Three Gorges Dam

The Erie Canal was a political battle from the start. However, by the end all who were opposed had switched sides, trying to show that they had supported the enormous project from the beginning. The Erie Canal turned into a momentous technological advancement; some, like Peter Bernstein, would even say it saved America. The Erie Canal was a major contributor to the economic explosion that would lead New York to be the center of commerce and trade.

Joe Bock asked whether today’s government allow a major technological advancement like the Erie Canal. Is the political, economical and ecological situation of today too complex to build something so big? Does law inhibit the ability to build something like the Erie Canal?

China has recently started an enormous project called the Three Gorges Dam. The purpose for this project is the Chinese government is trying to produce a more efficient energy source. This dam, which is scheduled to be finished by 2009, promises to produce hydroelectric power, control floods, and bring more money into China by increasing tourism and employment to build and run the dam. However, there are many negatives to the project, displacement of over a million tribes and ancestral homes, tampering with ancient archeological sites, loss of nature and farmlands, and a price tag of 24 billion dollars. The Three Gorges Dam also threatens the disruption in the ecosystem: eutrophication, fish migration, water contamination and landslides. Yes, in today’s world a project bigger than the Erie Canal is happening in China. In the United States, our governmental system of checks and balances forces projects to be drawn out and slow. Therefore, in the U.S. a project to this magnitude would be complex and complicated.