Environmental Impacts

International Relations Center: Damming Patagonia's Rivers: A Dirty Energy Business

Friday, May 23, 2008
Originally published by Americas Program, Center for International Policy The Pascua River, in Chilean Patagonia, has many qualities that have kept its stunning, rugged beauty intact and virtually unknown—so far. Only one road leads anywhere near the Pascua, and that's a rough road that takes you to the end of the river's course. To get to the head of the Pascua, because of the impassable terrain along both its sides, you have to backtrack up that lonely road and travel away from the river and into the town of Villa O'Higgins, located near Chile's border with Argentina. There you catch a r

Home Depot in Middle of Patagonian Dam Debate

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Originally published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution Five years after signing an agreement to protect Chile's native forests, Home Depot is being accused by an environmental group of reneging on the spirit of the pledge.The group, International Rivers based in Berkeley, Calif., is asking Home Depot to pressure two of its Chilean wood suppliers to abandon a controversial dam project in Patagonia. The Chilean region is cherished by environmentalists as one of the world's last great wilderness expanses.But Home Depot believes International Rivers is barking up the wrong tree, so to speak.The

Review of Environmental Impact Assessment for Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
This review of the August 2007 drafts of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan for the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project was conducted by independent researcher David Blake. According to Blake, the EIA fails to adequately examine impacts from the existing Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project such as loss of land from erosion and increased flooding. These impacts will only intensify under the expansion project. Nor does it discuss the extent to which mitigation and compensation measures implemented to date have dealt with the impacts. The review co

Brazil to Build $15.6 Billion in Dams in Amazon Region (Water And Wastewater International)

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
On Dec. 10, 2007, a consortium of Brazilian companies won an auction to build and operate the 3,150 megawatt (MW) Santo Antonio dam on the Madeira River in the Amazon rainforest near Bolivia. Consorcio Madeira Energetica, led by large construction company Construtora Norberto Odebrecht SA, beat out two other consortiums formed by Spain’s Endesa SA and Franco–Belgian utility Suez. The winning group includes participation of state–owned electricity company Furnas Centrais Elétricas SA, engineering company Andrade Gutierrez Participações SA, Cemig Geração e Transmissão SA power utilit

"Stop Patagonia Dams" says The New York Times

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Now that The New York Times - an international opinion leader - has taken a stand, your action to stop the dams will have much more impact. Please read the editorial and take action to help us in the fight to protect the Baker and Pascua rivers in Patagonia. You can help prevent the damming of Patagonia's pristine rivers: Tell the corporations involved to leave the Baker and Pascua rivers alone! Patagonia Without DamsThe New York Times, EditorialApril 1, 2008Recently, environmental activists and local residents gathered near the small Chilean town of Cochrane to protest a plan to build a serie

International Campaign Targets Companies Threatening Patagonian Rivers

Friday, March 14, 2008
Environmental Irresponsibility: Chile's Matte Group and Italy's Enel International Rivers today publicly launched new pressure tactics against Italian and Chilean companies that want to dam the Baker and Pascua rivers in Chilean Patagonia. The new tactics include asking the 50 largest building materials companies in the US—Chile’s best export market—to question Chile’s Matte Group wood products linked to these dams. A letter-writing campaign coordinated with Jane Goodall’s organization is contacting consumers and school children throughout the US, and an online multi-medi

China's New Global Role and the Environment

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Presentation by Peter Bosshard, Policy Director, International Rivers Wednesday, February 13, 2008 5:30-6:00pm reception; 6:00pm program The Commonwealth Club 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA Chinese companies are rapidly developing dams, mines and oil projects around the world. Does China's new global role offer an alternative to Western dominance for Southern countries? Or does China's quest for resources spell doom for the world's rivers, forests and climate? What is our responsibility as consumers of products that are made in China? Bosshard will explore

Nam Ngum Hydropower Cascade Threatens Poverty Reduction in Laos

Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Poor sector planning, lack of public participation aggravate social and environmental impacts described in ADB report A report presented in Vientiane today on the cumulative impacts of hydropower development in Laos' Nam Ngum river basin indicates that proposed dams would have serious impacts on the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Laotians. But the flawed planning process makes it unlikely that this Asian Development Bank (ADB)-supported cumulative impact assessment (CIA) will have any influence over decisions taken on whether or how to proceed with these hydropower schemes. The CIA con

Help Save Patagonia’s Rivers! International Day of Action for Rivers, March 13

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Two of Chile’s most spectacular rivers - the Baker and Pascua - are threatened by plans to build five large dams that will flood rare temperate rainforest, habitat for several endangered species, as well as some of Patagonia’s best ranching lands. The power lines needed to transport the electricity would require one of the world's longest clearcuts -much of it through untouched temperate rainforests of a type found nowhere else on the planet. International Rivers - a group dedicated to protecting rivers and the rights of people dependent on those rivers - is working with Chilean envir

Lao Dam Cover-Up: Scientist Protests Deceptive EIA Report

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The environmental scientist originally hired to conduct the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project in Laos has disassociated his group from the official report. Instead of accepting Dr. Murray Watson’s original – and highly critical – report, the Company ceased communicating with him and hired a Norwegian company, Norplan, to complete the EIA. Watson states that while the Norplan EIA claims to be based on his investigations, the EIA comes to different conclusions regarding the risks of the planned expansion project. According to Watson, “the N

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