Chilean Wood Magnate in Sights of International NGO for Participation in Dam Project

After successfully leading an aggressive campaign in the the US against Chilean forestry companies, in 2003 the lawyer-environmentalist Aaron Sanger achieved an unprecedented agreement for protection of native forests with CMPC and Arauco. Four years later and in honor of this agreement - that moreover is valid and thanks to which more than 500,000 hectares of native forest have been protected in the country - Sanger wrote a letter to the president of CMPC, Eliodoro Matte, in which Sanger expressed his concern over the development of HidroAysen [project to dam Chile's Baker and Pascua Rivers], because it would require the clearcutting or inundation of thousands of hectares of native forest.

In the missive, dated 24 September in Bellingham, the lawyer advised that he no longer worked with ForestEthics, the NGO with which he achieved the agreement for protection of Chilean native forests, and that he had "joined the US organization IRN and would lead its campaign against HidroAysen." Moreover, he advised that "ForestEthics cannot continue the work with CMPC if the Matte Group continues with HidroAysen."

Sanger urged Matte to utlilize renewable energy, indicating that "you are an innovative and visionary thinker. Chile needs this kind of thinking to transform itself into the world's leader in generating electricity by wind and solar energy. Also, last April in the CEP seminar, I was strongly moved by your strong commitment to Chile's natural patrimony, and I hope that your environmental ethics will lead you to question the Matte Group's participation in HidroAysen. And, I hope that you seriously consider whether the controversy about this project is in the best interests of the Matte Group."