China Power Investment Corp., one of China’s largest state-owned firms, has committed to investing 17 billion US dollars in hydropower plant projects in North Kalimantan of Indonesia, an Indonesian minister said on Monday. Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik made the statement after meeting with Vice President of the firm Xia Zhong at his office. The Chinese firm hoped to start the projects next year, at least the [...]

China needs to reward local environmental protection efforts East China’s Anhui Province received 4 million yuan ($635,000) recently as compensation for river pollution found to have originated from neighboring Henan Province more than three months ago. In mid-January, polluted water spread from the Huiji River in Henan to the city of Bozhou in Anhui, resulting in a sudden spike of ammonia levels downstream that eventually poisoned fisheries. “Trans-regional water pollution [...]

Twenty ancient tombs have been discovered near the Three Gorges Reservoir in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, archaeologists said Saturday. The tombs, which date back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), were discovered at the Ma’anshan Tomb Site on the bank of the Yangtze River in Fengdu County, according to the municipal cultural relics and archaeology institute. Archaeologists have found more than 430 artifacts in the tombs, including [...]

Eight people have been arrested in connection with illegal dumping activities that polluted a local waterway in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, prosecutors said Tuesday. The Yunnan Provincial People’s Procuratorate has approved the eight arrests on charges of polluting the environment, a statement issued by the procuratorate said. The legal representatives of three ore dressing or mining companies and major managers of the companies were among those arrested, according to the [...]

A recent bottled water scandal has led to calls for more stringent quality standards When interrupted by a reporter at a news conference on May 6, Zhong Shanshan looked embarrassed by what would later turn into a chaotic scene. The 59-year-old man, founder of Nongfu Spring, China’s second largest bottled water producer, appeared lacking in crisis management skills. During the question-and-answer period, the conference quickly descended into a war of [...]

A two-and-a-half month fishing ban will begin at noon Thursday in most parts of the South China Sea as part of efforts to rehabilitate marine resources, according to fishery authorities. The Hainan provincial marine and fishing department said 9,007 locally registered fishing vessels have been moored. The annual fishing ban, which has been in place since 1999, will last from May 16 to August 1 this year, covering areas north [...]

A yearlong assessment of the controversial Shuangjiangkou hydropower project in southwestern China has been given approval on Monday, prompting concern among green campaigners and local residents. Despite critics claiming the dam – on the upper reaches of Dadu River in Sichuan province – would affect water quality, kill fish and result in several nature reserves being submerged, the Ministry of Environmental Protection gave the assessment the green light. China Guodian [...]

Officers along border also monitor suspicious vehicles and airplanes The summer fishing ban in boundary rivers and lakes in Heilongjiang province will run from June 6 to July 20, according to the provincial fishery bureau. A ban is put into force in the province twice a year – in Xingkai Lake from June 6 to July 20, and in Heilong River and Wusuli River, on China’s border with Russia, from [...]

THE city is promoting the sale of recycled water among corporations as a way to save the resource, the Shanghai Water Authority said yesterday, the beginning of the annual water saving week nationwide. In one trial project, Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co Ltd, the local producer of Coca-Cola, will pump its reclaimed water from its factory in the Pudong New Area to Sharp China, which is in the same [...]

Some 6.13 million yuan ($999,870) of fines were issued to 88 companies for violations resulting in underground water pollution in a 40-day campaign in North China, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said Thursday. Starting in late February, the campaign covered 25,875 companies that discharge waste water and a total of 558 violations were investigated. The campaign was especially organized to investigate companies that discharge industrial waste in Beijing and Tianjin [...]