Protests as Chile approves mega-scale Patagonia hydro project

Posted on May 13, 2011 • Filed under: Business, Chile, Conflicts, Enviromental Issues

A complex multi-dam hydroelectric scheme that environmentalists say threatens a pristine area of fjords and valleys in Chile’s remote Patagonia country was approved May 9 by an 11-to-1 vote of the Aysén Environmental Review Commission, a body appointed by the central government to oversee the project, after a three-year assessment. The 2,750-megawatt HidroAysén project includes five dams—three on the Río Pascua, and two on the Río Baker, Chile’s largest river by volume of water. The dams would flood at least 5,700 hectares (22 square miles) of forest and farmlands in southern Chile’s Aysén region, including part of Laguna San Rafael National Park. Read Article

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