Subsidy driven energy project irreparably damages wetland
MORE THAN 400 HECTARES of a first-class provincial wetland, Santaizi Reservoir in Kangping county, Liaoning province, has been drained to make way for a photovoltaic power plant. Beijing News comments:
The drainage of more than 20 percent of the wetland started in 2016 when construction began on a power plant before it had received the necessary approval following an assessment of its environmental impact.
The county government organized experts to assess the power plant's environmental impact four times while the drainage and construction were going on. In the first three times, the experts all vetoed the project because they thought it would damage the local ecology and environment. Yet the experts finally gave it the green light after the fourth review, when the project was almost half done.
