From: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Subject: Three Gorges Dam Project
Reply-To: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: soc
Date: 4 Jan 93 03:01:43 EST


Here is a press release from Defenders of Wildlife.

 Environment Groups Will Sue to Stop U.S. Assistance in China's
Three Gorges Dam Project
 To: National Desk, Environment Writer
 Contact: Bill Snape, 202-659-9510, or John Fitzgerald, 717-676-0330,
          both of Defenders of Wildlife

   WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 -- Defenders of Wildlife and 
others including Green China, the International Three
Gorges Coalition, Friends of the Earth and the Center for
International Environmental Law today notified the commissioner of
the Bureau of Reclamation (bureau), U.S. Department of Interior, of
the group's intention to sue the bureau because of its assistance to
the People's Republic of China (PRC) in constructing the
controversial Three Gorges Dam project.
   The groups charge that the bureau's and U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers' assistance is illegal because the two services have not
consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).  The
Endangered Species Act requires all federal agencies to consult with
FWS on any agency action that may affect an endangered or threatened
species.
   The PRC has considered damming the Three Gorges region of the
Yangtze River for over 40 years.  Now, with the United States
assistance, the PRC is moving toward its goal of building the world's
largest dam that will cause major human hardship and ecological
destruction to a site that has been compared to the U.S. Grand
Canyon.
   The dam would disrupt feeding areas of the endangered Siberian
crane, harm resting areas and food supplies of both the endangered
Yangtze river dolphin and the endangered Chinese alligator, and could
affect feeding areas of the endangered giant panda.  "The combination
of ecological damage and human suffering make the Three Gorges Dam
project the epitome of misdirected, outdated and irresponsible
foreign assistance.  It is embarrassing to think that the U.S.
government is actualy participating in such a fundamentally flawed
project," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of
Wildlife.
   Over the past decade the PRC, with the assistance of the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, has taken a number of preliminary steps to
actually constructing the dam.  A final dam site has been selected,
roads are being built, and some of the more than 1 million people to
be relocated have already been moved.  In December 1991, the Bureau
of Reclamation signed a five year extension of its agreement with the
PRC to provide vital technical assistance on the dam project.  "The
Three Gorges Dam is the most environmentally destructive dam ever
proposed and would destroy the natural and cultural heritage of
China," warned Brent Blackwelder, vice president of Friends of the
Earth.
   The People's Congress of China approved continuation of the dam
project on April 3, 1992.  Public opinion in China on the project is
unclear, due to the government's policy on freedom of expression.
"Up to 1.3 million individuals will be flooded out of their homes by
this dam, pushed by a faction of dam supporters within the Chinese
government who have never sought opinion as to whether the entire
project is necessary or appropriate," said Hei Pei of the Green China
Coalition.  "The bureau's assistance with this dam has been
interpreted by many in China to signify U.S. support for this
disastrous policy."
   "We believe that the bureau's past and present assistance to China
is clearly illegal, and that U.S. agencies should not be in the
business of exporting extinction to other countries, particularly
when such agency action would be illegal in the United States," added
Defenders' John Fitzgerald, director of wildlife law.
 -30-
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