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Privy Court Hearing for Belizean Dam Appeal

Dec 2 2003

[Issued on behalf The Belize Association of Non Governmental Organisations (BACONGO) and Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland]

The latest round in the three-year battle over plans to build the Chalillo dam [1] on the Upper Macal River in Belize will begin in London today (Wednesday) when the Privy Council [2] hears a challenge to the Belizean government's approval of the project. Central to the case are criticisms of the environmental impact assessment for the project, which was carried out by UK company AMEC.

In January 2002, BACONGO, a coalition of environmental groups in Belize [3], initiated legal action to overturn the environmental impact assessment for the project. The Privy Council will now be asked to overturn the approval and to order fundamental studies of the dam's safety and the impacts on wildlife and ancient archaeological sites.

The hydroelectric dam is being planned by BECOL, a Belizean subsidiary of Canadian multinational corporation Fortis. The power generated will be sold to Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the sole Belizean utility, which is also owned by Fortis.

At the Privy Council hearing BACONGO will claim that:

• The Government of Belize entered into a deal behind closed doors with Fortis that could drive up costs of power for Belizeans who already pay twice as much for electricity as their neighbours;
• AMEC misidentified the rock at the dam site as "granite" - an error that raises serious, unresolved issues regarding the safety and economics of the dam. They will also claim that fault lines next to the dam site were removed from maps submitted to the Belizean government;
• AMEC has not done adequate hydrological studies for the Macal River, which even at the height of the wet season this autumn was only flowing through four small pipes.

Friends of the Earth Corporates Campaigner Hannah Griffiths said:

"The Privy Council must take this opportunity to stop construction and avoid a social and environmental disaster in one of the most precious parts of the world. That the project has got this far is outrageous. On paper AMEC has environmental and social policies, but these just appear to be a smokescreen behind which the company carries on with business as usual, at any cost to the environment. The UK Government should not be deceived by smokescreens such as these - it must introduce new laws to force UK multinational companies to behave properly."

Ute Collier, Dams Initiative co-ordinator of WWF International, said:

"This dam heralds a catastrophic dawn for one of Belize's most precious natural treasures. An unblemished wilderness teeming with exotic flora and fauna risks being razed to the ground and flushed from the face of the earth."

Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club, a Canadian environmental organisation, speaking at a press conference in Ottawa yesterday said:

"We have been asking the Canadian Government for years to assist in a thorough and transparent review of the environmental impact of this project and their failure to act will now be subject to a review by the Privy Council."

Notes

[1] The controversial 50 metre high "Chalillo" hydro electric dam is proposed for the upper Macal River in Belize. Scientists say that it would threaten rare and endangered animal species as well as placing downstream communities at risk from dam collapse. The upper Macal River Valley is one of the largest undisturbed wilderness areas left in Central America. It is home to an extraordinary array of rare and endangered species, including jaguars, tapirs, and the last 200 scarlet macaws left in the country.

[2] This is the first environmental case in the long history of the Privy Council, which still serves as the final court of appeal for a number of commonwealth countries.

[3] BACONGO is part of an international coalition of organisations opposed to the dam, which includes Probe International, the Sierra Club of Canada and the Natural Resources Defence Council of the United States. For more information see www.stopfortis.org

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