 |
|
|
Chalillo Dam Update August 2005
| The news on the Chalillo dam in the Macal River Valley of Belize is not good: both the wildlife of Belize and its economy are now suffering as a result of the dam. The valley has been burned and its wildlife left homeless, and yet the dam may not produce even a fraction of the energy promised by Fortis, the Canadian monopoly that owns Belize's electricity utility. As we predicted, instead of lowering electricity rates, Fortis is now raising them: just last month, electricity bills for most Belizeans jumped by 12%. The poorest Belizeans will pay 50% more or stop using electricity altogether. |
| |
| It is up to all of us to document and publicize the damage this dam is doing to wildlife and to Belizeans in the hopes of preventing future projects like this one, including a third dam now planned by Fortis on the Macal River. Two days ago, we sent an update to the 11,000 people who signed the petition to stop the dam at www.stopfortis.org, and have already gotten a powerful response. |
| Following their 3-2 win in the Privy Council, the government of Belize and Fortis have not done any of the follow-up required by the Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP). In keeping with the requirements of the ECP, the 2004 World Conservation Congress called for a follow-up study on the dam's wildlife impacts, but none has been done. Fortis has yet to release its hydrological studies, which surely show that the dam will never fill. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions to expose this fiasco and its impacts on the Macal River Valley. |
| |
The full update, *with photos* can be found at http://www.stopfortis.org : Fortis' dam is now built and a huge area behind it has been burned, but the river flow is just a trickle. This area was once the wildest place in Central America, one of the few undisturbed homes of the Central American tapir and other wildlife, including a rare subspecies of scarlet macaw. We're attaching below the first-hand account from a Belizean researcher and guide who describes a lone, disoriented tapir walking through this bleak landscape. Despite the destruction, there is some hope in this tragedy: if the dam remains dry, the valley, though scarred, will recover over time.
|
| |
| Fortis is now proposing a third dam on the Macal River, at Vaca Falls, downstream from Chalillo. The story, it seems, is far from over. |
| |
| For more information on this issue, please contact Ari Hershowitz,
Natural Resources Defense Council, or visit the Stop
Fortis web site. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
chalillo_dam_update.html
|
