Toxin-spewing generators keep the lights on around Mideast

By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — They literally run the country. In parking lots, on flatbed trucks, street corners and hospital courtyards, private generators are ubiquitous in parts of the Middle East, spewing hazardous fumes into homes and business across the country, 24 hours a day. As the world looks for renewable energy to tackle climate change, Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and elsewhere rely on diesel-powered private generators just to keep the lights on. Experts call it national suicide from an environmental and health perspective. The reason is state failure: In multiple countries, governments can’t maintain a functioning central power network, whether because of war, conflict or mismanagement and corruption.