Just In: Brazil Green Lights Controversial Dam

[Derechos]

Brazília, Brazil – The Brazilian government has issued a “partial” installation license allowing the Belo Monte Dam Complex to break ground on the margins of the Amazon’s Xingu River despite egregious disregard for human rights and environmental legislation, the unwavering protests of civil society and condemnations by its Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). The license was approved by Brazil’s environmental agency IBAMA despite overwhelming evidence that the dam-building consortium Norte Energia (NESA) has failed to comply with dozens of social and environmental conditions required for an installation license.

The “partial” installation license, non-existent under Brazilian environmental legislation, will allow for NESA to open access roads and initiate forest clearing at dam construction sites in an area of 2,118 acres. “The partial installation license granted by IBAMA is intended to transform Belo Monte, a notoriously illegal and catastrophic dam project and a huge waste of taxpayers’ money, into a fait accompli,” said Christian Poirier, Brazil Program Coordinator at Amazon Watch.

The risky $17 billion Belo Monte Dam Complex will divert nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River along a 62-mile stretch. Its reservoirs will flood more than 100,000 acres of rainforest and local settlements, displace more than 40,000 people and generate vast quantities of methane – a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The decision follows the recent resignation of IBAMA’s president Abelardo Bayma, who allegedly departed amidst intense political pressures from the Ministry of Mines and Energy and President Dilma Rousseff.

http://icountformyearth.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/just-in-brazil-green-lights-controversial-dam-damn/

[Bacchus39]

1. sounds like the environmental and social impact will be massive n/t

s

[Name removed]

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