Brazil Suspends Belo Monte Dam!

[grokefish]

And all it's about is the government's prestige.

I think you're too kind. I think it's all about transferring taxpayer money to private bank accounts.

I concur.

[bronzefry]

I heard rumors that nobody wanted to bid. It takes a lot to reach that level, especially in this economy. The worst thing that could happen would be for this thing to be built by people who don't know what they're doing. That would be scarier than anything.
Amanda

[Suckermouth]

Sold!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... wD9F719H01

9 companies win bid for huge Amazon dam project
By MARCO SIBAJA (AP) – 2 hours ago
BRASILIA, Brazil — A consortium of nine companies has won the rights to build one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams, Brazilian authorities said Tuesday.

Brazil's electricity regulator, Aneel, said the Norte Energia consortium won the bidding process for the huge Amazon project, which is heavily opposed by environmentalists, Indians and the director of the blockbuster movie "Avatar."

The consortium is led by state-controlled Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, which offered a price of 77.97 reals ($57.12) per megawatt produced. The other partners are all private. The consortium had only one competitor: the Belo Monte consortium, composed of six companies.

The bidding for the Belo Monte dam was halted three times before a final appeal by the government allowed the winning bidder to be announced Tuesday.

About 500 protesters gathered outside the Aneel building where the bidding took place to condemn the project, saying it will cause serious social and environmental damages.

The government dismisses claims that the project will have a negative impact on the environment or the local community.

"Belo Monte is the most studied hydroelectric plant in the world," Mines and Energy Minister Marcio Zimmermann said.

The $11 billion, 11,000-megawatt dam, to be constructed on the Xingu River feeding the Amazon, would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric energy producer, behind China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu dam that straddles the border of Brazil and Paraguay.

Movie director James Cameron has lobbied to stop the project, visiting Brazil's Indians and even comparing their struggle against the dam to the plot of "Avatar."

"Avatar" depicts a fictitious Na'vi race fighting to protect its homeland, the forest-covered moon Pandora, from plans to extract its resources.

Environmentalists and indigenous groups say Belo Monte would devastate wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people who live in the area to be flooded.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insists that the dam is essential, and says it will provide clean and renewable energy to fuel the South American country's growing economy.

Opponents organized protests across Brazil on Tuesday to condemn the project. Amazon Watch, a San Francisco-based group that works to protect the rain forest and the indigenous people living there, said thousands of people were engaging in coordinated protests in nine cities, including in Altamira, which would be partially flooded by the Belo Monte reservoir.

The group said Indians began arriving by boat to establish a permanent village to block the dam's construction.
Zimmermann said Altamira will significantly benefit from development spurred by the dam.

[Janne]

The government dismisses claims that the project will have a negative impact on the environment or the local community.
Belo Monte is the most studied hydroelectric plant in the world," Mines and Energy Minister Marcio Zimmermann said.

Such a bunt of liers, it's totally the opposite.

So, now it's up to Alstom Power, ABB and similar companies outside South America to refuse to deliver??????? Utopia.

Shit, now I have to buy new T-shirts before I go back to Rio Xingu and Altamira.

Janne

[plecoboy]

Have you guys ever tried looking at the google satelite map of this area? It really makes wonder what it's gonna look like after the dams.

[bronzefry]

The "consortium" of 9 companies through the government electric company? How nice. No competition. The Belo Monte Big Dig. The $11 billion dollar bid feels like a low-ball estimate. I would think a good bit has already been spent with all the severely protracted legal and engineering fees.

Uh, don't the mining dudes want the Alcoa business? Isn't that what all this is really for?
Amanda

[MatsP]

Uh, don't the mining dudes want the Alcoa business? Isn't that what all this is really for?

Yup, Alcoa would definitely be one of the BIG users of the electricity generated. They may not want to pay for building work tho'...

--
Mats

[Suckermouth]

Update:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... LKlpqDjngA

Brazil Prosecutors to Probe Amazon Dam Sale, May Cancel Result

By Laura Price

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian federal prosecutors will investigate whether the auction for an $11 billion hydroelectric dam project in the Amazon yesterday ignored a court order blocking the sale and may seek to cancel it.

Prosecutors in Brazil’s Para state will investigate whether the country’s electricity regulator or the general attorney’s office were notified of the ruling before or during the bidding process and failed to halt the auction, the Public Affairs Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site yesterday.

Brazil awarded a contract to build and operate the Belo Monte dam to a group led by state-run utility Cia. Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, ignoring criticism by environmentalists, “Avatar” director James Cameron and construction firms. Aneel, as the electricity regulator is known, went ahead with the sale after facing three injunctions against the auction in less than a week.

A court in Para state claims it notified Aneel of the last injunction, granted to environmentalist groups, at 12:25 p.m. local time yesterday, the ministry said in the statement. Aneel started the auction at 1:20 p.m., the ministry said.

The project, which will require that an area almost as big as the city of Chicago be flooded, is opposed by Amazon Indians, Cameron and actress Sigourney Weaver, who visited Brazil last week to protest environmental damage.

Environmentalist groups Friends of the Earth - Brazilian Amazonia and Ethnical-Environmental Defense Association Kaninde requested the last injunction, claiming the flooded area will be larger than the area authorized by the project’s environmental license, the ministry said. Aneel estimates an area of 668 square kilometers (258 square miles), compared with 516 square kilometers in the license, the ministry said.

[idunno]

Giant Amazon dam to go ahead amid chorus of protest
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conse ... -szqt.html

[grokefish]

Is this fish also at risk?

Parancistrus nudiventris

[MatsP]

Yes, the coordinates it is originally described from is
3°23'19"S, 51°43'24"W

Which is downriver from Altamira, which is exactly in the "big bend" that is going to be dried up because of the channel being dug to transport the water to the turbines.

So you'd better look after the ones you have!

--
Mats

[Mike_Noren]

Also, I think,

Baryancistrus sp(l018)

"Gold Nugget".

[MatsP]

Also, I think,

Baryancistrus sp(l018)

"Gold Nugget".

Indeed. That one too, and if the follow on projects for further dams up-river to level out the annual fluctuations in water levels go ahead, all other Gold nuggets - POSSIBLY with the exception of L177 from Rio Iriri, but I have a feeling R. iriri will also be dammed at some point in the not too distant future.

Sorry to keep repeating this, but sign this petition - it may not help, but it certainly won't help to NOT sign it:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-x ... estruction

--
Mats

[Janne]

Rio Iriri is in the original plan with a very huge dam.

I think Baryancistrus species is less sensitive than many other species, I know at leats 10 species endemic to the big bend.

But the fight is not over yet, the resistant within Brazil is huge.

Janne

[bronzefry]

Would you want this paid for with your pension?
Amanda

[Janne]

Amanda,

To whom did you put the question... to me or to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?

Janne

[MatsP]

Facebook group for protesting against the dam:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 721?ref=ts

I'm posting this in case one of my FB friends have missed it, or there is people on here that aren't my friends. There are several links on this page that lead to petition sites and sites that give suggestions who/what to contact.

Just to declare my interest in this: I have been given admin rights to this FB page from the page-starter.

--
Mats

[bronzefry]

Amanda,

To whom did you put the question... to me or to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva?

Janne

Oh, Lulu. After all the world economy's been through the past few years, I'm surprised there's a pension fund at all!
Amanda

[DJ-don]

Facebook group for protesting against the dam:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... 721?ref=ts

I'm posting this in case one of my FB friends have missed it, or there is people on here that aren't my friends. There are several links on this page that lead to petition sites and sites that give suggestions who/what to contact.

Just to declare my interest in this: I have been given admin rights to this FB page from the page-starter.

--
Mats

there is also another group on FB too which doesnt have as much people
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2 ... 755&ref=ts

[MatsP]

there is also another group on FB too which doesnt have as much people
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2 ... 755&ref=ts

Indeed. I'm a member of both, anyways. I've also asked to be friend with the creator of the site to see if there is some point in sharing the two...

--
Mats

[DJ-don]

there is also another group on FB too which doesnt have as much people
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2 ... 755&ref=ts

Indeed. I'm a member of both, anyways. I've also asked to be friend with the creator of the site to see if there is some point in sharing the two...

--
Mats

found a cause on fb too
http://www.causes.com/causes/477522?m=3a78f223
only 21 people but we can change that!!

[MatsP]

23 by now... ;)

--
Mats

[Suckermouth]

Brazil has worst environmental impact (US in #2):

http://www.livescience.com/environment/ ... 00506.html