Open-Cast Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia

A new Greenpeace report entitled 'Thirsty Coal: A Water Crisis Exacerbated by China’s New Mega Coal Power Bases' shows that ten billion cubic meters of water will be consumed by 16 new coal fired power plants and mines in China in 2015, triggering severe water crises in the country’s arid Northwest. This huge amount of water will be used for the water-intensive coal extraction, forcing deterioration of arid grassland and forcing herders to seek alternative livelihoods. Northwestern provinces such as Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Ningxia, where 11 of these coal bases are situated, will see their water supply capacity severely challenged in three years.