Three Gorges Probe Sources

A chronology of Ren Xinghui’s quest to discover what happened to the money collected for the Three Gorges Construction Fund.  read more »

With the environment in such a problematic state, and structural and ideological problems precluding effective responses within a Communist system, it would have been remarkable if environmental problems did not play a major role in bringing down the system.  read more »

A fascinating PowerPoint presentation by Song-kai Yan from Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc., providing an overview of the Three Gorges dam. The report offers a number of stunning photographs of the dam itself, and the area surrounding the project—both before and after construction.  read more »

   read more »

Besides posing a major risk to dams, scientists are increasingly certain that earthquakes can be triggered by the dams themselves. Globally, scientists believe that there are over 100 instances, strewn over six continents, of dam reservoirs inducing earthquakes. The most serious case could be the magnitude-7.9 Sichuan earthquake in China in May 2008, which some experts believe may have been induced by the Zipingpu Dam.  read more »

This update draws on official materials, as well as information available from non-governmental and non-Chinese sources, to get a clearer snapshot of the Three Gorges project's complex implications.  read more »

Probe International provides a partial translation of a Chinese geological case study of the Zipingpu reservoir authored by scientists from the government's China Earthquake Administration. The study concluded that the 320 million tonnes of water in the Zipingpu reservoir had “clearly affected local seismicity” in the region and that, "it is worthwhile to further study if the effect played a role in triggering the Wenchuan earthquake."  read more »

Based on the analysis of seismogeological background, the Three Gorges Reservoir area is divided into 31 units according to different combined conditions of induced earthquake, together with 8 influencing factors, to give the prediction on probability and magnitude of RIS by adopting statistical prediction model, fuzzy mathematics and gray system model as well as artificial neural network model respectively. The results show as follows: in 31 units, the slight differences exist in results among three predictive methods, especially distinction between mathematics statistics models and artificial neural network model, which is also quite coincident with past macroscopical analogical prediction. The results are not only in accord with the past researchers’ basically, but also confirm with each other better: (1)from dam site to Miaohe segment, due to its geologic background, superficial fracture dislocation type of RIS may be triggered mainly, and the maximum (ultimate) magnitude will not exceed 3.0; (2) it is possible to trigger 4.5-6.0 earthquake in three places, including limestone area of southern Badong, near reservoir segment of Longchuanhe limestone area and far from reservoir segment of Gaoqiao Fracture limestone area; (3) it’s quite likely that the certain activity of Gaoqiao Fracture trigger tectonic reservoir induced earthquake.  read more »

Probe International has compiled the following list of Western financiers and companies supplying equipment and services to the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, a state-owned company set up to build the dam, and the state-owned Power Grid Development Company, which is responsible for Three Gorges' transmission works.   read more »

View report  read more »