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dam-l Full-Page NY Times Ad Against Three Gorges Dam (fwd)

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From owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org  Wed Nov 12 15:09:54 1997
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Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 12:31:16 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully)
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Subject: Full-Page NY Times Ad Against Three Gorges Dam
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PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, November 12, 1997
Patrick McCully
Campaigns Director
(510) 848-1155

Full-Page NY Times Ad Urges US Investors Not to Fund the Three Gorges Dam

"An Exclusive Bond Offering: Here's Your Chance to Invest in a Grand
Monument to China's Authoritarian Regime. Don't Fund China's Three Gorges
Dam," announces a full-page advertisement in today's New York Times.(1)

The ad, placed by International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth,
US, warns that US securities firms are "helping money flow to Three Gorges
Dam." It urges readers to call their fund managers and insist that their
money does not get funneled into the dam.

In January 1997, Lehman Brothers, C.S. First Boston, J.P. Morgan, Morgan
Stanley, Smith Barney and BancAmerica Securities underwrote a $330 million
bond issue for the State Development Bank (SDB) of China. A second bond
issue is scheduled before the end of the year. The leading creditor of the
SDB is the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

On November 4, International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth, along
with 44 other organizations from 14 countries, wrote to the US underwriters
urging them to stop underwriting bonds for the SDB.

A bond issue in Japan for the SDB was canceled earlier this year following
public discovery that the proceeds would help finance the Three Gorges Dam.


"The Three Gorges Dam is the most environmentally and socially destructive
project in the world," said Dai Qing, editor of two collections of essays
by Chinese critics of the colossal dam. Both books are banned in China. Her
second book, The River Dragon Has Come!, was released in the US on November
5. Ms Dai charges that "the dam has a clear political rather than economic
goal."

(1): The ad appears on the back page of the business section of today's
East Coast edition and is on standby to appear in tomorrow's West Coast.

For more information: Michelle Chan-Fishel, Friends of the Earth,
International Policy Analyst. (202-783-7400 x242)
Owen Lammers, IRN, Executive Director (510 499 9778 - mobile in NY)

The text of the advertisement reads:

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest, most environmentally and socially
destructive project on earth. And the Chinese government wants you to pay
for it. US firms have already underwritten bonds issued for the State
Development Bank of China for Three Gorges Dam. Lehman Brothers, Smith
Barney, Inc., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Company Incorporated and
BancAmerica Securities, Inc. have joined Credit Suisse First Boston in
helping money flow to the Three Gorges Dam.

Within China the dam is bitterly opposed by scientists and concerned
citizens who fear an economic and ecological catastrophe. But since
Tiananmen Square these voices are no longer heard. And the reason is
simple. The Three Gorges Dam is a political project inspired by Mao Tse
Tung as a monument to the pride of an authoritarian government.

The Chinese people want clean, inexpensive electricity and protection
against floods. But experts worldwide believe that Three Gorges Dam can't
control the Yangtze, nor meet China's electricity demands. Within 50 years
the sediment-laden Yangtze will fill much of the reservoir, impairing power
production and impeding navigation.

Contrary to media reports, completion of the dam is not guaranteed. The
costs are as absurd as the size of the dam. As late as 1992 the official
cost of the dam was $11 billion. Estimates now exceed $75 billion. We urge
you to call your fund managers and insist that your money does not get
funneled into Three Gorges Dam. Urge them to invest instead in appropriate
energy and river management projects in China. Because the last thing the
people of China need is a monument to an obsolete regime.



************************************
                        Patrick McCully
                        Campaigns Director
                        International Rivers Network
                        1847 Berkeley Way
                        Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
                        Tel. 510 848 1155
                        Fax. 510 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org