Posted on 11/24/2005 3:46:25 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Thursday November 24, 4:27 PM
80-kilometer slick flows into China's Harbin city
HARBIN, China (AFP) - An 80-kilometer-long (48-mile) slick of highly toxic benzene flowed along the icy Songhua river into one of China's biggest cities, contaminating water supplies for up to four million people.
The carcinogenic chemical reached the outskirts of Harbin, capital of China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, about 5:00 am on Thursday, authorities said.
Although water supplies were cut off about 30 hours before the poisoned water reached the city and there were no reports of people being contaminated, the environmental impact of the potential disaster was still unclear.
Schools remained closed in Harbin, residents continued to stockpile bottled water and other basic supplies, and dozens of wells were being dug, even though the government said the toxins would pass through the city by Saturday.
"It will take about 40 hours for the slick to pass through Harbin city," the Environmental Protection Administration vice minister, Zhang Lijun, told reporters in Beijing.
However with the government waiting until Wednesday, 10 days after an explosion at an upriver chemical factory that caused the benzene spill, to confirm the potential disaster, some Harbin residents were taking no chances.
"We have stored up at least 15 days of water," Yang Jun told AFP.
A newspaper seller surnamed Cui said he did not trust the government following their failure quickly to disclose the benzene spill in neighbouring Jilin province.
"We don't know what's happening," Cui said as he sat on the banks of the Songhua in below-freezing temperatures.
"They've known about this pollution for 10 days but didn't say a thing, so no-one really knows what else they aren't telling us."
Photos of dead fish along the banks of the Songhua also did little to ease environmental fears.
Harbin, which has about 3.8 million urban residents and a total population of about nine million, is highly dependent on the 1,897-kilometre Songhua for its water supplies.
In Russia, a state of emergency was set to be put in place in the far east region of Khabarovsk on Friday amid fears the slick would contaminate water supplies for 1.5 million residents there.
Emergency ministry officials in Khabarovsk, which borders Heilonjiang province, said Thursday the slick was expected to flow along the Songhua into Russia, and then into the bigger Amur river, within days.
The contamination was caused by a massive explosion at a PetroChina benzene factory in Jilin province, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) upriver from Harbin.
It was still unclear on Thursday how the environmental disaster had impacted Songyuan and Zhaoyuan, two other major Chinese cities between Harbin and Jilin that also depend on the Songhua for water.
The government's refusal to publicly aknowledge the benzene link until Wednesday had fuelled scenes of panic in Harbin over the weekend and early this week when speculation first surfaced of an impending water stoppage.
Hundreds of thousands of people emptied supermarket shelves of bottled water and food amid rumours of an imminent earthquake, while other residents packed their bags and evacuated the city.
A railway official told the Beijing News more people had left Harbin in recent days than during the National Day Golden Week holiday.
On Thursday relative calm had been restored after authorities brought in millions of bottles of water, reassuring residents that at least there would be reliable drinking supplies.
The local government said Thursday it was doing its best to ensure no more scenes of panic.
"We must ensure that the emotions of the people are stable, that the supply and demand of the city's markets are stable and we must actively respond to any problems that may occur," Heilongjiang's top leader, Song Fatang, said.
According to the government, benzene pollution levels on the Songhua river exceeded 103 times national safety levels on November 19, some 130 kilometers up river from Harbin.
The levels of benzene, a carcinogen that can be lethal if someone is exposed to high levels, even in small doses, was expected to enter Harbin at levels some 29 times about safety standards, the government said.
Sorry, it's a US holiday for us (Thanksgiving) so I'm drinking and having fun. No offense!
Happy Holidays! :-)
"Diversity is perversity" -- Michael Savage
Thanks for confirming my eyes.
I couldn't believe what I saw.
Boy did I take for granted what I have before that. But it opened my eyes.
Glad to hear it, I thought maybe someday i'd go to Hong Kong but as you say it is most likely a dirty craphole
It won't be a cultural revolution, I'm banking on another boxer rebellion or a populace uprising (hopefully).
Ping! = Pong!
It could be used for anything from fuels to pesticides to nylon to drug production, and they all have different Chem composition.
Given the current state of H5N1 there...my guess is the Chem plant was operating out of spec to produce either pesticides or drugs, and it blew as a result.
This is ONLY a guess...your mileage may vary.
OK... in a nutshell...
Alkylbenzenes are usually used as surfacants in detergents.
Toluene is used as a degreaser...xylene has a few different variations...
o-Xylene is used almost entirely as the feedstock for phthalic anhydride manufacture, and for the preparation of phthalonitrile which is converted to the copper phthalocyanine, a pigment.
m-Xylene is used for the manufacture of isophthalic acid and to a lesser extent, isophthalonitrile, which is the starting material of the fungicide tetrachloroisophthalonitrile.
p-Xylene, the most important commercial isomer, is primarily converted for use in fibers, films, or resins, including polyester fibers which are used for household fabrics, carpets, and clothing.
Chlorbenzenes are used in the manufacture of insecticides.
Nitrobenzenes are used to produce aromatic amines (e.g. phenylamine), azo-dyes and explosives like methyl-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TNT).
Picric acid has been used as a yellow dye, as an antiseptic, and in the synthesis of chloropicrin, or nitrotrichloromethane, CCl3NO2, a powerful insecticide. It also can be used for explosives.
Benzoic acid is used as an anti-microbial agent.
The salicylic acid and acetylsalicylic acid is basically Aspirin.
The main uses of paracetamol are for relief of pain and for reducing a fever. Phenacetin is another analgesic.
Does this pique anyone's curiousity as to just what this place was doing? Because for every good use, there are a TON of shady uses, and given the proclivities of China, I'm more apt to err on the side of them being scumbags.
Envirowackos in China usually end up in Jail or "Missing."
BTTT
They still drive on the left in Hong Kong, don't they?
China has its environmental wackos too apparently.
Great post! Thanks for your work!
"Diversity is perversity" -- Michael Savage
I hadn't heard that one before. I don't think I'll be quoting Savage at work though. Where I work, you're either diverse or you're terminated.
Perhaps you could use some of the following:
How to Ruin America, Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/1223/225_print.html
9) Develop a suicidal immigration policy that keeps out educated, hardworking men and women from friendly nations and, instead, takes in vast numbers of angry, uneducated immigrants from nations that hate us.
With Liberty and Comfort for All
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/mikeadams/2004/03/29/11209.html
lists the ways in which a white male is made to "feel uncomfortable" by diversity crap and unchristian words, acts and obscenities in academic circles
Do We Really Need "Diversity Consultants"?
http://www.summitconsulting.com/briefings/briefing_3.html
by top management consultant
How to Destroy America. speech by former CO Gov. Richard Lamm
http://web.archive.org/web/20040305085828/http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_1590.shtml
Domestic partner benefits - health risks of gay sex
http://www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/white_papers.html
Any rebellion will be brief.
Well the last one was sure short lived.
Thanks for the links. We've been indoctrinated at work with those things. The diversity thing is going to an extreme. Anything about a white man is bad and any other culture is good. It's nothing but reverse discrimination. The amusing thing is that the whole company is run by a bunch of white guys, liberal white guys.
"We get bombarded daily at work about how all cultures are equal, blah, blah, blah. The political correctness and diversity crap is just nauseating. The rest of the world is in no way comaprable to the USA."
Michael Savage did a thing on feng swei (or however you spell it!) the other day and said what a racket it was. They are now teaching it and think its great for cultural diversity. He was ranting and raving on how stupid it is and B.S. He said (yelled!) something like "I've got the cumulation of more American culture when I use my credit card and fill my tank with gas than this ancient feng shwea crap".
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