Other problems with green industry.
From: wvec-board@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:wvec-board@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of larryvthomas@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 8:19 PM
To: wvhcboard@yahoogroups.com; wvec-board@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [wvec-board] Fwd: Rare Earth PBS report
Last evening, PBS
Newshour did a report on rare earth production in China and
its relationship to the environment. The report can be viewed
at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec09/china_12-14.html
and the transcript is included below. Eye opener.
PBS NEWSHOUR
REPORT
AIR DATE Dec. 14, 2009
Are Rare Earth Minerals Too Costly for the Environment?
LINDSEY HILSUM: It doesn't look very green. Rare earth processing in
China is a messy, dangerous, polluting business. It uses toxic chemicals,
acids, sulfates, ammonia. The workers have little or no protection.
But, without rare earth,
Copenhagen means nothing. You buy a Prius hybrid car and think you're saving
the planet. But each motor contains a kilo of neodymium and each battery more
than 10 kilos of lanthanum, rare earth elements from China.
Green campaigners love wind
turbines, but the permanent magnets used to manufacture a 3-megawatt turbine
contain some two tons of rare earth. The head of China's Rare Earth Research
Institute shows me one of those permanent magnets. He's well aware of the
issues.
ZHAO ZENGQI, Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute: The environmental
problems include air emissions with harmful elements, such as fluorine and
sulfur, wastewater that contains excessive acid, and radioactive materials,
too. China meets 95 percent of the world's demand for rare earth, and most of
the separation and extraction is done here. So, the pollution stays in China,
too.
LINDSEY HILSUM: The authorities gave us a DVD of Baiyunebo in Inner
Mongolia, where most of the world's rare earth is mined, along with iron ore.
They wouldn't let us film it ourselves.
But at Baotou, 100 miles away, we
found the frozen tailing lake where rare earth mixes with mud, waiting for
processing at nearby factories. Technologies we all use, like computers, mobile
phones and energy-saving light bulbs use rare earths processed here. And local villagers
whose farmland has been ruined by seepage from the lake pay the price.
WANG CUN GUANG, farmer: The Baotou Environmental Protection Bureau tested
our water, and they concluded that it wasn't fit for people or animals to drink
or for irrigation.
LINDSEY HILSUM: For those who remember the old life, it's hard to
understand. The authorities pay compensation, acknowledging that the land has
been ruined, but they haven't yet relocated the villagers.
JIA BAO CHENG, farmer: Rare earth is the country's resource, but small
people like us need to eat, too. We live on farming, but the crops no longer
grow, and we will go hungry.
LINDSEY HILSUM: At a rare earth conference in Hong Kong, the talk is of
how to reduce dependence on China, which achieved 95 percent dominance by
undercutting other producers.
MARK SMITH, CEO, Molycorp Minerals: If the purpose is to lower our
dependence on foreign oil, and all We're doing is asking that we put hybrid
cars on the road that need Chinese rare earth materials, aren't we changing,
you know, inter-trading one dependence for another?
LINDSEY HILSUM: High on the frozen steppe of Inner Mongolia, a huge wind
farm. China is aiming to be the world leader in wind energy. Chinese
negotiators at Copenhagen may resist political commitments, but the government
is already subsidizing new technologies to boost the economy and be
sustainable.
Deal or no deal at Copenhagen,
there's going to be an increased demand for wind turbines, both inside China
and outside. But what the Chinese want to ensure is that they're not just
providing the essential raw materials, the rare earths, and doing the
manufacturing, but that they also have access to the most advanced low-carbon
technologies.
We were shown plans for what
they're calling the Silicon Valley of rare earth, a high-tech industrial park
in Baotou to attract international investors. This year, there was an outcry
when the Chinese said they would restrict the export of rare earth to conserve
their supply, and to make foreign companies produce their high-end technologies
here in China.
ZHAO ZENGQI: Although China has the largest reserves, we only have 50
percent of global deposits. We are supplying too much rare earth, and it's not
sustainable, so we must restrict export.
LINDSEY HILSUM: The writing on the wall says: Become the leader of the
world in rare earth industry.
But China can't produce enough for
everyone anymore, and if governments are serious about low-carbon technologies,
other countries will have to start producing.
MARK SMITH: I think that, if we don't get a couple of projects up and
running very, very quickly, there's going to be very severe shortage of rare
earths in the world, and all of these clean-energy technologies that we're
legislating and trying to implement through policy changes are not going to be
possible.
LINDSEY HILSUM: Champions of a low-carbon future have yet to wake up to
the environmental price Chinese workers and villagers are paying. At
Copenhagen, politicians talk of cutting carbon emissions, but they can't meet
any targets without rare earth, and that means a sustainable supply, and not
all from China.
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