May 23, 2001

Letter to Fortis President from BACONGO, Action Environment, Humber Environment Action Group, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club of Canada.

BACONGO*ACTION ENVIRONMENT*HUMBER ENVIRONMENT ACTION GROUP*NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL*SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA

May 23, 2001

H. Stanley Marshall
President and CEO, Fortis, Inc.
P.O. Box 8837
Suite 1201, Fortis Building
139 Water Street
St. John’s, Newfoundland
A1B 3T2
CANADA

Dear Mr. Marshall,

We very much appreciate your willingness to meet with us in your offices last Wednsday, on the day of the Fortis Inc. shareholder meeting, and the opportunity to hear in person your concerns about our efforts to save the Macal River Valley. We also appreciate the desire you expressed at this meeting for more facts, and hope that the packet of information we provided-including letters by all the leading scientists who have studied the River Valley-will go a long way toward satisfying this desire and emphasizing the uniqueness of this place. In the same spirit, we are hopeful that you will reconsider our request for all relevent documents related to the Chalillo project. As we explained, if the Belizean people are being asked to forsake their natural heritage for the economic benefits from the dam, they must be provided with all of the financial and economic information to make this decision. This information includes:
 

1. Fortis’ purchase agreement for BEL.

2. BEL’s recent purchase agreement for Mollejon; In particular we request clarity on the date upon which Mollejon reverts back to the Belizean people.

3. All financial and economic analyses of the Chalillo dam, including the GE feasibility study.

4. The post-construction Environmental Impact Assessment of Mollejon.

At the start of the meeting on May 16, you repeated the commitment you have made previously (including on CBC radio) that Fortis Inc will follow the highest international standards. When we pointed out that these standards include full disclosure and establishment of an independend review panel, you insisted that Fortis, as a Canadian company, is only bound by Canadian law. When John Bennet of the Sierra Club of Canada explained that this too, under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, calls for full disclosure and an independent panel, you said that Fortis, as a company operating in Belize, is only bound by Belizean law. When Ms. Matola of the Belize Alliance of Conservation NGOs noted that Belizean law requires a public consultation process as part of the EIA, you emphasized that the decision will be made solely by the government of Belize. At the start of the meeting, you insisted that all the documents we were requesting are already part of the public record. However, when pressed to provide us with any particular document, you said that the documents (including the financial and economic analyses of the Chalillo project) are strictly proprietary information. We respecfully submit that as a Canadian company, working internationally, Fortis Inc. has a moral obligation to maintain the highest international standards in its conduct. This is especially true in a project which would threaten one of the most pristine river valleys in Central America, home to many rare and endangered species, included in the IUCN Red List and a critical part of the Meso-American Biological Corridor. To withold this information, and yet insist that this project is in the best interests of the people of Belize is to insult their intelligence. We hope that you will reconsider your position, and provide us with the documents listed above in a timely manner. We also reiterate our desire to work with Fortis Inc. and the government of Belize to develop options that will satisfy the energy needs of Belize without the economic and environmental burden of Chalillo. Sincerely,

John Bennet, Director, Air and Energy Program, Sierra Club of Canada

Peter Earle, Director, Action Environment

Ari Hershowitz, Director, BioGems Project, Latin America, Natural Resources Defense Council

Sharon Matola, Belize Alliance of Conservation NGOs (BACONGO)

Greg Mitchell, Director, Humber Environment Action Group

Ambrose Tillett, Technical Consultant, Belize Alliance of Conservation NGOs (BACONGO)

cc:
Lynne Young, President and CEO, Belize Electricity Limited
John G. Evans, Chief Engineer, Fortis Inc.
Karl W. Smith, Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Fortis Inc.
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
Maria Minna, Minister, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Robert Derouin, Director, Americas Bureau, Industrial Cooperation Program, CIDA