Power Station

For almost 20 years, the Chinese government forged ahead with the Three Gorges Dam project, despite concerns both at home and abroad about its potential ramifications. The threats to the surrounding environment and historical areas, to say nothing of the tens of thousands of locals displaced by the project, were all downplayed by officials throughout the dam s construction. Only after its completion, at an estimated cost of $23 billion, did China admit that perhaps there were somevalid environmental concerns.