Three Gorges Dam Project

The Three Gorges Dam project in China displaced 1.4 million people. 

As of 1 July 2008, the Three Gorges Dam Project had already generated over 235 TWh of electricity (Table 1 from Xinhua News Agency, 2007-12-08). 

Presumably when the debts are paid off, the Three Gorges Dam Project will generate funds that can be used by the China Three Gorges Project Corporation for new projects or to reduce energy costs in China. 

Allin, S. R. F. (2004). An examination of China s Three Gorges Dam project based on the Fiamework Presented in the Report of The World Commission on Dams. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Retrieved January 21st and 25th, from http //scholtir.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12142004-... 

The largest concrete construction project in the world is the Three Gorges Dam in China. How mnch concrete is used in this project ... 

For someone who adopts Rawls s Difference Principle, the attempt to invoke rule R1 to justify proceeding with the Three Gorges Dam, or to justify its construction after the fact, should be rejected, because the harm/risk burden was unjustly distributed. Adherents of Rawls s Difference Principle might view it as a trumping factor, that is, as an aspect of the situation that, when it is not satisfied, deserves to take precedence over any attempt to ethically justify a decision on a project by invoking rule Rl, which requires only that there be positive net benefit, that is, more benefit than harm (or a benefit-harm ratio greater than 1). 

Megaengineering projects conjure up images of the Hoover Dam, between Arizona and Nevada, or the Three Gorges Dam in China. It is easy to imagine these projects. You can look at a picture and understand what they are and get a sense of their scale. They were built in a single place over a relatively short time. The upper Mississippi River navigation system defies this simple image. 

---