Category: Three Gorges Probe

White House reportedly abandons effort to block Ex-Im aid for Three Gorges dam

(January 2, 1996) The White House has apparently distanced itself from its earlier advice to the Export-Import Bank to stay away from the Three Gorges dam in China, according to a report in the Journal of Commerce. American multinationals are now confident they will get support from the bank to help build the massive and controversial dam on China’s Yangtze River.

Special report: Resettlement problems at Three Gorges dam continue unchecked

(April 7, 1999) Problems associated with the Three Gorges Dam resettlement programme have become so severe that relocatees have been officially petitioning the Central government to address them. Documents obtained by International Rivers Network reveal not only rampant corruption, extortion, falsification of data and inadequate compensation levels, but also the unwillingness of project managers in the Central government to address the situation is paving the way for serious conflict.

Three Gorges dam to create huge, stagnant, stinking pond

(November 29, 1999) After thousands of years of letting their sewage flow downstream and out to sea, Chongqing and other Yangtze cities now face the prospect of it staying in the water that laps their shores. If completed as planned, the massive Three Gorges dam will slow the Yangtze river’s flow, backing up water and concentrating sewage and modern-day pollutants in its 600-kilometre reservoir. A Chinese scientist from Chongqing predicts it will be a “huge, stagnant, stinking pond.”