China's push for hydropower dams sparking grassroots backlash

Jan. 7, 2008 -- The Chinese government's recent decision to scrap controversial plans for a huge dam at Tiger Leaping Gorge on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River represents a milestone for growing grassroots political movements in China, suggests the author of a new book on the politics behind China's epic dam-building campaign.

Mertha, an assistant professor of political science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, bases his book on extensive field research in some of the most remote parts of Southwest China. Filled with first-hand accounts of widespread opposition to dams in Pubugou and Dujiangyan in Sichuan province and the Nu River Project in Yunnan province, the book documents dramatic changes in critical policies surrounding China's insatiable quest for energy.

"As China has become increasingly market driven, decentralized and politically heterogeneous," he argues, "the control and management of water has transformed from an unquestioned economic imperative to a lightning rod of bureaucratic infighting, societal opposition and open protest."

Although bargaining has always been present in Chinese politics, Mertha shows how actors once denied a seat at the table — media, nongovernmental organizations and grassroots activists — are emerging to become serious players in the policy-making process.

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In the final days of 2007, the Chinese government made a surprise announcement abandoning plans for a controversial dam that would have submerged Tiger Leaping Gorge on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, one of China's most renowned tourist areas. While the decision represents an obvious victory for the burgeoning Chinese environmental movement, Mertha considers the impact and occasional success of such grassroots movements and policy activism to be signals of an important and much broader shift in China's domestic politics.

Here is the full article.

Traveston Dam Desalination Water Report kept Secret by Austrailian Officials

Dam opponents claim the government has inadvertantly admitted that desalination would offer a cheaper, quicker and more reliable solution to south-east Queensland’s water woes.

And they believe it is likely that a half a million dollar report prepared by professional services giant Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey has been kept under wraps because it supports their argument.

That has been the pattern:

Australian fishermen fear the impact of the Traveston dam on the regional fishery - Environmental Impact Statement is not complete

Australia - Differing versions of Traveston Dam EIS meant to confuse the public - MP highlights Traveston dam EIS discrepancies

Another Australian environmental impact statement rendered meaningless by 5 week comment period

Australian dam proponents try an end run around environmental impact statement

The government has confirmed that $512,000 was paid to GHD for “investigation of desalination options for South East Queensland’’ in 2005-06 but said the advice was not provided in a single report and therefore could not be released.

On Sunday, acting premier Paul Lucas announced that $125 million would be spent on preliminary works to build two mobile desalination plants if the drought worsens.

Mr Lucas acknowledged that new water sources may be needed years before the Traveston dam can top up supplies.

“By starting work straight away, up to an extra 144 megalitres a day in contingency supplies can be added to the region by the end of next year,’’ he said.

Mr Lucas said the government would assess water security at the end of the wet season to determine if the mobile plants were necessary.

“The cost of those temporary plants – if they proceed – is around $550 million and they would be ready in late 2009,’’ he said. “The options we’ve chosen to pursue further are the most effective in terms of cost and likelihood of success.’’

The opposition’s spokesperson for infrastructure, Fiona Simpson, said Mr Lucas’s statements had exposed the $1.7 billion Traveston dam as a cruel hoax and highlighted the government’s “bizarre’’ attitude to water infrastructure.

“It is clear these mobile plants can be built sooner and for less than the cost of the dam without all the harrowing consequences,” Miss Simpson said.

“We believe that a permanent desalination plant is a better option still because it would have less environmental impact, but whatever way you look at it, the dam is an incredibly dumb idea.”

Mr Lucas denied that desalination would offer a more cost-effective solution to the water solution and challenged Miss Simpson to state where she would build a plant north of Brisbane.

Kevin Ingersole, from the Save the Mary River group, said Mr Lucas’s announcement proved that the government knew desalination could do the job.

Here is the full article.

This type of thing is fairly common:

Barrick Gold Corporation conveniently left out mention of the glaciers its Pascau Lama mine would destroy: "The first environmental impact study Barrick Gold submitted to the Chilean authorities - after the bilateral treaty was adopted - neglected to mention the glaciers. It was the farmers of Huasco Valley who warned CONAMA. " See: Pascua Lama Gold Mine, a Threat to Sustainability

Power on the River - a documentary video about what happens to a rural community when a hydropower and mining consortium moves in

Power on the River is a documentary about what happens when the global corporate vision of progress enters into the lives of small rural communities in the interior of Brazil. A new hydroelectric dam is being completed by the Consortium, a state energy company, CEMIG, and a Brazilian multinational mining corporation, Vale do Rio Doce. According to the Consortium, everything possible is being done to help the region adjust to the changes the dam will bring, but those living along the river and in the relocated town displaced by the dam tell a different story.

A look at the often ignored consequences of hydroelectric power production and who and what are sacrificed in the process. Players on both sides reveal how they see the project: Valter, a middle-class technical contractor from the city struggles working away from his family but sincerely believes in the promise of hydropower to aid Brazil’s development.

Meanwhile, relocated citizens Maria Helena and Ruth take different paths in dealing with the profound life changes in their new town. The Rio Doce, where the dam is being finished, is experiencing significant changes as well, affecting the livelihood of local fishermen.

Through it all, the Vale company’s trains thunder relentlessly through the region, carrying iron ore to the coast for export. As the project is completed and the Consortium prepares to move on, the communities are faced with an uncertainty of how to take back their lives.

To order this video: Power on the River

Norway's SN Power (Statkraft Norfund) suspends $600 million hydro-electric project in Chile's Mapuche heartland after virulent local protests.

Translated by Google:

Following a meeting between the top executive for Latin America of the Norwegian firm and the leader of the indigenous communities on 11 December, in Oslo, the European company decided to suspend their activities.

The pressure exerted by the negative reaction and the Mapuche communities were stronger. The Norwegian company SN Power decided to suspend work on the million dollar hydroelectric project in the Region of Rivers, after opposition from its inhabitants. This suspends the work of the largest European company that is developing in the country.

The decision to postpone the activities surrounding the project was taken on December 11, in Oslo, Norway. In that country, Nils Huseby, executive vice president for Latin America SN Power, met with Peter Antimilla, representative of the Mapuche communities of Coñaripe, at the seminar "The New Conquistadors? SN Power: Hydropower in the Mapuche Territory". Antimilla explained the rejection of the communities to the construction of power stations. "We do not want interference in our territories. They say that the plants will have no impact because they will not have reservoirs, but instead will inundate 120 hectares, will drill 20 miles of tunnels and trenches 300 meters deep. Just the Central Pellaifa project will affect more than eight thousand people, " he says.

Following the presentation, said Antimilla, the Norwegian executive requested a meeting. "We met for four hours and a pledge was made that all works related to the project will be suspended until the principal directors of the company will meet with all the affected communities," he says. The meeting with the residents, he added, will take place at the Region X by the end of January.

The day after the meeting in Oslo, Huseby sent a letter to Antimilla. "I would like to reiterate our desire and commitment to meet with representatives of indigenous communities, at a time and date suggested by you in January 2008, to hear thier position on our projects and to establish the principles of a possible dialogue," says the missive. It adds that "we confirm our commitment to maintain the current suspension of activities related to our projects until that meeting has been made." Antimilla said that "for us it is a very important measure, because although not yet started, construction of the plants was halted as well as all work for collecting information." In addition, he explains, in the Oslo meeting, Huseby raised two options for the future construction of the four plants. "He said that one way might be to move the project elsewhere or make the project smaller."

Regarding the meeting, Huseby added that "hope will be a first step in establishing a permanent and fruitful dialogue, so that the project’s design contributes to the sustainable development of the areas where located (...) We are conducting a comprehensive process of meetings, we have collected more than 1,000 people in the area, representing 25 organizations and we opened information offices in Coñaripe, Liquiñe, Panguipulli and Futrono, to fully cover the area and create meeting places. "

The suspension could delay the launch of the project.

What are the details of this million-dollar hydroelectric project?

The project involves an investment of more than $ 600 million and will add 580 megawatts (MW) of power to the Central Interconnected System (SIC) in the coming years. At the forefront, is the leading hydroelectric generator, SN Power of Norway and the second largest generator of renewable energy in Europe.

Through its subsidiary Hydro-Trayenko, where it has 80% of the property and is linked to the Chilean businessman Gustavo Pavez, with the other 20% - the foreign firm conducts feasibility and technical studies and exploratory analysis for the construction of four hydroelectric plants in Region X in the communes of Panguipulli, Futrono and Lago Ranco. These run of the river plants (without reservoir) are: Pellaifa (108 MW), Maqueo (320 MW), Liquiñe (118 MW) and Reyehueico (34 MW).

According to the timetable, the decision to commence will be taken in 2009. The entry into operation of the four projects was scheduled for 2013.

Here is the original article.

Related Stories:

Mapuche Protest against Norwegian Hydroelectric Power

Power for the Mapuches but not for Uganda- Norwegian Government owner, SN Power, pulls out of Uganda hydroelectric venture citing economic unviability

SN Power, Norway, & Pacific Hydro, Australia, move on La Confluencia dam project on the Tinguiririca River- effort to reduce Europe's Carbon Emissions

To see how the Mapuche benefited from the last hydro-project in their land, read:

Endesa Strategy & Tactics I – Revisiting the Ralco & Pangue Hydroelectric Projects on the Rio Bio Bio

Switch Off - 2004 Documentary of the Mapuche struggle against the international energy conglomerate, Endesa SA

Damming the Rio Bio Bio

Australian fishermen fear the impact of the Traveston dam on the regional fishery - Environmental Impact Statement is not complete

Trawlers group fears Traveston dam impact

The Independent Trawlers Association says it is concerned the proposed Traveston Crossing dam could damage the livelihoods of fishers by reducing the flow of fresh water into the ocean.

The Queensland Government plans to build the dam near Gympie, in the south-east, to supply water to south-east Queensland if it is approved by the federal Environment Minister.

A spokesman for the trawlers association, Joe McLeod, says a draft environmental report on the dam does not include enough information on the impact it might have on fishers off the Fraser Coast.

"That's what this latest work has pointed out, that there's massive holes in their understanding or their lack of understanding of dams and weirs on marine productivity," he said.

The chief executive officer of Queensland Water Infrastructure, Graeme Newton, says all interested parties are encouraged to make a submission about the dam's draft environmental impact statement.

Here is the full article.

New NGO tactics deployed in fight against Brazilian dams & industrial waterway planned by the extraction industry

Brazilian hydropower – Dammed if they do

Brazil depends on hydroelectricity for the majority of its power, but a new mega-dam project is sparking the concern – and imagination – of campaigners

Even by Brazilian standards, the Madeira River is impressive. From source to mouth it stretches more than 1,000 miles, the distance from London to Belgrade. The largest of all the Amazon’s tributaries, it is also responsible for half of all the sediment transported by the river system to the Atlantic Ocean.

Now Brazil’s authorities want to dam it. The Rio Madeira Dam Complex is earmarked as an Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America, a high-profile scheme promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank. The project will include the construction of three hydroelectric dams, with the possibility of a fourth across the border in Bolivia.

Brazil derives four-fifths of its power from its extensive dam system, making it the world’s third largest hydroelectricity producer. As well as adding to the national grid, the Rio Madeira project is being pitched as a 4,200 kilometre industrial waterway. Once operational, barges carrying soya, timber and minerals from the Amazon region will have quicker access to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Opponents of the $10.5 billion project have become more vocal in recent months as public tenders for the dam’s construction and management near. Environment groups such as the California-based International Rivers Network stress the damage the dams could do to the river’s unique biodiversity. The proposed flooding of 529 square kilometres will also require the forced relocation of about 3,000 riverbank dwellers and indigenous people. The usual string of email appeals and press denouncements has followed.

Now campaigners are shifting strategy. Two not-for-profit organisations – Friends of the Earth in Brazil and the Netherlands-based Bank Track – are focusing on the project’s potential partners. In October, they issued a joint report entitled “Complex Project, Mega Risk”. Written with financial risk analysts in mind, it makes for an unorthodox protest document. The language has the ring of a credit agency or investment consultancy rather than a campaign group.

The extensive list of identified risks includes dissonant budgets, judicial queries about the environmental licence, technical concerns, tender disputes and potential construction problems. Financial structure risks for insurers and reinsurers could also be prevalent should Brazil’s state-run National Bank for Economic and Social Development finance the majority of the project (as is expected) and thereby render all other debt deals subordinate.

The Brazilian government is set to announce the project sponsors after an auction at the end of November. If using the logic and the language of the market is shown to work, a more mature form of dialogue between campaign groups and private sector could be in the offing. If not, the report’s appendix contains a long list of old-school activist groups that are more than ready to kick and scream.

Here is the full article.

Canadian Uranium One's dam bursts in South Africa

Canadian miner Uranium One Inc. said on Monday that a storm water containment at its Dominion Reefs uranium mine in South Africa burst over the weekend after 58 millimeters of rain fell on the area in 30 minutes.

The company said it repaired the damage, and estimates that about 100 megalitres of water was discharged into a nearby stream that feeds the Vaal River.

"Based on initial water sampling and analysis," the company said in a statement, it "does not expect any environmental impact due to the discharge." (There never is, and thankfully it did not occur in Canada.)

Here is the full article.

Endesa Chile to invest $1.2 bln in hydro plants

CANELA, Chile, Dec 6, Endesa Chile, the nation's largest electricity generator, plans to invest $1.2 billion through 2011 to build hydroelectric plants to feed the country's ravenous energy needs, the company said on Thursday.

Endesa Chile President Mario Valcarce said the investment would be part of a broader five-year plan to invest $2.5 billion in Chile's electrical sector, including thermoelectric and alternative sources of energy.

"Looking toward the next five years, Endesa is going to invest about $2.5 billion in Chile projects," Valcarce said after inaugurating a wind-generation plant in the northern Chilean town of Canela.

"Of those, $1.2 billion will go to additional hydro projects that we are building."

Valcarce said that figure did not include the $4 billion Hidroaysen project that is being planned by Endesa and generator Colbun COL.SN. (Reporting by Monica Vargas, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Here is the full article.

Brazil Consortium to Build Amazon Dam - Endesa SA Involved in initial bidding

SAO PAULO, Brazil — A Brazilian consortium won an auction Monday to build and operate a major dam in the Amazon rain forest following a bidding process disrupted by protesters who claim the project will displace thousands and harm the environment.

Consorcio Madeira Energetica, a group that includes participation by big construction company Norberto Odebrecht SA, beat out two other consortiums with participation by Spain's Endesa SA and Franco-Belgian utility Suez.

Brazil's government expects it will cost $5.3 billion to build the Santo Antonio dam on the Madeira River near Bolivia. Consorcio Madeira Energetica said it will sell electrical power from the dam for 78.87 reals (now $43.82) per megawatt hour.

The auction was delayed for hours while riot police removed about 80 protesters who stormed the Brasilia offices of Brazilian electric power agency Aneel before dawn.

Brazil's Movement of Dam-Affected People organized the protest along with groups representing landless workers, saying the 3,150 megawatt dam and another one nearby could force 10,000 people from their remote rural homes.

Police arrested eight demonstrators, and several hundred marched later from the agency's office toward Congress.

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But critics say the new design leaves the dams more vulnerable to reduced electricity generation in times of drought, an increasingly common phenomenon in Amazon.

The dams' long distance from the country's industrial southeast means they will require thousands of miles of transmission lines through the western Amazon, creating environmental concerns and substantially raising power costs.

Scientists with the National Institute for Amazon Research have said the area to be flooded by the Jirau could be nearly twice as much as planned.

They also warn the dams could lead to the extinction of ecologically and economically important fish species and lead to an increase of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Here is the full article.

Bitter memories above the Yangtze

Bitter memories above the Yangtze

The Amazon may be larger, the Nile longer, but no river flows through the lives of as many people as the Yangtze, known in China as the Chang Jiang.

Despite the spectacular views, for many it brings back memories of bitterness and pain.

Zhang Zheng Jun now lives with his wife in one room overlooking the river, his only belongings spilling out of a suitcase.

In March he was forcibly relocated - his home demolished to make way for a bridge over the new reservoir created by China's Three Gorges Dam.

When he refused to accept the governments compensation offer he was arrested and his house torn down.

Up to four million people may lose their homes before the project is completed in 2009.

Over a million and a half have already been forcibly resettled, but many complain they have yet to see any compensation.

Allegations of corruption are also widespread, with reports emerging that tens of millions of dollars of resettlement money are being pocketed by corrupt officials.

Here is the full article.

Chinese three gorges dam project - The Human Cost - Video

At final completion, the Three Gorges Dam is expected to displace upwards of 5 million people, 1.5 million in the first wave followed by 3.5 million more as the reservoir fills. The population displacement is huge, analogous to removing and resettling the entire population of the state of Colorado. China has four more dams of this size planned for the upper Yangtze.

China plans four more mega dams to harness the Yangtze

ANOTHER four mega dams are expected to appear on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and together they will have the capacity to produce double the amount of hydropower created by the Three Gorges facility, a senior engineer of the projects' construction body confirmed today.

The dams are expected to create a new world record with a total installed hydropower capacity of 32 million kilowatts, surpassing the 18.2-million-kilowatt Three Gorges Dam.

The dams will lie along the lower reaches of the Jinshajiang River, the biggest tributary to the Yangtze between Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

Plans of Wudongde Hydropower Station and Baihetan Hydropower Station are now still under consideration, Zhang Shuguang, deputy general engineer of China Three Gorges Project Corporation, confirmed to Shanghai Daily this afternoon.

Water diversion has already begun for Xiluodu Hydropower Station, the country's second largest dam. Construction began on November 26 for Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station, the third biggest, Zhang added.

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More than 7,300 residents have been relocated for the 50.3-billion-yuan Xiluodu project. It is expected to bring extra fiscal revenue of 30 million yuan to Sichuan Province, Wang Huaichen, deputy governor of Sichuan, said in previous interview.

Xiangjiaba, a plant with an investment of 18 billion yuan, will have a total installed hydropower capacity of six million kilowatts and will be completed in 2015, the New Express said.

It also added that planners will probably start the construction of Wudongde and Baihetan in 2010 and that research for both will end next year.

Wudongde has a planned installed hydropower capacity of 7.4 million kilowatts while Baihetan has 12 million kilowatts.

Here is the full story.

Environmental & Human rights NGOs put the World Bank on Trial

Attacking the World Bank’s monopoly on knowledge

In September 2007, over 600 people assembled in Indian capital New Delhi to put the World Bank on trial. In four days of parallel sessions in front of more than a dozen judges, people from all walks of life aired their grievances against one of the world's most powerful institutions.

In convening an Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank (WB) in India, they did more than simply chalk up another protest against injustice. The people's tribunal is a shrewd political strategy aimed at renewing a silenced debate over neoliberalism and economic policy. But most profoundly, it is a direct assault on one of the Bank's most powerful tools: the monopoly on knowledge.

In fact, based on the success of the tribunal in India, the idea is spreading. In Europe, citizens of donor nations have convened a people's tribunal on the WB with witnesses from Africa, Asia, and Latin America; and in Bangladesh, a tribunal on the WB, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just been announced.

The World Bank in India

Since 1949, India has been one of the WB's favourite clients. Historically, it has borrowed more money from the Bank than any other country. Currently, it ranks among its top four borrowers, along with China, Russia, and Indonesia.

Unlike many borrowing countries, India has also been faithful in paying off its loans. Thus, providing it with an assured, steady return of funds. Without a few reliable clients such as India, the WB would be hard pressed to continue its operations.

In its early decades, the WB emphasised on infrastructure projects. It lent money for dams, canals, railways, highways and other large construction projects. These endeavours generally required foreign expertise, and the funding was largely used to hire foreign multinational firms to build infrastructure.

In India, the most infamous of these projects are the Sardar Sarovar dams on the Narmada river. These structures eventually became such a political liability that the World Bank jettisoned them. However, it continues to finance infrastructure. It has recently recommitted itself to "high risk, high reward" projects in the same vein as the Narmada project.

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In recent years, the World Bank has attempted to formalise this dominance of the debate by enthroning itself as "the Knowledge Bank" – the single source for all information, knowledge, and theory on developing countries' economies.

What this means in practice is that alternatives to the Bank's neoliberal agenda are not merely rejected, they are never even considered.

When New Delhi took a WB loan to design improvements in its municipal water supply system, there was no debate about what the priorities should be or which of the various models should be employed. The entire design of the project was handed over to PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), an international consulting firm and one of the Bank's pet contractors.

PWC, unsurprisingly, returned a blueprint for privatisation, without any mention of alternatives. The people's voices, those who would drink the water and pay for it, were never heard.

The people's knowledge

Not surprisingly, the voices of India's poor and marginalised are conspicuously absent from the Knowledge Bank. Though, the WB fetishises them with lush, National Geographic-style photographs and heartwarming anecdotes, they are excluded from its decision-making processes.

Over 60 groups, including social movements, communities, NGOs and unions, began planning the tribunal last year. It was an incremental process of refining the concept while broadening the base of supporters. The idea of a people's tribunal caught everyone's imagination.

The tribunal attracted a 15-member jury from a wide range of fields, including historian Romila Thapar, writer Arundhati Roy, activist Aruna Roy, former Supreme Court Justice P.B. Sawant, former finance secretary S.P. Shukla, former water secretary Ramaswamy Iyer, scientist Meher Engineer, economist Amit Bhaduri, Thai spiritual leader Sulak Sivaraksa and Mexican economist Alejandro Nadal.

In their preliminary findings, they found "increased and needless human suffering since 1991 among hundreds of millions of India's poorest and most disadvantaged" and that "World Bank’s economic restructuring, structural adjustment, and sector loans have directly promoted and helped to finance these economic policy changes, which are a disaster for much of India's more than 700 million rural inhabitants, and most disastrous of all for poor farmers."

The tribunal concluded: "[T]he net effect of many Bank prescribed policy 'reforms' appears to be the reorientation of the Indian state priorities from striving to secure a safety net for the poor and vulnerable to providing a safety net for large domestic and international corporations and investors."

The jury also took note of the propaganda that the Bank employs to disguise this reality. "One of the disturbing impressions we gathered from the presentations is that the Bank seems to have developed the art of making policies whose safeguards are only on paper.

It has developed a language game in which words like empowerment actually mean disempowerment, sustainable means unsustainable, public-private partnership means using the public to promote the interests of the private."

One thing that the jury was unable to hear was the defence of the World Bank itself. The Bank initially had accepted the tribunal's invitation to appear and defend itself against the charges, reneging at the last moment saying that it would not be held accountable to such a forum.

Here is the full article.

Canadian pensioners to pave Patagonia – Canada retirees secure comfortable future by exploiting Chilean lands, environment and people.

Canadian pensioners to pave Patagonia

[December 6, 2007] Douglas Tompkins, the acclaimed adventurer and multimillionaire clothing magnate, flew his private plane over British Columbia in 1992 and he was inspired–but not by B.C.'s beauty. Tompkins, the American founder of the North Face and Esprit brands, was so horrified by the province's clearcuts that he immediately exited the business world. He then flew to the other end of the planet and started to buy up large blocks of temperate rainforest in a region that still resembles British Columbia before the arrival of the Europeans.

Tompkins's first acquisition, a $50-million, 714,000-acre piece of pristine forest, cut Chile in two: industry to the north and nature to the south. Now called Pumalin Park, Tompkins's first nature reserve is an environmental roadblock that extends from southern Chile's eastern border with Argentina all the way west to the Pacific Ocean. There is no major road from Chile's central lake region to Patagonia–only a circuitous network of frequently washed-out gravel roads and an assortment of unreliable ferries.

Tourists who brave it into northern Patagonia stand in awe when confronted with the region's globally unique flora and fauna. Highlights include massive groves of alerce trees ( Fitzroya cupressoides , often referred to as the "redwoods of the Andes"), a tiny deer called the pudú, and the Rio Futaleufú, considered by many to be the most beautiful river on earth.

Tompkins's dream of conserving Patagonia's prodigious resources may soon be crushed. A Chilean utility, HQI Transelec Chile S.A., owned by a consortium led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (which includes major Canadian pension fund managers), is hoping to receive Chilean government approval next year to industrialize Patagonia for the first time.

(See what is planned for Patagonia, Chile: Rio Puelo dam, one of twenty-two planned for Southern Chile - Argentina fights back , The Looting of Patagonia Has Begun, Say Chile Dam Opponents , Chile's 21st Century Gold Rush , Xstrata & Transelec Negotiate Cuervo River Dam Project , Endesa SA plans 5 additional dams to coincide with the HydroAysen Project )

According to a news release issued on June 16, 2006, the Brookfield consortium's investors include a B.C. government-owned Crown corporation that invests money on behalf of every nurse, postsecondary instructor, and municipal and provincial employee, as well as firefighters, police officers, transit operators, and ICBC and BC Hydro workers. The pension funds of most public-sector workers in this province are backing a company that is–in the words of its critics–involved in the destruction of one of the planet's greatest environmental treasures.

The Brookfield consortium intends to build the world's longest (2,000 kilometres) high-tension power line from a series of as-yet-unapproved dams in Patagonia to Chile's central and northern industrial centres. Hundreds of transmission towers will be built alongside a superhighway that will open up Patagonia to the encroachment of industry for the first time.

"The dams are a big threat, but the power line and roads will do the most damage," Tompkins said during an interview earlier this year in Patagonia. "The Canadian power line is going to industrialize Patagonia, and it is going to discount the one economic card the region has to play, which is the tourism."

It is no secret that Chile's only major electrical transmission company, Transelec, was purchased by the Brookfield consortium last year for a sticker price of $1.55 billion. But do Canadian pensioners know that more than $500 million worth of pension funds were spent on the venture?

(Transelec was originally owned by Endesa: Background: Endesa Chile sells Transelec to Hydro Quebec International Inc. for US$ 1.076 billion )

Critics of the Canadian consortium's decision to buy Trans­elec claim that the Toronto-based Brookfield (formerly named Brascan Corp.) and its two partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, can look forward to a prolonged and expensive legal battle against one of the most powerful environmental alliances in world history.

EFFORTS TO LEARN MORE about how and why the Brookfield consortium chose to buy a company with such a controversial and expensive plan resulted in even more questions.

Chris Trumpy, the bcIMC's chairman of the board at the time of purchase, told the Georgia Straight in an e-mail that he wasn't even involved in the decision. Under the Public Sector Pension Plan Act, Trumpy and other board members are prohibited from participating in investment decisions made by the CEO and chief investment officer, Doug Pearce.

"The investment in Transelec did not come to the board or to me in my role as chair," Trumpy wrote.

According to bcIMC spokesperson Gwen-Ann Chittenden, bcIMC owns 26 percent of Transelec and has one seat on the nine-member board.

A representative for the other pension-fund manager in the deal, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, refused to comment. May Chong, a CPP spokesperson, admitted that the Canada Pension Plan Review Board (which invests Canadian pension funds not used to pay current dues) owns 27 percent of Transelec, but she directed any specific questions about the Patagonian power scheme to Brookfield, the consortium's lead in the investment.

Repeated attempts to reach Bruce Flatt, Brookfield's 42-year-old CEO, resulted in a telephone interview with the company's media chief, Denis Couture.

"We've got risk-management measures in place and we work closely with our partners to make sure all standards are met," Couture said. "We never do things that are not welcome by the local populations. If we can't do it after the review process…we won't."

Juan Pablo Orrego, a prominent Chilean environmentalist, disagrees.

"This kind of project could never be implemented in a full-fledged democracy," he said. "Our country is still under a constitutional, political, and financial checkmate to democracy which was put in place during the military dictatorship and empowers the private sector." Orrego, who is leading the domestic fight to save Patagonia with the group Ecosistemas, says that industrial megaprojects in Chile do not operate under the same laws of transparency that exist in Canada.

(Sadly, Orrego is mistaken here: Thirst for Energy Fuels Controversial Hydroelectric Power Project in Quebec, Canada )

Couture defended Brookfield's industrial motives in Chile. "Nobody can accuse Brookfield of going to a developing country to take advantage of it," he said. "Isn't it preferable to have a Brookfield-sponsored initiative in Chile instead of something taken care of by a company from Russia or China?"

(Couture is correct. If Chile is to be raped it is preferable that Brookfield Consortium does the raping: Chinese 3.5 Billion “Hydroelectric – Iron Mine” complex slated for Africa’s Gabon National Park , China leaders petitioned on Burma dam projects )

Like Orrego, Tompkins was quick to react to Couture's assertions. Tompkins believes the preservation of Patagonia represents one of the last stands for the planet's biodiversity and that Brookfield is the kind of profit-driven entity that is pushing the planet to the point of ecological extinction.

"What we have here are insensitive businesspeople who work at growth for growth's sake…no energy-conservation consciousness or energy-efficiency efforts," he said in a recent interview.

(The evidence supports Tompkins: Lighting Up Europe - Are Enel, E.ON & Endesa serious about fighting global warming? , Green Power Pioneer, ENDESA granted permission to build two 430 MW Gas Turbine Plants in France , Endesa expands Carbon Footprint in Latin America - Inefficient and Cheap Open Cycle Gas Turbines to be installed in Peru )

Tompkins's point has been echoed and amplified by the New York–based Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that has retained Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a lawyer. The NRDC has been lobbying the Chilean government to take simple steps toward energy efficiency. These include a requirement for insulation in Chilean homes and increased efficiency standards for Chilean industries.

"Chile needs to use the power they already have in a more efficient way before they consider destroying one of the world's last truly pristine places," said Hamlet Paoletti an NRDC spokesperson.

However, Bernardo Matte, a senior member of Chile's powerful Matte family and a minority investor in the power scheme, suggests that foreign environmentalists like Tompkins and Paoletti are hypocrites.

"How can you try to block us from building a hydroelectric power line when all of the power of Manhattan comes thousands of miles from Canada?" he asked members of the NRDC on a recent visit to New York.

(Sadly, Matte, an extraction industry mogul, ( Mining Giants Account For Fifty Percent Of All Corporate Profits in Chile ) is correct here: Cree leaders surrender the Rupert River to Hydro Quebec . However, who "us" is isn't the people of the Aysen region. It is the Matte Consortium that is being blocked.)

But one thing that Matte may not have considered during his visit to the U.S., the world's most wasteful consumer of electricity, is that things are changing. On the East Coast, the State of New York is well on its way to a greener future with a billion-dollar investment in wind and tide technologies. On the West Coast, Californians now use almost half the kilowatt-hours of electricity used annually by the average American, due in large part to energy-efficiency measures.

DESPITE EARLY SIGNS that the new Chilean government of President Michelle Bachelet would be open to the development of renewable-energy sources and the promotion of energy efficiency, it appears that Bachelet's young regime is ready to give Brookfield a green light. Criticized for not taking the necessary steps to resolve Chile's ongoing energy crisis, Bachelet's administration recently declared the Patagonian power line a project of national importance.

Due to a traditional overreliance on hydroelectric power, Chile's energy supply has been always been overtaxed in times of drought. But in the late '90s, Chilean industry was boosted by new pipelines bringing natural gas in from neighbouring Argentina. Gas-rich Argentina, however, soon suffered the greatest economic crisis in its history, and natural-gas exports to Chile were drastically curtailed. Unable to look north to gas-rich Bolivia (Bolivia still resents Chile for taking its only access to the Pacific Ocean in the War of 1879), Chile's current energy crisis was born.

(Also, by the fact that the foriegn owned mining industry in Chile consumes most of the electrical power. See the statistics here: Environmental impacts of the Endesa El Porton Dam in the Puelo River Basin )

Former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos has even suggested numerous times that the country might need to go nuclear if it didn't dam more rivers, and the Bachelet government is on the record as saying it will decide on the viability of nuclear power before its mandate ends in 2010.

"That's pure blackmail," said Antonio Horvath in an article in NRDC's OnEarth Magazine . "Throw a scare into people and get them to say yes to the dams." Horvath, a provincial senator in Patagonia, a political conservative, and a previous champion of Patagonian development.

Yvon Chouinard, a global environmental icon whose company, Patagonia Inc., is a world leader in sustainable business practices, agrees with Horvath's statement.

"Chile, more than any other country on the planet, is in a position to capitalize on the advancing technologies of solar, wind, geothermal, and wave power," said Chouinard, the son of a French-Canadian who first visited Patagonia with his good friend Tompkins back in 1968. "These technologies are just being developed, so it would be shortsighted for the Chileans to destroy Patagonia."

(See: Geothermal Exploration in Chile's Chillan Hot Springs )

Just one government decree from Bachelet could change the situation dramatically. The two main players in the project to dam Patagonia, Endesa Chile (one of the largest electricity-generation companies in Latin America) and Brookfield, have a great deal of experience in other power-generating techniques. Enel, the Italian co-owner of dam builder Endesa, is a world leader in geothermal power (useful in a volcano-filled country like Chile), and Brookfield owns the Prince Wind Farm in Ontario. But given that faster money can be made in Chile with hydroelectricity, it appears that international power companies won't explore other options until they are mandated to do so.

(These companies have a great deal of experience: Wind Power for Europe: Italy to build 500 new wind plants - Enel & Endesa to Participate ,Wind Energy for Chile’s Mines. BHP Billiton and Pacific Hydro to develop 100 megawatt windfarm in Northern Chile – BHP has first option to buy. , Enel SpA, Europe's second largetst utility and Endesa S.A. owner, ready to develop nuclear power across Europe with EdF Energy of France )

It is still not known when the power companies will be allowed to break ground on the project, but Ontario's Ministry of Business Development reported last year that the companies will "conclude the studies and engineering of the project in June 2008, when it will launch the construction tender."

If the Chilean government gives Brookfield the nod to break ground, Brookfield CEO Flatt will go down in history as the man who industrialized one of the last untouched regions on the planet.

"Our shareholders are paying us to produce a high risk-adjusted return but not take a lot of risk for it," he told the Globe and Mail last year. "We want to earn a very good return, not take very many risks, and never get into something where we bet the company."

But is Flatt overestimating what his clients are willing to support to make a buck?

"Of course I want my pension to earn higher interest, but I had no idea that my investments would help industrialize Patagonia," said Derek Johnston, a Vancouver resident who contributes to the Canada Pension Plan. "I've heard about Patagonia, and I want to go there one day. This world is already trashed enough to see a place like that destroyed."

Orrego, the Chilean environmentalist, was shocked when he learned that Canadian pensioners are paying for the industrial advance into Patagonia.

"Canada is a country with an environmentally conscious reputation," he said. "Canadians should act now to stop the Brookfield consortium from participating in a venture that a vast majority of Chileans consider an aberration."

(Sadly, Orrego does not know Canada. Canada has a very sorry reputation when it comes to the environment: 10 Things Canada Does Best - What Canada doesn't do best is hold domestic mining companies accountable for the damage they do abroad. , Mining Misery: Guatemala is one of many countries that has attracted the investment of Canadian Mining Companies – but at what cost to its people? , Thirst for Energy Fuels Controversial Hydroelectric Power Project in Quebec, Canada )

Paula Christensen, a Patagonian who owns a small lodge with her family on Patagonia's picturesque Lake General Carrera, says that the pendulum of Chilean public opinion will soon swing against the Patagonian power scheme.

Christensen's assertion is supported by the fact that Chilean politicians, businesspeople, and Patagonians have joined the green side of the fight against Brookfield. It was no surprise when socialist politicians such as Rene Alinco spoke out against the power scheme, but business insiders were shocked when the powerful Víctor Hugo Puchi, the kingpin of Chile's billion-dollar salmon-farming industry, joined the fight as well. Puchi's conversion is an indication that Brookfield's opposition is growing in both political clout and financial muscle.

Carlos Munoz, a legendary Patagonian fly fisherman, said the power project means that Chileans will lose while foreigners gain. "Like many other Patagonians, I don't think the power is for the Chilean people," he said. "It's mostly for the mining and industrial companies who need power to increase their production and shareholders' prosperity. Only five percent of their sales go to wages and less than five percent of their income to taxes."

Christensen described a television interview she saw with a different type of Chilean: an old, iron-tough Patagonian. She said the nameless man's simple but thought-provoking words about the Patagonian power scheme made the television interviewer so speechless that he was forced to take a commercial break.

"I might be able to buy another piece of land and start all over again, build a small house and buy some cattle," the old man said. "But for sure the ducks, the geese, the fish, the fox, the huemules, the pumas, and the woodpeckers will never come back, and this is a situation that you, sir, who are a rich and cultured man, and the Chilean government will never be able to revert."

Here is the full article by Rick Montgomery.

Hydro-development & mining - of no benefit to Orissa, India's rural people

State Of Disgrace

Excerpted

Even on his pet industrialisation front, Navin’s report card is singularly bare. The ambitious Posco steel plant at Paradeep, the biggest of them all, has run into such rough weather that it is unlikely to take off in the foreseeable future. After burning its fingers in Kalinganagar, the government is wary of using force to break the resistance. It has even stepped aside and allowed the company to deal directly with the people for land. But that does not appear to have helped matters. The other two big-ticket investment proposals – Vedanta Alumina in Lanjigarh (Kalahandi) and Mittal steel plant in Patna (Keonjhar) – have fared no better. If anything, the movement against these two plants is getting stronger by the day. The mega UAIL alumina project, of course, has been in a limbo for nearly a decade now.

Kalahandi, Raygada, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Keonjhar – you name it, the resistance against industry is spreading rapidly throughout the state. People are skeptical about claims that industry will bring jobs for those who are going to be displaced. Similar promises made by industries that have already gone on stream have not been kept, so there’s no reason to believe that things would be different now or in the future. If anything, the scope for employing local people – a significant proportion of whom are tribals and semi literates – is diminishing fast with high technology and increased mechanisation. The locals see the promise of jobs is a mere ploy to make them vacate their land.

In the aftermath of the Kalinganagar bloodbath, the Navin Patnaik government sought to assuage the hurt of the people by coming out with a rehabilitation and reconstruction (R & R) policy. Though claimed as the best in the country, there were few takers for this sop and understandably so. After all, nearly a decade after being driven out of their homes to make way for the joint venture Nilachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), just 115 of the 650 families have been rehabilitated so far. Even those who got the mandatory 10 decimal piece of land are yet to get the patta. If this was the more recent experience, the past experience has been much worse. By the government’s own admission, over 9, 000 families displaced by the first major developmental project in the state, the Hirakud dam, are yet to be rehabilitated.

Navin Patnaik may have become the darling of industrialists and the pink papers, but his affair with them has soured his relationship with the people of the state. If he has acquired even an iota of political understanding during his seven-year rule as Chief Minister, he can see that the industrialisation drive could well prove to be his undoing. May be he has already realised that. But so powerful are the forces that he has unleashed with his single-minded pursuit of industrialisation in the last three years that it would be very difficult for him to put the genie back in the bottle.

Here is the full article.

Senator Horvath proposes changes to controversial HidroAysen powerline project.

(Dec. 6, 2007) Sen. Antonio Horvath of the center-right National Renovation (RN) party has come up with a plan to reroute a 1,200-mile electricity transmission line planned for southern Chile. The proposal is Horvath’s attempt to smooth out one of the major sticking points surrounding the highly controversial HidroAysén hydroelectric project.

A joint venture between Spanish-Italian electricity giant Endesa and Chilean energy company Colbún, the HidroAysén project calls for five massive hydroelectric dams to be built in far southern Chile’s Region XI, an area also known as Aysén. The dams are slated for the region’s two most powerful rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together the five generating facilities would produce an estimated 2,750 MW of electricity – roughly equivalent to 20 percent of the country’s current overall generating capacity.

In order to transport that energy from Patagonia to energy-hungry central and northern Chile, Endesa-Colbún contracted Canadian-owned Transelec to construct a massive power line – the world’s longest – that could involve as many as 5,000 towers and is tentatively planned to cross several national parks and protected zones.

The dam project has attracted significant opposition from local residents and environmental groups who say the dams will be socially and ecologically devastating for the pristine region. The planned transmission line has been a particular lighting rod for criticism. Opponents insist it will be a major blight on the country’s landscape.

There are, however, alternatives, says Sen. Horvath. One possibility would be to redirect the transmission line in order to avoid national parks, reserves and other tourist destinations. In some places the power lines could even be run underwater, as in the case of certain fjords or other ecologically sensitive marine areas, says the RN senator.

“The idea would be to avoid populated areas, tourist attractions and protected areas. There are certain areas that make this a particularly difficult task, for cost reasons basically. And in those areas we’ve looked into the possibility – and even spoken to the companies – about using tunnels or underwater cables,” Horvath told the Santiago Times.

The redesign wouldn’t be cheap. Transelec already expects to spend some US$1.5 billion on the transmission line. Applying this type of redesign could add an additional US$500 million to the already hefty price tag, said Horvath, who has been working with engineers from Seiemens and the Berlin Technical University.

Still, the RN senator insists his proposal is a viable one.

“For many years I was in charge of road building, in particular the camino austral (southern route), and as such I know that there are many valleys in the south that could serve as a route for the cable. The benefit of those valleys is that currently there aren’t any roads there and they aren’t places that either environmentally sensitive or important tourist destinations. We could even take advantage of the situation to build public roads and give the areas a real economic push,” said Horvath.

Here is the full article.

Construction Union slams HydroAysen Projects in Chile

(Dec. 4, 2007) The Coyhaique Construction Workers Union (STCC) this week urged Chile not to be “fooled” by international companies such as Endesa, Colbún and Xstrata which say their plans to dam the Patagonia’s rivers will bring development and jobs to the region.

“We have to defend the Aysén Region,” said STCC President Ricardo Guarategua. “These foreign companies are coming to steal our waters. And the money will all just go back to Spain. It’s time that we ayseninos (Aysén residents) stand up.” The STCC is one of Region XI’s most important labor unions.

Of particular concern to the union is the so-called HidroAysén Project, a planned joint venture by energy companies Endesa and Colbún that calls for the construction of five massive hydroelectric dams. Together the dams, slated for the Baker and Pascua Rivers, would generate 2,750 MW of electricity – roughly equivalent to 20 percent of Chile’s current overall current generating capacity.

Endesa, one of the world’s largest energy companies, is co-owned by Italian utility Enel (67 percent) and Spanish construction firm Acciona (25 percent). Colbún, owned by the Matte Group, is Chilean and also counts with investment from Chile’s Angelini group. A third company, Swiss mining firm Xstrata, also has plans to build hydroelectric dams in the region.

“Our union has gathered information and studied the subject,” said José Cayún, the STCC’s vice president. “We also remember what happened when Alumysa (an aluminum smelting company) wanted to set up shop. They said the same thing: development for the region, more work for the people, that the quality of life for the region’s worker would improve. But it was all a big lie. Now they come along with these dams and promise us the same thing. But it’s also a lie.”

The STCC joins an ever growing list of organizations opposing the Patagonia dam projects. Other opponents include the Region XI-based Citizen Coalition for Aysén Life Reserve, the Santiago-based environmental group Ecosistemas and several U.S. NGOs, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and the International Rivers Network.

The union leader’s comments come in the wake of the recent Cavalcade for a Patagonia without Dams, a nine-day Region XI horseback ride trek organized to bring attention to the issue. The cavalcade’s approximately 100 riders completed their journey in Coyhaique, the Aysén capital, early last week (ST, Nov. 28).

Opponents of HidroAysén project say it would be environmentally and socially devastating for the pristine region. Not only does the plan involve extensive flooding, but it also calls for building a 2,000-kilometer transmission line – the world’s longest – that would cut through thousands of acres of protected and unprotected wilderness area.

Backers of the project say it is a necessary step toward meeting Chile’s increasing appetite for electricity, which grows by more than 6 percent annually. Endesa and Colbún also argue that their US$2.5 billion project would bring jobs to the area – particularly construction jobs.

Those jobs, however, represent only a short-term benefit, said José Cayún, who insisted there’s nothing contradictory about a construction worker’s union opposing a massive construction project.

“Our people might get excited when they talk about bringing 4,000 jobs* to the region, but we don’t think it’ll really work out like that. They’ll need workers, for clearing and building roads, but it’ll just be for a few years and only for qualified people. Once the roads are built, and the project completed, they’ll send those workers home… And it may not be us, but our children and grandchildren will suffer the polluting affects during all the years that the dams last,” he said.

(Four thousand jobs to build the project but SIGNIFICANTLY less to operate it. IBENER S.A.'s two hydroelectric stations on the Duqueco River require 25 employees to operate: Professionals & Executives = 8, Technicians = 10, Administrative = 5, Aides = 2. See: IBENER S.A. 2002 Annual Report.)

Here is the full article.

China leaders petitioned on Burma dam projects

Burma anti-dam activists sent a petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao urging him to better regulate Chinese companies involved in the construction of 10 hydropower projects worth $30 billion in military-run Burma.

The Burma Rivers Network petition - endorsed by 50,000 ``affected people,'' 98 Burma organizations and 24 international organizations - called on the Chinese government to require the 10 Chinese companies involved in dam building in Burma to conduct proper social and environmental impact studies and reveal details on the projects to the affected communities.

``The dams would represent over 30 billion dollars in investment, `` the petition said.

``This would be by far the biggest inflow of money to a military regime that Transparency International rates as the world's second most corrupt.''

China is currently under considerable pressure from the international community to use its close economic relations with Burma's ruling junta to bring about political reform in the country after a brutal crackdown in September on peaceful anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks.

``These Chinese dams will cause huge environmental and social damage for the peoples in Burma and will damage China's international image,'' said Aung Ngyeh, spokesman of the Burma Rivers Network.

The Burma Rivers Network, a non-governmental organization comprised of representatives of ethnic organizations from potential dam-affected communities in the country once known as Burma, has used its petition to highlight the extent of Chinese companies' involvement in Burma's hydropower sector, which has been largely ignored because of a lack of publicity and transparency surrounding the deals.

Here is the full article.

Journeyman Pictures presents "Damming of the Biobio River" - Endesa SA verses the Mapuche - What to expect from Endesa during the HydroAysen struggle.

A MUST SEE VIDEO: The historic struggle of the Mapuche against Endesa SA will provide an insight to all those who oppose Endesa's HidroAysen Project.

The damming of the Biobìo River was a pivotal conflict for Chile - a battle between new democracy and the shady world of Pinochet's fascism.

When civilian government returned in 1990 an indigenous Law was passed. It allowed the Mapuche people threatened by the Endesa dams to register claims.

Yet most people were simply too scared to complain. "They're afraid in case the government gets angry with them [and] sends the military to smash them" But a brave few are testing out the new law.

Two lawyers fight it out over a key parcel of land. They represent the two sides of Chile's past. The Mapuche's lawyer: a former exile and prisoner of Pinochet's
regime. Endesa's lawyer: a founding member of the firm. It's a
tough fight.

Many of today's Chilean senators, judges and military officers were hand selected by Pinochet. Attending the 24th anniversary of his ascension to power it's clear that his influence is intact. The video shows him getting more medals while a military band salute his honour.

As he still receives support from home, the Mapuche lawyer neatly sums it up: "The government of Pinochet ended, but not the power of Pinochet."

Here is the video on youtube: Damming the Biobio River

Enrique Accorsi, President of the Chamber of Deputies’ Environmental Commission backs demands of anti-dam cavalcade

(Nov. 29, 2007) Dep. Enrique Accorsi (PPD), the president of the Chamber of Deputies’ Environmental Commission, offered a gesture of support Tuesday evening for the aims of the Cavalcade for a Patagonia without Dams (Cabalgata Patagonia Sin Represas).

Although the Cabalgata concluded its nine-day tour of XI Region to protest of the proposed HydroAysén dam project on Tuesday, the protestors mailed a list of grievances to Regional Governor Viviana Betancourt before their journey began. Their letter called for measures to promote sustainable, locally-based economic growth and also denounced the ownership of the region’s water rights by corporate interests, insisting they be returned to the people of Aysén.

On Tuesday, Dep. Accorsi publicly insisted that Regional Govenor Betancourt respond to the protestors’ letter. Accorsi had intended to travel to Coyhaique, the capital of Aysén region, to greet the Cabalgata but cancelled at the last minute due to illness.

Still, for leaders of the Cabalgata, Accorsi’s actions represented a strong show of political support for their movement. They hope the intervention of the national lawmaker will produce concrete results in their campaign. On Tuesday they dismissed the governor’s initial response to their demands as “unsatisfactory.”

Accorsi told the Santiago Times Wednesday that the Commission was working to address the protestors’ concerns.

“Unfortunately, the current legislation allows the waters of our country, the waters of all the Chilean people, to remain in the hands of a few,” he said. “We want to promulgate a new framework for environmental law in this country.”

Accorsi also stressed the importance of promoting non-conventional, renewable energy sources that provide alternatives to large-scale hydro-electric projects like HydroAysén.

Here is the full article.