Probe International

(December 12, 2001) Pan Yue, the environment watchdog’s vice-director, this week made the startling declaration that a lack of democracy meant vested interests had been able to recklessly degrade the country’s environment.

(December 9, 2001) The Three Gorges Project Corp, says the dam has produced a cumulative total of 100 billion kilowatts of electricty.

(November 23, 2001) The Three Gorges and Gezhouba dams will produce slightly less power this year than last, the general manager announces.

(November 21, 2001) Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao have highlighted rural stagnation and unrest to pressure foot-dragging officials before China’s parliament convenes from March 5 to discuss a five-year national development plan, observers say.

(November 21, 2001) Work has begun to clean up the area that will be flooded in late September or early October when the reservoir water level is raised from 139 metres to 156 metres.

(November 21, 2001) ‘Chinese power production safety faces serious challenges despite stable operation in 2005, said a senior official with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.’

(July 23, 2002) Chinese experts lashed out at a report claiming the Three Gorges project had triggered the Nov. 26 earthquake in Jiangxi province, calling it ‘sheer speculation without any scientific foundation.’

(July 14, 2002) ‘The move is seen as a bid for accountability. One observer says the crisis points up the nation’s bureaucratic paralysis during emergencies.’

(July 13, 2002) The resignation of Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), following a chemical spill that has seriously polluted the Songhua River, is a fresh warning to Chinese officials who think they can get away with blunders or mismanagement.

(July 9, 2002) An official who stole 2.81 million yuan (US$350,000) of the Three Gorges Reservoir Project resettlement fund has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

(July 6, 2002) Constructing energy-efficient buildings could, by 2020, reduce China’s energy consumption for air-conditioning by the equivalent of 4.5 times the output of the Three Gorges dam, economists forecast.

(July 1, 2002) ‘Heads are rolling in the wake of the Harbin toxic spill, but it’s not Big Industry that’s getting the chop.’

(June 12, 2002) Chinese authorities are investigating the death of a deputy mayor who had told reporters there was no pollution from a chemical plant blast that poisoned a river.