American Ingenuity

--- by Ed Naile

I was reading on Drudge about the 80 kilometer benzene slick in China flowing down the Songhua River to the northern city of Harbin. Harbin is a provincial capital up near Russia and almost dead west of Sapporo Japan.

The pollution slick has people fleeing the city of nine million by all means possible. The trains are full, planes booked solid, and roads choked full of people leaving. If you have ever been to China you would note that is what traffic looks like on a good day, after you throw in a few million overloaded bicycles.

The benzene slick is 100 times higher than the national safety standard - the Chinese National Safety Standard where people weld without goggles and jack-hammer in shorts and sandals.

The Financial Times article I read had quotes such as this one from a local guy:

“I am fleeing,” said Pang Shijun, a 50-year-old man among the crowds at the central railway station. He said his wife had already left the night before to go to the nearby city of Jixi. “I just do not trust the government to provide true information on this.”

The situation was magnified by the contradictory news releases issued by the city government and the plant owner, PetroChina, which stalled evacuation efforts. The city also turned off water supplies in anticipation of the ecological disaster, creating a water buying panic..

But! Wouldn't you know it there is an American beer plant in Harbin. Here is part of what they had to say.

“Anheuser-Busch, the US brewer which has a plant in the city, issued a statement saying the water shutdown had “not significantly affected” its beer production in Harbin.”

At least they have everything in perspective.