ENDESA DEFENDS HYDROELECTRIC PROJECTS

Rafael Mateo, general manager of Electric Power and Distribution Company (ENDESA), said last week that he believes that the four new hydroelectric power plants the company plans to build in Region XI are “national projects,” and not just good business.

ENDESA has recently encountered strong criticism from environmentalists around the world in response to its plans to dam two rivers, the Pascua and Baker Rivers, in four different places in southern Chile.

In response, Robert Kennedy, president of Waterkeeper Alliance, the largest environmental network in the United States that concentrates on protecting its waters, recently gave an interview to the Chilean magazine Qué Pasa saying that if Chilean environmental groups decided to mount a campaign against the projects, his group would support the action. (Ed. Note: see today’s feature article for Robert Kennedy’s interview with Qué Pasa magazine.).

Kennedy plans to bring U.S. celebrities and Chilean politicians to the rivers in March 2006 to help raise awareness of the threatened area.

ENDESA expects to begin the project in the extreme south of Chile by 2008. Investors expect to commit more than US$4 billion to the construction of the dams. The company has announced plans to construct these dams with more regard for the environment than its last project, the Ralco Dam on the BioBio River.

The construction of the US$580 million Ralco plant was complicated by disputes with Pehuenche indigenous families, whose territory was flooded, resulting in continuous work interruptions and lawsuits (ST, Sept. 28, 2004).

Of the Ralco project, Mateo said that “the management of this project was not the best that it could have been.” However, he added, “(The new dams) are exemplary environmental projects.”

ENDESA has plans to sign a contract with Transelec, a Canadian company, to install the electric lines that will carry the power created at the plants north to the center of Chile. “We understand that Transelec has an interest in this project,” said Mateo. “Transelec is a vital point.”