Interesting, but lengthy, piece in today's Washington Post on the on-going conflict between development and environmental quality in China. BUT, this one has a surprise twist (ooh, suspense)...
The upshot (quotes are out of order for dramatic purposes):
With China consuming steel at a breakneck pace, the price of minerals has soared. The magnesium, molybdenum and vanadium buried here have sparked the equivalent of a gold rush, bringing economic growth but also pollution.
The consequences?
The first thing villagers noticed was the mud. Silt gradually thickened the waters of the Chaoshui River, they recalled, and before long fouled the rice paddies that provide them a meager but dependable living here in the rugged hills of central China.
By the beginning of this year, the fish had disappeared and the once-pristine water turned black. Women could no longer do the family laundry along the banks. Then, as the weather warmed this spring, the villagers said, children started coming down with skin rashes after taking a dip.
So, any good environmental economist would recommend that the authorities step in and find a way to impose the costs of the pollution on the miners. That is, get the prices of mining right.
Repeatedly, the villagers complained to county authorities, demanding that the mines be shut down or brought under control. But with mineral prices shooting up, the lure of profits was too much to resist.
OOOOHHH, political intrigue. The 'people's government' is refusing to intervene on behalf of the 'people' because 'THE LURE OF PROFITS WAS TOO MUCH TO RESIST.' Greedy profit-seeking communists.. .how's that for irony.
So if the government fails to 'get the price right,' maybe the affected people can step in and do it themselves. It works for some fisheries (sabotage the boats of anglers that overfish).
In May, the enraged villagers gave up on the government and decided to organize a raid on the mines. Over several frenzied hours, the wiry villagers used farm tools and their bare hands to destroy more than 200 mining sites, defying a local policeman who tried to rein in their fury.
Have they been effective?
The farmers told two deputy mayors that more sites would be destroyed unless the mining operations were shut down within a week, Yao recalled. The officials responded by calling the farmers examples of "Three Nothing-Left," an insulting reference to Japanese soldiers during World War II whose policy, Chinese say, was "kill until nothing is left, burn until nothing is left and loot until nothing is left."
By the end of a long shouting match, however, the officials said they understood the farmers' anger.
Then bought the farmers lunch from the town's anti-povery fund.