A blast on November 13 at Jilin Petroleum and Chemical Company's plant in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang caused lethal benzene to spill into the Songhua River, the main source of fresh water for the nearby Chinese city of Harbin, with a population of 9 million. By Thursday the 80 km long (50 miles) spill had reached Harbin, raising benzene levels to 28.5 times the norm. The petrochemical sector is racing to keep up with robust demand, as imports keep mounting. Apart from the risk of damaging spills, the petrochemical industry is one of several energy-intensive sectors which are consuming vast amounts of dirty-burning coal. Currently, several multinationals are pouring billions of dollars into Chinese petrochem projects. Bu the question arises : Does the Chinese system maintain standards that these are comparable to international levels?
The poisoning of water is symptomatic of more problems:
China's water is dirty or vanishing, as almost 70% of its rivers are contaminated
Over 30% of the country is plagued by acid rain
In the past 50 years it has lost more than 1,000 lakes
China is home to 7 of the world's 10 most-polluted cities
Urban smog causes over 400,000 early deaths each year in China
Factory and power stations often ignore environmental rules in the hunt for profits or market share, pumping effluent into rivers or skies. Even those with equipment to process waste sometimes leave it unused to cut costs. Some run equipment for too long, risking accidents from human error or faltering machinery.
Years of promoting economic growth at almost any price, both to tackle poverty and ensure the stability of the Communist Party have sent environmental conditions plunging even as living standards rise. Chian aims to quadruple GDP from 2000 levels by 2020, and unless it can enforce sharp changes to current consumption, construction and manufacturing habits, the economic and environmental targets may be hard to reconcile
25-Nov-05 
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