Residents took to the streets of a provincial capital over the weekend to protest a multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant backed by China’s leading state-run oil company....
The protest, against a $5.5 billion ethylene plant under construction by PetroChina in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, reflected a surge in environmental awareness by urban, middle-class Chinese determined to protect their health and the value of their property. A similar protest last year, against a Taiwanese-financed petrochemical venture in Xiamen, in China’s southeast, left that project in limbo.
The recent protest, which was peaceful, was organized through Web sites, blogs and cellphone text messages...
...
Some protesters wore white masks over their mouths to evoke the dangers of pollution. About 400 to 500 protesters took part in the march, witnesses said.
Organizers circumvented a national law that requires protesters to apply for a permit by saying they were only out for a “stroll.”
Critics ... said ... that the government had not done proper environmental reviews of the project....
The plant is a joint venture of the Sichuan provincial government and PetroChina, the publicly traded subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, the country’s main oil producer. Approved last year, the plant is expected to produce 800,000 tons of ethylene and refine 10 million tons of crude oil a year
...
The project’s Web site said that $565 million of the total investment would be dedicated to environmental protection.
by Edward Wong
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/asia/06china.html?th&emc=th
The New York Times www.nytimes.com
May 6, 2008
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