Alex Wang quoted by Reuters, March 31, 2013

“The problem tends to involve the capture of the government by various interests – these problems are exacerbated when the company actually is the government,” said Alex Wang, professor at Berkeley and an expert in China’s environmental legislation.

Alex Wang interviewed by National Public Radio, January 14, 2013

“There’s been clarity as to the severity of the problem, there’s more frequent disclosure of information, but what remains to be seen is whether more aggressive action will be taken to solve the problem,” says Alex Wang…. “In theory, with the greater transparency, that’s harder to do — the falsification or cheating the data. What will be interesting to see going forward is that now that they’ve become more transparent—releasing hourly data and so forth—does it actually force the regulators to take regulatory action?”

Alex Wang interviewed by Marketplace, American Public Media, January 14, 2013

“This is emergency level air pollution,” said Alex Wang, an environmental law professor at University of California-Berkeley, who specializes in China’s environmental regulations.

Alex Wang quoted in Nature Publishing Group, August 14, 2012

Alex Wang, an environmental lawyer at the University of California, Berkeley, says that the lawsuit signals an opportunity for civil-society groups to play a part in environmental enforcement. But “only time will tell whether this turns into precedent or remains a one-time event. Too many promising initiatives like this one have languished once the initial publicity has died down,” he warns.

Alex Wang quoted in USA Today, July 29, 2012

Both the Qidong and Shifang demonstrations “reflect what happens when there are no effective formal channels for public input into environmental decision making”…. Berkeley’s Wang said he hopes Qidong is “a wake-up call” for leaders: “If they don’t create genuine channels for engaging with the public before polluting projects are approved, they will inevitably have to deal with the much uglier aftermath when protests erupt.”

Alex Wang interviewed on Marketplace, Sustainability, June 15, 2012

“I think sometimes the debate misses how much of the responsibility is also in the U.S. and the developed countries that are after all shipping a lot of industries to China and purchasing the goods that China is producing.”

chinadialogue, December 13, 2011 by Justin Gerdes
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4679

This litany of incidents illustrates the growing pressure the public and NGOs are able to wield in the fight against pollution in China, Alex Wang, attorney and visiting assistant professor at UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law, argued. “There’s no doubt that there seems to be an increased pressure and intensity,” he said. Armed with an ever-expanding body of environmental law, these players are pushing for change in the corporate world.

Foreign Policy, August 23, 2011 by Christina Larson
http://bit.ly/nqDnKP

“If this incident leads to more and better environmental transparency and better systems for ensuring that the public is protected from environmental risks, then it will have been a victory.” But he adds: “If the takeaway for the powers that be is that information needs to be more tightly controlled, then the pressures that led to the Dalian PX protests in the first place will only continue to grow.”

China Dialogue, July 18, 2011 by Alex Wang
http://bit.ly/piUGFb

In our work over the years in China, a remarkable number of lawyers have expressed a desire and willingness to use their skills to help the environment and prevent injustice. Much work can be done to help these lawyers play a bigger role in China’s environmental protection.

Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2011 by Jonathan Kaiman
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/14/world/la-fg-china-oil-spill-20110715

This week, a coalition of 11 Chinese environmental advocacy groups announced plans to file a joint lawsuit in hopes of garnering more transparency in the oil industry. Alex Wang, a Chinese environmental law expert at UC Berkeley Law School, said there was little hope of the lawsuit reaching court. “In China, incidents of this magnitude are seldom ever handled in the courts,” Wang said. “They’ll almost always be handled by the government.”