The Chinese Continue On Their Demented Path

Evil on the march:

BEIJING — The Chinese State Council has removed a crucial roadblock to building one of the nation’s most contentious hydroelectric dams, dealing a decisive defeat to environmentalists critical of the project — and showcasing the clout of one of the most powerful and ambitious politicians in China.

In a little-noticed ruling made public on Dec. 14, the council approved changes to shrink the boundaries of a Yangtze River preserve that is home to many of the river’s rare and endangered fish species. The decision is likely to clear the way for construction of the Xiaonanhai Dam, a $3.8 billion project that environmental experts say will flood much of the preserve and probably wipe out many species.

“This is almost the last reserve for the whole river basin, especially after the construction of Three Gorges,” the world’s largest hydroelectric project, said Qiaoyu Guo, Yangtze River project manager for the Nature Conservancy in Beijing. “There will be very dramatic damage to these kinds of species.”

The decision is a big victory for Bo Xilai, the Communist Party secretary of Chongqing, the central Chinese megalopolis where the dam will be built. Plans for the dam, one of Mr. Bo’s pet projects, were suspended by the central government in 2009 under pressure from environmental critics.

...“The conservation zone is the last stretch of free-flowing water body on the Yangtze that is absolutely essential for the reproduction of many rare fishes,” Li Bo, the head of the group Friends of Nature, said in an interview. “Once the border of the conservation zone is moved, those fish would not have enough space to reproduce.”