Foreign firms are joining the ranks of nasty polluters like notoriously irresponsible Chinese chemical plants, etc., from the Wall Street Journal:
Thirty-four foreign-owned or joint-venture companies – including Panasonic Battery Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Foster Group Ltd. – were reported to have caused water pollution by regional and national government agencies, according to an investigation of public records conducted by the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs.
The institute found violations by about 2,700 companies throughout the country on the Web sites of local and national environmental-protection bureaus. The study comes at a time when environmental issues, and particularly water quality, are moving to the front of China’s political agenda. Much of the country’s recent social unrest has been motivated by pollution issues.
Government data show that more than 300 million people, almost a quarter of the population, lack access to clean drinking water and more than half of the major waterways are badly polluted…. [Full Text not yet available]
– See also summary of “China’s Water Crisis” by Ma Jun, founder of NGO group Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs
