BEIJING, June 9 (UPI) -- China's longest gas pipeline has won the country's top environment award, the Xinhua news agency reported Friday.
The 2,385-mile pipeline runs from Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and ends in Shanghai, past ecologically fragile areas and the nation's three longest rivers. Since it began operations in 2002, the China National Petroleum Corp. has taken various steps to conserve the environment along the line, Xinhua said.
"The pipeline bypasses environmentally sensitive areas and important historical cultural sites, and all the damaged environment resulting from the construction has been basically restored," said Pan Yue, deputy-director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, the body that handed out the awards Friday.
Xinhua said that Houston-based Universal Ensco. Inc., which is the environment supervisor of the project, was awarded a prize for its work on the project.
China, the world's fastest growing economy, needs a steady supply of energy to sate its needs, but critics contend that much of its growth is coming at a high cost to the environment.
