In the Media

Christian Science Monitor: The Big Chill on Carbon Offsets

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Up to two-thirds of the UN-approved projects do nothing to reduce carbon.Editorial published in the Christian Science Monitor, 29 May 2008Before Congress attacks global warming with a cap on greenhouse gases – and then allows firms to pollute if they buy "carbon offsets" elsewhere – lawmakers should consult the UN's abysmal record in this slippery type of trading.The UN set up its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to help companies in industrialized countries invest in projects in poorer nations that cut greenhouse-gas emissions as part of their countries' commitment under the Kyoto Protoc

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

Cambodia plans Chinese funded dams (Radio Broadcast)

Thursday, May 22, 2008
Cambodia plans to pick up the pace of its electricity generating sector with nine new hydro electric dams slated for construction in the next eleven years.Presenter: Bill BainbridgeSpeakers: Chan Sophal, Economist with the Cambodian Development Resource Institute; Philip Hirsch, Professor of Geosciences at the University of Sydney; Carl Middleton, Researcher, International Rivers Network Listen to the Radio Program: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/programguide/stories/m1587041.asx (note: program my only work in a Windows operating system with Windows Media Player)

15,000 to be Displaced by Proposed Amazon Dams

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Another great video about the Xingu Encounter and what's at stake, from the Real News Network.

Battling for Water in the Amazon

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo reports from Altamira, Brazil in this feature on the impacts of the Belo Monte Dam and on the Xingu Encounter 2008.

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

Cambodia plans to open nine hydropower dams by 2019

Monday, May 19, 2008
Article from AFP Online PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia will construct controversial Chinese-fundeddams as part of a plan to feed its electricity-starved economy, accordingto government documents obtained Monday by AFP.The Southeast Asian country will open nine dams of various sizes between2010 and 2019 to generate 1,942 megawatts of power, according to agovernment report to parliament obtained by AFP. At least four of the damswill be backed by China.The US-based International Rivers Network last year said that twoChinese-funded hydroelectric dams already under construction threatened toflood huge

Three power plants delay export

Friday, May 16, 2008
Article from KPL, Lao News Agency Developers of three hydropower plants have made a proposal to the government to put off the export of electricity generated by them one year after the original plan. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mining, the three power plants included Nam Ngum III, Nam Theun I and Nam Ngieb I.Nam Ngum III and Nam Theun I have proposed the delay from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2014 and Nam Ngieb I from January 2014 to January of 2015.The director of the Energy Commerce and Promotion Department, Mr. Saypaseuth Phomsoupha, said, "that the developers of the investment

China Plays Down Dam Failure Concerns

Friday, May 16, 2008
Originally published in the Financial Times Last updated: May 16 2008 17:17If Engineer Yue was worried about lingering just downstream of the dam that has been the focus of fears of catastrophic infrastructure failure caused by China's earthquake, he was certainly not showing it.Despite the large cracks clearly visible on the 156m-tall Zipingpu dam's façade and reports that it might be unsound, Mr Yue said on Friday he was confident it had safely survived the 7.9 magnitude tremor that rocked the area on ­Monday."The managers... are all in their offices," said Mr Yue, pointing at an administr

NYT: Chinese Soldiers Rush to Bolster Weakened Dams

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Originally published in The New York Times CHENGDU, China — China mobilized 30,000 additional soldiers to the earthquake-shattered expanses of the nation’s southwestern regions on Wednesday — not just to help victims, but also to shore up weakened dams and other elements of the infrastructure whose failure could compound the disaster.Experts said that these dams were built around the well-recognized Longmen Shan fault. They warned that such dams might have sustained damage that could cause them to fail even weeks later.Much depends on efforts to reduce the menacing pressure of water behi

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