Shanxi province in China attempts to save coal industry by sacrificing environment and people.
Here’s an interesting story from www.unspillable.com about how China is more concerned with coal and the growth of industry then they are with the environment or their pwn people.
Environmentalists warn that Shanxi’s fight to save its ailing coal industry by handing out tax cuts will increase pollution, damage the environment and hurt it’s people.
The centre of China’s coal industry is in steep decline. Shanxi province, in northern China, has long relied on its natural coal resources, but is now suffering from a drop in domestic demand amid China’s economic downturn. Coal prices have plunged to their lowest level in four years.
In the first five months of 2013, nearly half of coal companies reported losses and 149 coal companies ceased production. The total losses of the coal industry amounted to 6.61 billion yuan, while its profits reportedly shrunk by 12.8 billion yuan on a year-on-year basis.
The industry’s decay will inevitably leave a huge hole in provincial fiscal revenues – in 2011 the Shanxi government collected more than 40% of its revenue from the coal industry. According to statistics from the Shanxi provincial tax department, tax collected from the coal industry decreased by 11.7 billion yuan in the first six months of 2013. In Liulin county, many public-funded infrastructure projects have been suspended due to fiscal difficulties.
“The coal industry recession is leading Shanxi’s resource-oriented economy into a difficult situation,” reported the 21st Century Business Herald.
Shanxi has responded to the slump with … READ THE REST OF THIS STORY
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