100 metric tons of diesel spill into rivers from CNPC pipeline

[cali]

A ruptured pipeline belonging to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), has leaked vast amounts of fuel which have reached the Yellow River, threatening the nation's drinking water, state media have reported.

Water quality monitors at the Sanmenxia reservoir on the Yellow River began detecting traces of diesel on Sunday, four days after the pipeline burst, the China News Service said.
.
News agencies are reporting that about 100 metric tons of diesel spilled into tributaries of the river from the pipeline, but local government officials and the company has refused to report the size of the spill.

The situation remains “serious” and more than 700 workers have been deployed by state-owned CNPC and the government to prevent the leak from spreading and to perform clean up operations, CNPC said today in a statement posted on its Web site.

The spill occurred near the confluence of the Chishui and Wei rivers in the northern province of Shaanxi, about 70 km upstream from the Yellow river.

Downstream from the spill, the Henan provincial government has set up a special working group to monitor water quality and ensure "the safety of drinking water supplies," the China News Service said.

The Sanmenxia reservoir is about 200 km upstream from the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, which relies on the Yellow River for the drinking water of some of the city's 2.4 million residents, reports said. Local environmental departments have warned residents not to use the river water, reports said.

<snip>

http://www.worldoil.com/100_metric_tons_of_diesel_spill_into_rivers_from_CNPC_pipeline.html?LS=EMS350437

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Capitalist's paradise, people's nightmare

China represents a conservative/libertarian utopia where all regulations are cast aside in order that corporations can run roughshod over the rights of actual human beings - humans who aren't upper management, board members or major stockholders, that is. US corporations salivate at the prospect of operating in such an environment.