NEWSLETTER
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The following is the sixth in a series of newsletters
produced by Grupo de Accion por el Biobio (Biobio Action
Group - GABB), a Chilean environmental and human rights
group proposing alternatives to the construction of a
series of dams on the Biobio River.
ENDESA, the largest private company in Chile, is
planning to construct six hydroelectric dams on the Biobio.
The first of these, Pangue, is already 70% completed.
ENDESA now says it will move ahead with construction of
the largest of the Biobio dams, called Ralco.
Ralco would be a 155 meter-high dam with a 3,400
hectare reservoir, which would displace 700 people,
including more than 500 Pehuenche Indians. The Upper
Biobio, where the Ralco dam is planned, is home to the
Pehuenche group of the Mapuche Indians, who maintain their
traditional lifestyle. The two dams would flood over 70 km
of the river valley, inundating the richly diverse forest and
its wildlife.
Environmental and Indigenous rights groups oppose
the project not only because of the wide scale destruction
it would cause, but also because projections of Chile's
future energy requirements indicate that the energy it would
produce could be generated by alternative means which are
more environmentally and socially sound .
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BIOBIO UPDATE #6
(May 10, 1996)
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PEHUENCHE INTERRUPT ENDESA ANNUAL MEETING
Santiago, April 11.....The Annual Shareholders' Meeting of the
Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A. (ENDESA) was
interrupted by leaders of the Pehuenche communities of the
upper Biobio and supporters from ecological groups, who
gained access to the meeting at the Teleton theatre of
Santiago.
A group of 18 representatives from the Pehuenche
communities travelled from the upper Biobio for the
occasion. The protest was widely covered by the Chilean
press. Six Pehuenche entered in the meeting and the other
staged a demonstration outside the theatre, along with 50
other protesters.
Taking part in the meeting were Jose Antolin
Curriao, president of the Centro Mapuche Pehuenche del
Alto Biobio (CMPABB) and a leader of the community of
Quepuca-Ralco, in addition to Francisca Curriao, Carmen
Gloria Levi and Ricardo Gallina, also from Quepuca-Ralco,
and Berta Quintreman from Ralco-Lepoy, Enrique Correa, a
leader of CMPABB and the Caunicu community, and Sara
Imilmaqui, a Mapuche who lives in Santiago. They were
accompanied by leaders from the Biobio Action Group
(GABB), the National Ecological Action Network (RENACE),
and the Institute of Political Ecology (IEP).
When President Jose Yuraszeck presented the annual
report, which included Ralco Dam as an important future
investment, the Pehuenche and ecologists got up and
approached the podium where ENDESA executives were
sitting.
The action caused a disturbance and booing by the
shareholders, at which time Yuraszeck suspended the
session for 20 minutes. After agreeing to hear the
Pehuenche leaders, the meeting was allowed to continue.
Later in the meeting, the Pehuenche told the
directors of ENDESA that they would not accept being
expelled from their lands, and suggested that the company
invest in projects which were socially and environmentally
sound.
The action was covered widely in the print and
broadcast media. Chile witnessed its Pehuenche brothers
face to face with ENDESA's owners, who clearly got the
message of the strong opposition by the communities to
the project.
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PUBLIC COUNCILS TO EVALUATE RALCO
Concepcion, Los Angeles.....In the coming days,
environmental groups and indigenous peoples from
Concepcion, Los Angeles and the upper Biobio will present a
written petition to regional, provincial, and municipal
authorities asking for public hearings in the two cities and
in Santa Barbara-Quilaco. The meetings would have the
double purpose of informing the local populations about the
project and to receive their comments on the
Environmental Impact Study (EIA) presented by ENDESA to
CONAMA (National Environmental Council).
Despite the fact that people directly affected and
organizations have until July 3 to present observations on
the EIA, very few people are aware of this and few have the
technical understanding required to comment on the
language and context of an EIA.
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SWEDISH GOVERNMENT TO FINANCE REVIEW OF RALCO EIA
Stockholm.....After months of efforts to have the Swedish
government assume its share of responsibility for the
situation in the upper Biobio, the Swedish Cooperation
Agency - Sida- has approved funding for an independent
evaluation of the Environmental Impact Study for Ralco
Dam.
The Swedish government had, despite strong
criticism by Chilean and Nordic NGOs, provided $28 million
crowns in soft credits for building turbines for Pangue Dam.
The turbines were sold by the Swedish-Norwegian company
Kvaerner.
In August, 1995, GABB, along with Swedish and
Norwegian NGOs, called for the suspension of the turbine
sale, based upon the fact that ENDESA had certified that
Pangue was an independent project and would be the only
dam built in the area.
Despite the fact that the Nordic governments refused
to suspend the turbine sale and failed to hold public
hearings in Sweden and Norway on the Biobio situation, the
awarding of funding for an independent review of the EIA,
coordinated by GABB, is a sign of the concern that the issue
has caused within the Swedish government.
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GAS SUR COMPANY IN TRAPA-TRAPA
Trapa-Trapa, Butalelbun, upper Biobio.....Executives of Gas
Sur, along with a large number of government authorities,
held an informational meeting on April 18 with the
Pehuenche communities of Trapa-Trapa and Butalelbun,
located in the Queuco valley, near the Argentine border.
One of the possible routes being planned by Gas Sur
for a gas pipeline would cross the Pehuenche communities.
According to press reports, the Pehuenche authorized the
company to begin surveying in the zone and, in exchange,
the company promised economic compensation.
Of concern is the fact that the presence of so many
government officials in the meeting may signal
governmental support for the alternative, over others,
including another plan which would put the pipeline a little
further north. The Pehuenche have not been appropriately
informed regarding the importance and the risks of the
project, nor have demanded sufficient compensation.
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EFFICIENCY COULD SAVE SIX RALCO DAMS!
Santiago....."About 20% of the predicted demand for the
period analyzed, between 1994 and 2020, could be met by
the improvement of efficiency in the use of electrical
energy in the country, improvements in efficiency of
electrical generation, tramsmission, and distribution,
development of new applications of cogeneration and
broader use of new and renewable energy sources."
This is one of the important conclusions of a new
study by scientists and Chilean and U.S. NGOs released on
May 9. The study entitled "Efficient Use of Electricity in
Chile (1994-2020)" was prepared by the Energy Research
Program (PRIEN) of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Department of the University of Chile, the International
Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC, USA - Latin
America office, Santiago), and the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) of the U.S.
In 1993 the IIEC and NRDC had carried out a
preliminary study on the potential of increased efficiency
in the Chilean electrical energy sector. The new
investigation went further into the final uses of energy and
its costs and concrete measures which could be
implemented to achieve a 20% savings in the expansion of
generating capacity required, resulting in environmental
and social benefits.
According to the study the energy saved was
estimated to be 10.9Gwh of energy and 1670MW of
potential by the year 2010 or 19.7Gwh and 3200 MW by the
year 2020, which would be the equivalent of not
constructing 8 or 9 thermo-electric plants or six dams the
size of Ralco.
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URGENT ACTIONS REQUESTED
ALL SCIENTISTS AND TECHNICAL EXPERTS! Please
offer your expertise to GABB as they evaluate the EIA
submitted by ENDESA. This is a critical stage in the
objective analysis of the Ralco project. GABB will be
submitting the comments of technical experts to
CONAMA, the Chilean government environmental agency.
Fax or email GABB OR IRN to receive a copy of the EIA
by postal mail or email as soon as possible. Thank you for
your concerned response to this great need!!
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The Biobio Daily is produced by:
Grupo de Accion por el Biobio,
Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue 112,
Recoleta, Santiago de Chile.
TEL: +56-2-737-1420
FAX: +56-2-777-6414
email: gabb@huelen.reuna.cl
Translation and electronic distribution:
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
TEL: +510-848-1155
FAX: +510-848-1008
email: glen@irn.org
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