FIGURE 9-2 Huainan municipality administrative map.

while rural farmers had a lower income of 2,700 RMB, increasing only 5 percent from the previous year (Huainan Municipal Government, 2005).

Anhui University of Science and Technology is the major regional university, playing a key role in mining research, with a strong emphasis on environmental engineering. Industry also plays an important role in Huainan’s research capacity. The Huainan Chemical Group maintains the Research Institute of Chemical Designing with a research staff of 140, who focus much of their work on coal technologies, in particular, coal gasification technologies utilizing locally mined coal. Within the Huainan Mining Group is the Development Center of Science and Technology, containing 6 laboratories and 98 research personnel. The Development Center has been instrumental in researching, developing, and disseminating technologies for capturing and utilizing coalbed methane (CBM) (HBST, 2005). In 2005, China’s National Development and Reform Commission approved a