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Dams Threatens Belize
Wildlife Habitat
Plans by Fortis Inc. and Duke Energy puts endangered jaguar, Scarlett Macaw
and other wildlife at risk
The endangered jaguar and Scarlet Macaw are just two of the many species
threatened by a massive dam project that would flood and destroy one of the
continent's most important tropical wildlife habitats.
Fortis Inc. -- a billion-dollar Canadian corporation that owns real estate,
hotels and utilities -- and Duke Energy International (of North Carolina)
are the moving forces behind a plan to build a hydroelectric dam and
reservoir that would obliterate a crucial stretch of the Macal River in
Belize -- one of Central America's very last undisturbed tropical
floodplain habitats.
The Belizean government and Fortis Inc. are partners in Belize Electricity
Limited -- the company that will build and profit from the dam. The company
has issued completely inadequate environmental studies to support its plans
for the project. For the time being, those studies have not been accepted
by Belizean environmental authorities, and the application for building the
dam has been delayed.
But Belize Electricity Limited has attempted to steamroll the approval
process for the dam without public knowledge or comment. And widespread
concern exists that financial interests will ultimately overwhelm the
government's environmental considerations.
One company with significant financial interests in the project is
U.S.-based Duke Energy International.
Duke already owns an existing dam on the Macal River at Mollejon --
downstream from the proposed Chalillo dam. Duke's dam can run at only 35
percent of generating capacity because it is handicapped by a lack of
waterflow during the dry season.
The main purpose of building the new and bigger Chalillo dam upstream is to
increase water storage capacity and make Duke Energy's existing dam more
profitable. In the end, Duke Energy likely will sell its dam to the owners
of the new dam and make a hefty profit. Meanwhile, the $30 million in costs
of building the new dam are predicted to raise electricity rates for
Belizeans and bring them no economic benefit. Even more troubling, since
construction of Duke Power's smaller dam, the residents of one downstream
community -- who depend on the river for fishing, bathing and drinking --
have been suffering from water contamination and skin rashes. The new dam
would only compound these problems.
The area threatened by the new dam lies inside the "government-protected"
Chiquibul Forest Reserve (and includes part of Chiquibul National Park) and
is unmatched for its rich biodiversity. The Macal River and its tributaries
contain the only known nesting sites in all Belize for the largest kind of
Scarlet Macaw -- a subspecies which numbers fewer than 250 individuals.
These colorful birds mate for life, raising their young in the hollows of
trees along the river, which also boasts some of our continent's best
remaining jaguar habitat. The area is also home to other rare and
endangered animals, including the ocelot, the Central American river otter,
the Morelet's crocodile, the Central American spider monkey, and the tapir
(the national animal of Belize).
Many of these animals are extinct in many of their other former habitats,
where logging and development have already decimated once-lush, tropical
river ecosystems. And because the Macal floodplain is so remote and lies
inside the Chiquibul Forest Reserve and National Park, it sees little human
intrusion and hunting. As a result, prey is plentiful, and predators -- big
cats, crocodiles, and raptors -- have flourished. But that success in
protecting endangered species will be short-lived if Belize allows the
Chalillo dam project to go forward. Please act now to defend the
irreplaceable wildlife of the Macal River.
Act Now!
Use the forms provided in NRDC's web site: www.nrdc.org
to send letters of protest to Fortis, Inc. and Duke Energy telling them
to withdraw the destructive Chalillo project and instead show good
corporate citizenship by protecting, not destroying, Belize's wildlife
habitat.
Or use the sample letters