The twin pipelines that will deliver the oil and gas to the island's southern tip cross around 1, 000 rivers and streams, many of which are used by spawning salmon.
The BGI began in 1999, when Dr Yang muscled his way into the human-genome project, cornering part of the tip of chromosome three (about 1% of the total human genome) as the Chinese contribution to that international project.
The spokesman said floodwater had also been found in the underground tunnel that carries the no. 1 train to South Ferry at the tip of Manhattan, one of the low-lying stations about which officials had been most concerned because of the chance for flooding.