45% Of China's Chemical Plants Pose Severe Environmental Risks - AFP

[hatrack]

An estimated 45 percent of China's chemical plants pose major risks to the environment, the government said Tuesday, citing a survey conducted after a major chemical spill last year.

The survey covered 7,555 major chemical factories and found a substantial number located along rivers and lakes or in densely-populated areas, the State Environmental Protection Administration said, according to Xinhua news agency. Factories located near waterways have caused many water pollution incidents, SEPA officials said.

Last November an explosion at a chemical factory in northeast China caused a large amount of toxic nitrobenzene to spill into the Songhua River, forcing the local government to cut water supply for days to millions of residents downstream in Heilongjiang province. The incident raised alarm nationwide and internationally about the potential for environmental disasters in China, due to often unchecked and unpunished pollution and unsafe practices by industrialists.

If effective measures are not taken, more environmental disasters could occur, SEPA said. "Most of the plants are located in environmentally sensitive areas without precautionary mechanisms to prevent the outbreak of pollution," said Pan Yue, the agency's deputy director.


EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060711105139.fg1c7rgp.html

[eppur_se_muova]

1. It's only 45% as bad as expected! Hooray! Hooray!

If Bu**sh** can brag about the deficit being "less than expected" when even the predictions were phonied up, there's nothing that isn't worth bragging about.