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Subject: LS: Work to Restart at Ralco Next Month
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Date: March 17, 2000
Subject: Work to Restart at Ralco Next Month
Source: CHIP News
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Power company Endesa Chile said work would restart at its
controversial Ralco hydroelectric station in Region VIII on April 1. The
decision, made Tuesday but only made public on Thursday, follows the
publication in the Official Gazette authorizing two Economy Ministry
decrees giving the project the final go-ahead. The company suspended work
on March 1, saying it would not proceed with Ralco until the decrees are
formalized.
The decrees, which were approved by the Comptroller General of the
Republic last week, authorize Endesa to continue building the dam and
transmission lines to connect the project to the Central Power Grid
(SIC). Endesa president Pablo Yrarrazabal said work should be complete by
2003, when the 570 MW plant will start supplying 18 percent of the SIC's
energy needs.
Ecology groups opposed to the US$568 million project argue that
Endesa does not own the land to be flooded by the reservoir, and point out
that 10 local Pehuenche families are refusing to leave the site.
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Ignacio Fernandez A.
International Rivers Network Internet Coordinator
http://www.irn.org/ ignacio@irn.org
Phone: 510-848-1155 ext.307 Fax: 510-848-1008
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"There is no longer such a thing as a purely natural weather event"
Dr Mike Hulme, UEA Norwich UK