Zhangye environmental authorities approved state-backed wind farm after assessment falsely declared endangered desert cats absent
Gansu officials approved a 100-megawatt wind power project across the core habitat of endangered Pallas's cats after an environmental review certified zero protected wildlife lived in the desert, triggering public fury.
- The Zhangye Ecology and Environment Bureau Ganzhou Branch approved a 100-megawatt wind farm despite field data proving the project overlaps with core breeding territory of the endangered Pallas's cat.
- The project's 85-page Environmental Impact Assessment declared the area completely free of protected wildlife, directly contradicting five years of camera-trap telemetry from the civic Cat Alliance.
- State-owned China Resources New Energy poured concrete turbine foundations within 600 meters of documented cat dens before district authorities dismissed public objections by claiming the site sat outside formal red lines.