Ashaninka of the
Date: Monday, October 6, 2008 - 06:21
Just a final volley before I leave on three months of sabbatical.
First, a couple of Quotable Quotes - we´ve often wondered what planet Jerson Kelman, head of Brazil´s electricity regulatory agency comes from, and perhaps he´s now given us a clue. On October 1, Kelman told a meeting of electric sector executives that "there is an ideological, nearly religious objection to hydroelectric dams in Brazil", and that "if a Martian landed in Brazil, he would not understand why Brazilians are ignoring their great hydroelectric potential". Only an alien would not know that nearly all (85%) of Brazil´s electricity comes from dams, and that in the future, if his electric sector colleagues have their way, nearly all the rivers of Amazonia will be dedicated to their genuine vocation - turning hydroelectric turbines.
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 - 03:08
Ecuadorian President Rafael CorreaEcuador´s President Rafael Correa has now taken the bold step of kicking Brazilian dam-building giant Odebrecht out of the country. Odebrecht officials have reported taken sanctuary in the Brazilian embassy in Quito, and Correa now says Ecuador may elect to default on a loan of more than $200 million from Brazil´s National Development Bank, BNDES for construction of San Francisco Dam. The problem, as described in my blog last week, was the Brazilians´ shoddy worksmanship, and their refusal to compensate Ecuador for damages to the dam.
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - 07:12
Alstom Company Headquartersarchive
On the same day that Alstom announced its biggest contract ever for dam-building equipment - a US$700 million deal to furnish turbines and other materials for Santo Antonio Dam on the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon, Brazil´s federal prosecutors announced they will begin a new investigation into charges that the company handed out millions in bribes to politicians in São Paulo to win a lucrative Metro contract.
Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 06:13
San Francisco Dam, EcuadorClifford J. Schexnayder
Just a year ago, things were looking rosy for the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which had just finished building a large dam in Ecuador, called San Francisco.
Now, with serious problems with its turbines and conduction tunnels shutting down the 350 MW project, Ecuador´s President Rafael Correa has given Odebrecht a final ultimatum to fix its dam or leave the country.
Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2008 - 12:32
A wise old Chinese philosopher once said "Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me". Brazil´s granting of a construction license for Santo Antônio Dam, on the Madeira River, made it clear that responsibility must be shared for the shameful way in which environmental laws have been blatantly ignored in order to hasten the destruction of the Amazon´s major tributary.
Date: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 - 10:55
Brazilian Military in AmazonarchiveI know I should be working, but this one caught my eye: "Brazil defends Amazon dam in simulated war. Beginning yesterday, the `Green´ country (Brazil) will be invaded by the `Yellow´ country, which will occupy Balbina Dam and mineral-rich areas in the Amazon." The Brazilian Navy, Army, and Air Force will mobilize to halt the nefarious "Yellow" plans. According to the operation´s site, the principal objective is to protect the dam and electric system installations.
Date: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 - 10:24
Dilma Rousseff, Lula´s Chief-of-StaffAntônio Cruz/ABr
Like a stern mother scolding disobedient children, President Lula´s Chief-of-Staff Dilma Rousseff has threatened the Madeira dams consortia that if they go to court to contest the terms of project concessions, the Brazilian government will build the dams itself.
The maternal comparison is fitting because Rousseff, being groomed as the Workers Party candidate in the 2010 presidential election, has been declared by Lula to be "the Mother of PAC", the government´s Plan to Accelerate Growth, based upon building large-scale infrastructure projects.
Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 16:53
In characteristic heavy-handed fashion, Brazil´s electricity
bureaucracy last week went through the motions of assuring the public and environmental licensing authorities that Belo Monte will be
stand-alone dam on the Xingu River. In attempting to explain the
decision, Jerson Kelman, Director-General of the electrical energy
regulatory body, ANEEL, said "Technically, there´s no reason not to
build other dams (on the river)". Kelman termed the decision
"political", designed to satisfy those who want the dam. "It´s a
typical case of giving up your rings to keep your fingers", he said.
(Ouch!)
Date: Friday, July 25, 2008 - 07:05
Lula, Minc and others protest Angra III nuclear plant, 1989archive
What happens when activists, or idealists enter in the government? The papers are full of accounts of government corruption, but is the converse also true - that governments corrupt, turning activists into staunch defenders of vested interests? Case in point - yesterday´s approval of a provisisonal license for the Angra III nuclear plant by Environmental Minister Carlos Minc.
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 12:48
Amid continued calls by dam builders to accelerate environmental licensing in Brazil, a battle looms between industry giants which could delay the damming of the Madeira River.
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 11:01
Look for me on your favorite blog reader. I posted this entry just so they'd give me a Technorati Profile. :)
Date: Saturday, July 5, 2008 - 17:51
V.P. Alencar, Cabinet Chief Gilberto Carvalho, and Lula at his "Festa Junina" PartyFábio Rodrigues Pozzebom/ABrSorry to have taken so long between blogs, but I've been out on the road launching our new book "Muddy Waters" on the Madeira River hydroelectric projects.
Catching up on the news, I found this item rather provocative: Gilberto Carvalho, Brazilian President Lula's Cabinet Chief told Veja Magazine "Lula has the head of a worker from the ABC (industrial zone near São Paulo). His basic concern is with jobs and salaries. I see this every day...I want to make this very clear: He thinks that preserving the environment is important, but if it's between a little piece of savanna or soybeans, he's a soybean guy. The environment is important, but not decisive. What's decisive is the economy".
Date: Monday, June 9, 2008 - 10:03
In the third and final part of my interview, I venture into the shifting sands of Brazilian politics - along with football and religion, talking politics is always risky behavior.
Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - 15:47
In the second part of my interview, I talk about irregularities in the Madeira River dams licensing process, and why I feel there is still a chance to halt projects planned for the Madeira and Xingu.
Date: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - 09:26
I recently was interviewed by Brazil´s Instituto Humanitas Unisinos, and probably said a lot more than I should have. The first part of my interview, translated into English is about energy alternatives for Brazil.
Date: Friday, May 23, 2008 - 11:11
Kayapó leader Tuira receives Tenotã-Mõ book from women activistsThe attack on the Eletrobrás official set off a series of recriminations, aimed at discrediting the movement. But, the Kayapó re-oriented their actions towards moving forward in their defense of the Xingu.Calling the regional Federal Attorney to the table, the Kayapó brought all their chiefs to address him, saying "we are authorities of our people, too. We want to make it very clear how we stand regarding the dams planned for the Xingu."One chief brought his daughter with him. Embracing her, he said "What I am saying is not for me - it is for her, and for my grandchildren. We want the waters of the Xingu to be clean, and full of fish."
Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 04:32
Kayapó dance at the Belo Monte protestShock. Despair. I was on the panel discussing the impacts of Belo Monte Dam, when about eight Kayapó Indians incensed at the defense of the project by state company Eletrobrás' project manager, Paulo Fernando Rezende who had been invited to the encounter, suddenly rushed him. They threw him to the ground about ten feet from me. Chanting and waving machetes, the Kayapó pushed NGO leaders raising their hands and calling for calm out of the way, and in the scuffle, Rezende emerged with a cut on his shoulder. He was treated at the Transamazon Hospital and released later in the evening.
Date: Monday, May 19, 2008 - 14:45
Parakanã celebrate arrival with dance Preparations are heating up for the opening of the Xingu Indigenous Gathering. Buses arrive every hour from distant towns such as Redenção, Tucumã, and Colíder, bringing indigenous families to Altamira, to discuss the future of the Xingu Basin.
I spend the early part of the afternoon talking with leaders of the Xikrin indigenous group, who have been approached by Brazilian state electric company Eletrobrás to "accept" the Belo Monte Dam project. We talk awhile and it becomes clear that the company has never mentioned the impacts the world's third largest dam would have on their land and resources, drying out the Bacajá, affecting water quality and quantity, fish stocks, and the health of the Xikrin.
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 10:27
former Brazilian environment minister, Marina SilvaRoosewelt Pinheiro/ABrMarina Silva´s resignation yesterday as environment minister has shredded the last guise of any environmental credibility in the Brazilian government. It´s not that Marina´s tenure was so incredibly successful - her opposition to GMOs resulted only in getting two companies to put a tiny "T" symbol on their soy oil, and we´ll never be able to forgive Marina, as good soldier dismantling the environmental protection agency Ibama, and pulling the switch executing the Madeira River at Lula´s orders.
Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 09:41
Dorothy Stang, murdered American nunarchiveSeeing him waving the "V' for victory sign yesterday, and hearing him thank divine justice for his acquittal on appeal after initially being convicted and sentenced to 30 years, rancher Vitalmiro de Moura Bastos, or "Bida" reminded me of the killers of civil rights workers in the South who smirked when were absolved for their crimes. But, this is the Amazon, not the South, and it´s 2008. And, the murder Bida was absolved of was that of an American nun, Dorothy Stang, rather than a Black youth who dared to assert his rights.
Date: Friday, April 25, 2008 - 08:29
Fernando LugoPhoto by Antônio Cruz, ABrThe victory by Fernando Lugo last Sunday in Paraguay´s presidential elections has sent ripples through the energy ministries of Brazil and Argentina, based upon his assertion that the Itaipu and Yacyretá Dam treaties must be re-negotiated to guarantee a fair deal for his country.
Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - 19:46
There was a time when Brazil´s groundbreaking environmental laws, based upon its
constitution (article 225) which guarantees its citizens the right to a healthy environment were considered a global model. Not anymore.
Date: Monday, March 31, 2008 - 07:39
News item: "The legendary American musician Bob Dylan went bicycle riding disguised as a woman at Punta del Este, Uruguay, where he closed out his Latin America tour."
Date: Friday, March 14, 2008 - 03:27
Sete Quedas Waterfall flooded by Itaipu reservoirarchive25 years ago, in October 1982, the planet´s greatest waterfall was drowned, a victim of the filling of Itaipu Reservoir (Brazil/Paraguay). The so-called "Seven Falls of Guaíra", or "Sete Quedas", in reality a series of 18 waterfalls, were at 114 meters in height not the world´s tallest falls, but they were easily the most powerful in volume, with more than double the flow of Niagara Falls and 12 times the flow over Victoria Falls.
Date: Friday, March 7, 2008 - 13:15
Tuira Kayapó, Altamira Gathering, 1989Paulo JaresYesterday´s announcement that José Antônio Muniz Lopes will be the new president of Brazil´s state electric holding company Eletrobrás has caused tremors in the villages of indigenous people living along the rivers of Amazonia. Muniz, despite his long experience as an engineer for Brazilian state electric companies, is best known as having received a close shave by the Kayapó woman warrior, Tuíra, at the 1989 Altamira gathering protesting dams on the Xingu.
Date: Sunday, March 2, 2008 - 02:52
Outside my window, the rain falls in buckets. Saint Peter, chief of the heavens must be heeding the prayers of the druids of Brazil´s Mines and Energy Ministry, who labor tirelessly to prevent the country´s power grid from falling victim to blackouts, as it did in 2001-2002.