China City Suspends Chemical Plant Work

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The $1.4 billion facility being built by Tenglong Aromatic PX (Xiamen) Co. Ltd to produce the petrochemical paraxylene was planned for the booming southeastern port of Xiamen, the Xinhua News Agency and newspapers said.

"The city government has listened to the opinions expressed and has decided, after careful deliberation, that the project must be re-evaluated," a deputy mayor, Ding Guoyan, was quoted as saying.

The plant was to be located 10 miles from the center of Xiamen, a center for Taiwanese and Hong Kong investment. The nearest homes were about a mile away, according to news reports.

Paraxylene is used in production of plastics, polyester and film. Short-term exposure to paraxylene can cause eye, nose or throat irritation in humans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic exposure can affect the central nervous system and may cause death.

The communist government, long indifferent to the environmental cost of China's economic boom, has become more sensitive to pollution complaints after accidents that polluted rivers, disrupting water supplies to major cities. Farmers in areas throughout the country have protested over pollution that has tainted water supplies and ruined farmland.

Demand for chemicals such as paraxylene is soaring as China's export-driven manufacturing industries expand.

Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil Corp.; Saudi Aramco, the Saudi government oil company; and China's No. 2 oil company, China Petroleum & Chemical Co., better known as Sinopec, announced in March they were expanding a joint venture chemical plant in the southeastern city of Quanzhou to produce paraxylene and other chemicals.