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dam-l bio-bio article



>Return-Path: <owner-irn-biobio@igc.org>
>From: owner-irn-biobio@igc.org
>Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 11:05:10 -0700 (PDT)
>>Subject: Gov't Energy Policy Under Fire in Ralco Battle
>To: "undisclosed-recipients:;"@lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
>
>>
>>http://www.link.no/IPS/art/eng/serv/LA/98/08/26/23.11_097.html
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>Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:57:10 -0700
>From: aleta@irn.org (Aleta Brown)
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>>By Gustavo Gonzalez
>>SANTIAGO, Aug 26 (IPS) - Environmentalists in Chile criticised the
>>government's energy policy as ''irresponsible'' Wednesday, while warning
>>that the giant Ralco dam would trigger an environmental disaster - besides
>>violating laws protecting indigenous rights.
>>
>>Activists submitted a proposal for a sustainable energy policy in the midst
>>of the ongoing conflict over the construction of the Ralco hydroelectric dam
>>on the upper stretch of the Bio-bio river, some 500 kms south of Santiago.
>>
>>The mega-project has been on hold for the past two weeks, due to the staunch
>>refusal of seven indigenous Pehuenche families to leave their land, which
>>will be flooded when the reservoir is filled in.
>>
>>The Action Group for the Bio-bio (GABB), the Sustainable Chile Programme and
>>the Institute of Political Ecology (IEP) accused the centre-left coalition
>>government of President Eduardo Frei and Endesa, the Chilean company
>>involved in the project, of distorting the debate surrounding Ralco.
>>
>>The government and Endesa point out that the seven families are a small
>>minority compared to 84 other indigenous families who agreed to swap their
>>ancestral lands for property offered by Endesa.
>>
>>Chilean authorities and Endesa maintain that if the dam - slated to produce
>>570 megawatts a year - is not built, the country will find itself short of
>>electricity by the year 2002.
>>
>>''To say that only seven families of Pehuenches, backed by 'eco-
>>terrorists', are against 14 million Chileans who are going to have to 'turn
>>their lights off' is an intelligent propaganda maneuvre by the government
>>and Endesa,'' said Sara Larrain, the president of the Sustainable Chile
>>Programme.
>>
>>But that accusation is false, she maintained, because studies have
>>demonstrated that it is possible to obtain the same amount of electricity -
>>or even more - through rational use plans and the ''recovery'' of energy.
>>
>>GABB's Juan Pablo Orrego noted that the chairwoman of the National Energy
>>Commission, Maria Eugenia Gonzalez, initially said Ralco was not the best
>>solution for Chile, while the National Environment Commission (CONAMA)
>>rejected Endesa's environmental impact study.
>>
>>The environmentalists argue that in its eagerness to give the Endesa project
>>the green light, the Frei administration made changes in the institutions
>>governing the environment - removing officials opposed to Ralco, for example
>>- and that it now planned to violate laws on indigenous rights.
>>
>>The proposal presented by the Sustainable Chile Programme is based on a
>>study by the University of Chile's Energy Research Programme, which analyses
>>the possibility of diversifying the country's energy sources and using them
>>more efficiently.
>>
>>Larrain underlined that while Chile's annual average Gross Domestic Product
>>growth stood at seven percent, its energy consumption was growing by 10
>>percent a year - figures she said clearly revealed inefficient use of energy
>>as the two indexes were in line in most countries.
>>
>>The proposal for a sustainable energy policy is designed to correct that
>>imbalance and promote the adequate generation of electricity from natural
>>gas to be imported from Argentina, the development of unconventional
>>sources, energy saving and efficient consumption habits.
>>
>>The Frei administration was favouring a company, Endesa, whose bottom line
>>was profits, which meant it was interested in constantly growing demand
>>rather than the rational use of energy, she warned.
>>
>>Chile's Endesa is part of the Enersis consortium, which entered into
>>association last year with Spain's Endesa, in a financial operation
>>tarnished by charges that the Chilean executives - currently facing a
>>lawsuit brought by the state - lined their pockets with illegally obtained
>>money.
>>
>>IEP president Manuel Baquedano pointed out that Pablo Rodriguez, a former
>>leader of the extreme right, was serving as defence lawyer for the former
>>Enersis executives at the same time he defended Endesa in the litigation
>>with the seven Pehuenche families.
>>
>>According to Chile's Law on Indigenous Development, Baquedano stressed, the
>>seven Pehuenche families could not be forced to trade their lands to Endesa.
>>He added that a majority of the other 84 families were tricked into agreeing
>>to the land swap.
>>
>>Orrego cited a specific case, publicised by a TV report, of an elderly
>>Pehuenche woman who was forced by Endesa's lawyers to sign her land over in
>>exchange for cash and the offer of medical assistance.
>>
>>Larrain noted that in accordance with the Law on Indigenous Development, it
>>was the government's duty to keep pressure from being applied against the
>>Pehuenches, and to make sure the land swap contracts were drafted in the
>>indigenous community's language, which was not done.
>>
>>Meanwhile, the Ralco dam could cause an environmental disaster, Orrego
>>warned. But, he added, in the conflict with the Pehuenche families, the
>>question of the project's potential environmental impact has tended to fade
>>into the background.
>>
>>Ralco, combined with the Pangue dam which has already been built by Endesa,
>>would cause the destruction of some 70 kms of the 400-km long Bio-bio river,
>>Chile's largest river, which runs from the Andes mountains to the Pacific
>>ocean. In other words, said Orrego, it would destroy half of the upper
>>stretch of the river, which is home to a unique ecosystem with endemic
>>species of flora and fauna, many of which are endangered.
>>
>>The 14-km Pangue reservoir and the 35-km Ralco reservoir would flood around
>>4,000 hectares of land and turn a continuously flowing river system into a
>>lake, he explained.
>>
>>That would alter not only the river's biodiversity, Orrego added, but would
>>disrupt the chain of organic food sediment that makes the Gulf of Arauco, in
>>the Pacific, one of the world's richest fishing grounds.
>
>(END/IPS/tra-so/ggr/ag/sw/98)
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>
>Aleta Brown
>Campaign Associate
>International Rivers Network
>1847 Berkeley Way
>Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
>Phone: 1.510.848.1155
>Fax: 1.510.848.1008
>email: aleta@irn.org
>http://www.irn.org
>
>
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