Surprisingly, CNN put China’s behemoth Three Gorges Dam ‒ at a cost of $28 billion ‒ in last place for the ‘honour’ of world’s most expensive energy project. In fact, had CNN used the most recent cost figures for Three Gorges, the world’s largest dam would have come in second place (at $60 billion) between the $116-billion Kashagan oil field in Central Asia and the $57-billion Gorgon gas project in Australia.
Three Gorges ‘immigrants’ face ongoing relocation and dwindling prospects
(August 24, 2012) Although the Three Gorges dam project was completed this year, the relocation of residents remains an ongoing concern due to the threat of landslides in the dam’s reservoir region. For some, this new round of resettlement will not be the first time they have been forced to move in relation to the dam: known as “Three Gorges’ immigrants,” a Reuters visit to the site reveals the much vaunted promises of the massive project have instead brought a deterioration in water quality, prospects and well being.
Too many masters
(August 20, 2012) A severe test of the Three Gorges dam’s capacity to withstand a major flood peak in July initially showed the mighty dam ready and able. However, downstream areas found themselves at higher risk when floodwaters were released by the dam. Meanwhile, upstream areas are impacted when the dam holds floodwaters back. This article looks at the many pressures, and potential disasters, weighing on the ability of China’s biggest dam to fulfill its design mandate and asks: is July’s flood peak—the biggest test of the dam so far in its nine-year history—just the start?
Hole lot of trouble
(August 16, 2012) The aftermath of a terrible storm that brought China’s capital to a standstill in July, has left Beijing pockmarked by sinkholes. The city’s ancient, leaking infrastructure and its grossly deficient drainage system could not modify the impacts of the severe deluge but at the heart of the sinkhole scourge is yet another structural failing: Beijing’s dysfunctional and unaccountable civil administration.
The perverse rewards of carbon credits
(August 15, 2012) The UN’s carbon trading scheme to reduce global concentrations of greenhouse gases has provided a handful of factories in developing nations with a perverse incentive to massively increase them.
Chinese Paddlefish’s worst predator: the Chinese Communist Party
(August 14, 2012) Having survived dinosaurs and the Ice Age, China’s legendary Paddlefish has met its gravest threat – Chinese Communist Party officials intent on building dams on the Yangtze to inflate their economic achievements, but that block fish migratory routes.
Thai lawsuit filed to block Laotian dam on Mekong
(August 13, 2012) Thai opponents of the proposed Xayaburi dam for the Mekong River in Laos are taking their case to court. A group of Thai villages have filed a lawsuit to block a state-run company from buying electricity generated by the dam in a bid to halt the project, opposed by downstream nations, altogether and set a precedent for future cross-border projects.
China’s challenges to human security
(August 9, 2012) A new book on human security and China features a chapter by Patricia Adams and Dai Qing of Probe International that asks ‘at what cost China’s rise?’. Dai Qing argues, at great cost.
Another public uprising forces hand of government
(July 31, 2012) A large public demonstration in the city of Qidong over a planned industrial waste pipeline has led to its shutdown by city officials. The Qidong protest, prompted by environmental concerns, follows other demonstrations against projects elsewhere.
A hard rain’s a-gonna fall – people power the real story in Beijing
(July 30, 2012) As Beijing’s dramatic flood disaster unfolded, the people of Beijing did not wait for the government to step up—which, by all accounts, it did not—citizens instead relied on people power: a growing phenomenon, animated by social media, that portends winds of change for China’s political elite.
Storm of conscience
(July 27, 2012) The force of a powerful storm that struck Beijing over the weekend has exposed massive flaws in the capital city’s antiquated plumbing infrastructure. Chinese authorities in Beijing now face a firestorm of criticism from citizens demanding to know why their drainage system—famously defined as a city’s conscience by French writer Victor Hugo—was neglected for so long. The weekend flooding has also brought into question the official death toll, which many feel the government is downplaying to offset blame for the city’s poor emergency response to a disaster that could have been more manageable.
Unchecked industry reduces land of a thousand lakes to a struggling few
(July 20, 2012) Lakes in large number, once a plentiful distinction for the province of Hubei, are vanishing after years of “growth” without rule of law.
China’s bridges and dams crumble under corruption
(July 19, 2012) From falling bridges to construction site mudslides, the collateral damage from China’s building spree mounts up.
No city is safe for potable tap water
(July 17, 2012) No city in China provides safe tap water to all of its residents, claims a new report by Caixin Online. Water treatment is too costly for city budgets, say some officials; others say even when properly treated, water pollution and old pipes compromise tap water.
Three Gorges Dam project complete but still under fire
(July 17, 2012) Probe International of Toronto has long been a critic of the Three Gorges dam project. Executive director Patricia Adams paints a scathing picture of the dam’s legacy so far in an article that appeared in the Huffington Post.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 