From: Patrick Salsbury (patrick_at_clari.net)
Date: 11/06/97
Message-ID: <346226B7.7380@clari.net> Date: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 12:21:11 -0800 From: Patrick Salsbury <patrick_at_clari.net> Subject: China defends Three Gorges dam from environmental critics
Brian (one of the list-members) had originally told me about this
project, and thought that it might make a good candidate for a
floating-city project, since much of the valley is going to be filled
with water, displacing villages, etc.
With 632 square km of surface area, this thing would have plent of room
for a few cities...
Pat
> China defends Three Gorges dam from environmental critics
>
> Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse / Wed, 5 Nov 1997 10:49:01 PST
>
> BEIJING, Nov 5 (AFP) - Chinese [Photo [Wed, Nov 5]
> officials have defended the massive
> new Three Gorges dam from criticism YICHANG, CHINA, 5-NOV-1997: A
> that it would cause environmental boatman watches the river
> damage. traffic as the sun sets over
> the Yangtze River at Yichang
> The official Xinhua news agency on 40km (25 miles) east of the
> Wednesday quoted officials who Three Gorges Dam project
> insisted the world's biggest November 5. While critics call
> hydro-electric development was "an the project a cultural and
> ecological project." environmental disaster, the
> government promises the dam
> The blocking of the Yangtze valley is will control flooding and
> to be ceremonially started on provide massive energy
> Saturday and Lu Youmei, president of generation and commercial
> the China Three Gorges Project benefits to the region. [Photo
> Development Corp. said the government by Robyn Beck, AFP]
> has attached "great importance" to
> the ecological problems that could crop up during construction.
>
> In a meeting with a senior French official who was not identified, Lu
> said the project would control flooding, which has often plagued the
> area during the wet season, Xinhua reported.
>
> The dam, to be completed on 2009 at a cost of some 200 billion yuan
> (23 billion US), will generate 18,200 megawatts of electricity
> annually, thereby reducing the need to burn highly polluting coal --
> currently the source of 70 percent of China's energy.
>
> Energy produced by the Three Gorges plant will stand in for 50 million
> tonnes of coal, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million
> tonnes, Xinhua said. It will also reduce production of dust, sewage
> and other waste, it added.
>
> Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by coal use is a cause of
> the greenhouse effect blamed for global warming.
>
> While the dam will produce relatively clean power, coal use is not
> expected to drop, as overall energy demand in China -- fuelled by
> rapid economic growth -- is growing quickly.
>
> The article also said 20 sewage disposal plants will also be built on
> the upper reaches of the Yangtze, addressing concerns that the
> reservoir would collect untreated sewage and cause a water pollution
> problem.
>
> The dam will create a 632 square kilometer (253 square mile)
> reservoir.
>
> The government has launched a "diversified biological protection
> program" which includes three animal reserves and 12 fish-egg hatching
> grounds. Rare fish and other aquatic species as well as alligators
> will be properly protected, Xinhua said.
>
> Overseas environmental groups have predicted the dam would wipe out
> rare river fish species by destroying fragile ecosystems.
>
> Workers at the site are due to block the Yangtze river's natural
> course on Saturday to allow construction of the main dam to begin.
>
> Xinhua also quoted Wang Jiazhu, a hydro-engineering expert and deputy
> manager of the China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development
> Corporation as saying the project design had been reliable.
>
> "We are now fully confident with the successful damming of the
> Yangtze, more than 60 percent of the excavation work for building the
> permanent shiplocks has been completed, and all technical difficulties
> concerning the building of cofferdams and the concrete-pouring are
> also tackled," he added.
>
> Nevertheless, according to another project official, whom Xinhua did
> not name, more knotty technical problems will possibly crop up as the
> project enters into the second stage construction following the
> damming.
>
> Meanwhile, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is to issue on
> Saturday a set of stamps featuring the damming of the Yangtze.
>
--
Pat
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Patrick Salsbury ClariNet Communications Corp.
patrick_at_clari.net | 408-296-0366 x131 |
http://www.clari.net/~patrick/
Many years ago, I first drank from the Well of Knowledge. Now, I
maintain
the pumps on that Well, so that others may also quench their
thirst.