorges Dam, due to be completed in November, is getting bigger every day on all fronts. While officially the government said it has spent 180 billion yuan (26.35 billion dollars) on building the 185-metre dam and a reservoir stretching more than 600 kilometres, local critics and foreign observers said the real figure could be more than twice that amount, and that’s just in the construction phase.
Three Gorges landslide threat worsens
(April 14, 2009) The threat of a massive landslide has prompted government authorities to issue an emergency warning to boat operators plying the Three Gorges reservoir, according to Chinese news sources.
FACTBOX: Hydro development along the upper Yangtze and tributaries
(April 6, 2009) A table showing dams with generating capacities along the upper Yangtze and tributaries
Geological risks and sediment problems with dam building in southwest China
(April 7, 2009) Scores of high dams and deep reservoirs newly-built or under construction in seismically-active southwestern China are “truly dangerous,” a leading geologist warns in this Science Times (Kexue shibao) article.
Chinese scientist forewarned of deadly Sichuan quake
(March 30, 2009) The popular online media community AlterNet has unearthed another expert to join the scientific battle of opinion over what exactly caused the M7.9 earthquake that killed 80,000 people in China’s Sichuan province last May.
Endnotes
Introduction
1. “Yao Yilin Says That for the Time Being China Will Not Consider Starting the Three Gorges Project Immediately,” Zhongguo Tongxun She, 23 January 1989.
2. Edward Goldsmith and Nicholas Hildyard, The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1984), p. xi.
3. CIPM Yangtze Joint Venture (CYJV), Three Gorges Project Water Control Project Feasibility Study, Vol. 1, p. 16-12.
Appendix B
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.
Appendix A
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.
Chapter 12 – 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:
Chapter 11 – Sedimentation Analysis
The Yangtze is not only a river of water, it is also a river of sediment. The flow of the Yangtze carries with it the fifth-largest sediment discharge of any river in the world, equivalent to about 4 percent of all river-borne sediment discharged to all the oceans of the world.
Chapter 10 – Dam Safety Analysis
The consequence of failure at the Three Gorges Dam would rank as history’s worst man-made disaster. More than 75 million people live downstream on an intensively cultivated floodplain that provides much of China’s food.
Chapter 9 – Missing Energy Perspectives
by Vaclav Smil, Ph.D.
Chapter 8 – Flood Control Analysis
by Philip B. Williams, Ph.D., P.E.
Background
Chapter 7 – 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.
Probe International 