The Soot Road -- Travelling along one of most polluted energy corridors on Earth

[phantom power]

The construction of illegal coal-burning power plants was largely driving Inner Mongolia’s excessive growth. Unlicensed power plants worth some $5 billion U.S. were under construction, despite repeated orders from Beijing to stop. The previous year, six workers died and eight others were injured at one illegal construction site. The scandal provoked Beijing to send an investigative team to Inner Mongolia. The regional Party Chairman was forced to hand in a “self-criticism.” Seven other officials were disciplined, and two more faced prosecution.

China burns 42 per cent of the world’s coal and is adding the equivalent of nearly the entire U.K. power grid each year in new coal-fired plants. Northern China’s smokestacks spew a noxious cloud so gargantuan that satellites have tracked it floating over the Pacific. Mountaintop sensors in Washington, Oregon and California have detected sulphur compounds, carbon and other toxic byproducts from China’s smokestacks. The country’s coal plants have become the main cause of the rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Coal will remain king in the foreseeable future too: it represents 60 per cent of the world’s remaining recoverable hydrocarbon reserves.

As I watched carbon streaming from the towering funnels, I realized that the route I had trekked was a veritable “Soot Road,” the newest iteration of that storied trade route of yore. A World Bank environmental report on China later confirmed my suspicion: my route retracing the journey of a Russian secret agent from a century ago traversed what are now the most polluted areas of China, perhaps even the world.

The Soot Road is the greatest energy corridor on Earth in terms of the production, distribution and consumption of fossil fuels. The region holds 33 per cent of the world’s proven gas reserves and 36 per cent of the world’s coal, plus almost nine per cent of the world’s oil. One hundred and eight thousand kilometres of pipeline in Central Asia and China now replace the old caravan routes.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Excerpt+Soot+Road/3599109/story.html#ixzz111v1dWGx

[pscot]

1. Environmental vandalism