Diesel Spill

A spill of diesel fuel in China’s second-longest river has been “effectively” contained by barricades according to the China National Petroleum Corp. “CNPC has erected two barriers across the Yellow River at Sanmenxia city in the central province of Henan to prevent contamination of a reservoir about 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream, the company said in a statement on its Web site today. The Xiaolangdi reservoir serves Henan cities including Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of 2.4 million people. A pipeline operated by CNPC in Shaanxi province west of Henan was found Dec. 30 to have leaked 100 tons of diesel into the Wei and Chishui tributaries of the 4,827-kilometer Yellow River. A hydropower station at Sanmenxia has turned off six generators to stop polluted water from flowing downstream, 21st Century Business Herald reported today, without citing anyone. ‘This spill will undoubtedly bring a further blow to the ecosystem of the Yellow River, which is already one of the most polluted river bodies in China due to rampant industrial growth,’ Jamie Choi, head of Toxics Campaign at Greenpeace China, said in an e-mail.”