Dispute Resolution and Power Project Permitting in China

China's alternative dispute resolution processes (ADR) allow arms-length citizen input into power projects, but citizens only had limited meaningful input into several power projects that are among those that added more than 330 gigawatts to China's grid in the past four years. This article analyzes dispute resolution tools in China and it presents case studies that explore citizen involvement in two projects: the Nu River hydropower project and the Nansha refinery. Although citizens' influence is primarily indirect, some of China's permitting processes have been influenced by after-the-fact xinfang dispute resolution and government citizen-interest "champions." The studies demonstrate a tentative movement towards greater, but still highly limited, citizen participation while China continues to rapidly expand its power capacity. (The final version is on the TJOGEL website, which I cannot link to due to SSRN policy; this is the draft version that was submitted to TJOGEL)