A million text messages stops construction of a polluting chemical factory
Xiamen (AsiaNews) – A million cellphone text messages succeeded in stopping the construction of a chemical factory on Xiamen Island (Fujian) which threatened local residents and farmland. The idea came to a farmer who, after he unsuccessfully petitioned the central government to halt the project, decided to launch his own campaign against the local government.
Popular opposition brought the whole expensive project to an end, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Residents feared that the paraxylene plant would cause irreparable damages to the area even though it would create local jobs.
Paraxylene is a highly polluting, cancer-causing petrochemical. The area chosen for the factory is swept by strong easterly winds and industrial emissions would have been blown in direction of residential areas and farmland.
“It's like an atomic bomb in Xiamen,” read a text message that spread quickly in the past week.
The victory in Xiamen shows how much the government has become conscious of industrial pollution and its role in causing social unrest.
Unlike Xiamen residents, their counterpart in Wuxi (Jiangsu) were not so lucky. For the past while they have faced an unprecedented water crisis. Algae have invaded Tai Lake, which borders the city, most likely as a result of pollution resulting from unbridled industrial development. This in turn has caused drinking water to become contaminated.
Zhou Yuefen, 50, said that since “Tuesday the tap water has smelled badly. Even after washing for some seconds, my hands still smell for a long time and the stink fills up the whole room.”
Ms Zhou said she did not feel reassured by government statements that the water was safe to drink. “They say we can boil the tap water to drink but it stinks more after it's boiled."
.png)
