James McCarten/The Canadian Press
National Post
November 2, 2001

“It’s a major bombardment in the media of misleading information,” says Fortis president and chief executive Stan Marshall.

(Excerpt)

The son of former U.S. attorney-general Robert Kennedy launched a blistering public-relations salvo at Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc. over its dam project in Central America.

Photo: Kent Gilbert, The Associated Press

Robert Kennedy Jr. is among the high-profile critics of Fortis Inc.’s dam project in Central America. “The Belize project is inconsistent with … the best traditions of Canada,” he said in Toronto yesterday.

Robert Kennedy Jr., a lawyer for the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council, is among those urging utility giant Fortis to abandon a planned hydroelectric dam in the Macal River Valley in Belize. “The Belize project is inconsistent with that Canadian tradition, the best traditions of Canada,” Mr. Kennedy said yesterday. Mr. Kennedy was in Toronto to help kick off a campaign opposing the dam, which critics insist will lead to an environmental catastrophe in one of central America’s last remaining tracts of pristine wilderness. The Chalillo dam has become a cause célèbre, prompting howls of protest from Hollywood star Harrison Ford and prominent Newfoundland entertainer and activist Greg Malone, who was on hand for yesterday’s launch. Fortis, however, denies the activists’ claims. “It’s a major bombardment in the media of misleading information,” said Fortis president and chief executive Stan Marshall. “Look, I can’t directly take on Harrison Ford. What am I going to do, hire Darth Vader?” A $250,000 environmental assessment paid for by the Canadian government said the project would cause “significant and irreversible” harm to at least 12 different endangered or rare species of wildlife, including the scarlet macaw, the jaguar and the freshwater crocodile.