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.

The ecological functions of the wetland cannot be exaggerated. Wetlands are not called kidneys of the Earth without reason.

The county government may have plenty of reasons for going ahead with the project, since the provincial government of Liaoning has provided generous subsidies for new energy and green industry in a bid to expedite the restructuring of its industry. Liaoning is at the heart of the old industrial rust belt in Northeast China, as well as being a province whose natural energy and mineral resources are near to depletion.

Given this, the local government, as well as the higher authorities, should not turn a blind eye to the fact that the power plant has been built at the cost of valuable wetland. Usually, such large-scale photovoltaic plants are built on infertile land or mountains. It does not make sense to cut the feet to fit the shoes by drying a wetland for it, which means the green industry has a heavy environmental debt even before it comes into operation.

The lost wetland is almost impossible to restore, and the environmental and ecological changes are almost irreversible.

It is noteworthy that the county government cited a mine near the reservoir as a justification for the project, claiming the reservoir does not function properly as the mining caused the reservoir's dam to sink in 2012. However, local residents say the reservoir has functioned well. It is interesting that the provincial authority recognized it as a provincial key wetland in 2014 without mentioning any problems, which means the land around it can only be used for tourism or ecological agriculture.