Guangdong's new coal plants "will kill 16 thousand people"
Guangzhou
(AsiaNews) - 22 new coal fired power plants are being planned by the government
of Guangdong and will result in approximately 16 thousand deaths in the next 40
years, which must be added to the 3,600 victims of air pollution already in the
rich southern province. This
is the warning given by experts and environmental activists, who are asking the
provincial government to return to a "no-coal" policy first launched in
2009 in the delta of the Pearl River, which has become black (see picture) for
excessive pollution.
The
estimates were presented by Andrew Gray, an air quality consultant hired by
Greenpeace to study the impact on the health of SMEs, particulate emissions
from the combustion of coal in the air. This
particle is well known in national and international news, since at times of
maximum industrial production darkens the skies of Beijing, Shanghai and other
megacities national forcing the population to live within homes and offices.
At
the moment, 96 coal-fired plants already operate in the territory each year
causing an estimated 3,600 deaths and about 4 thousand cases of childhood
asthma in the province and Hong Kong. With
the activation of new power plants, cases of asthma would reach 15 thousand
while those of chronic bronchitis would be at least 19 thousand. Environmental
activist, Zhou Rong, says: "The cumulative impact of these new plants on human health is simply
shocking.The Pearl River Delta [PRD] region should strictly enforce the policy
of no more new coal-fired power plants in the PRD published in 2009. Guangdong
has ignored its earlier pledge to ban new coal-fired power plants in order to
feed its hunger for energy.
"
This
alarm is further supported by the images of the river at Maozhou, the largest
of the southern cities of Shenzhen and the heart of the delta, which these days
has become black because of pollution from the industrial and private sectors. The
government has allocated about 100 million euro to clean up the basin by 2015,
but at this pace it seems impossible to achieve the goal without new pollution
dragging the situation back to the starting point.
The
industrial overproduction is a double edged sword for the Chinese government. On
the one hand it ensures sustained growth of the gross domestic product, which
is necessary to maintain social stability and to affirm the new starring role
for China on the world stage. On the
other hand it is leading to more massive popular demonstrations against
pollution, forced land expropriations and corruption of Party officials and
industrialists.
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