Electricity, Coal, Oil, Gas, Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Unconventional Fuels and Pollution in China
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Shanxi province: saving the coal industry, but sacrificing the environment | Luna Lin - China Dialogue
Shanxi province: saving the coal industry, but sacrificing the environment - China Dialogue Luna Lin | Environmentalists warn that Shanxi's fight to save its ailing coal industry by handing out tax cuts will increase pollution. Shanxi province, in northern China, has long relied on its natural coal resources, but is now suffering from a drop in domestic demand amid China's economic downturn. Coal prices have plunged to their lowest level in four years....Shanxi has responded to the slump with a stimulus package. Shanxi officials have been tasked with promoting the sales of local coal, a measure rarely seen since the late 1990s. As well as mobilising local officials to become salespersons for the ailing coal industry, the provincial government announced 20 measures aimed at stabilising the coal market. This included temporarily scrapping the environmental protection fees and industrial transformation development charges for coal mines. ...While this may be an industry-saving initiative, there are concerns about its environmental cost. Feng Yongfeng, the founder of Nature University, a Beijing-based Green NGO, said the government's move was "yet another example of sacrificing the environment for the sake of the economy." The stimulus package could "cause severe harm to...the country's goal of reducing emission and conserving energy." Li Gan, founder of the legal website, Public Interest Litigation, echoed Feng's concerns when he asked on Weibo: "When saving the coal industry, can we really afford to sacrifice the environment?"