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A Toronto-based group claims that, according to geologists, the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam on a river in the Central American country of Belize has extensive bedrock fractures and faults that could prove unstable.

Fortis Inc. has proposed building a dam on the Macal River in Belize to develop the river’s hydro capacity.

A news release by Probe International Monday quoted Brian Holland, technical director of Belize Minerals Ltd., as stating that a geological assessment prepared by AMEC of Montreal is “wrong and should not be used as a basis for the dam’s design and construction.”

According to the release, Holland said, “No responsible company would build a dam at this site without first mapping it very carefully.”

The release said, “Fortis, a Newfoundland-based, billion-dollar corporation, started clearing the dam site last month but AMEC’s assessment — funded by the Canadian government — is flawed, according to Holland.”

In a recent interview with Probe, Holland stated that without an accurate geological assessment, Fortis can expect problems and increased costs during the design and construction phases, the release said.

Release wrong, misleading

However, both Fortis and AMEC told The Telegram Monday Probe’s news release contains incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements which were issued without any attempt to contact the people involved or check the accuracy of the accusations and comments.

“Once again Probe International has made statements without ever calling or checking the facts with the people involved,” said David Paterson, vice-president of corporate affairs with AMEC.

“We seem to be increasingly in a situation of having to learn about incorrect and irresponsible statements from Probe International after they have issued them in a press release,” Paterson said.

“I appreciate that they’ve got an important role to play in society, but it is frustrating because these things come out now on a regular basis without ever checking the facts before they make the statements.”

He said the release contains inaccuracies that are there to “trump up hysterical statements so people will get all excited about the thing.”

Donna Hynes, manager of investor and public relations with Fortis, said the company’s opinion is that “erroneous information and misleading information” is presented in the press release.

Both AMEC and Fortis said the claim by Probe that work on clearing the dam site was started last month is just not true and no work at all has started.

Paterson rejected the claim his company’s work on this project was flawed.

He said AMEC did an environmental impact study largely funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) but he said the geological portion of the study, done by Swiss Boring, was actually commissioned by Belize Electrical Company and funded by Fortis, BEL’s parent company.

“We included their findings in our report for completeness but all we did is have somebody on site to ensure that they did the work,” Paterson said. “They did core sampling which they sent to an independent laboratory for analysis and that analysis was included in our report.”

Holland has the right to question the report but the Belize environmental department, to whom the report goes, can either do other sampling or go back and ask for validation of the original report.

Stand by work

“We stand by the inclusion of the Swiss Boring study in our report. We stand by our work, it is not flawed,” he said.

“Everybody is welcome to have a different opinion but there is a process to follow if there is a difference of opinion and we encourage them to follow that process.”

Paterson said AMEC is “simply a consultant that was hired to provide some information that could go to the Belize environment department so that it can make a decision on whether or not to proceed with the project.”

Paterson said Probe has stated the project site lies on a 30 km Comma Cairn Fault.

“There is no question that there is a fault, but it is several kilometres downstream and is inactive, which they neglected to mention.”

He also noted Probe said there is an extensive network of limestone caverns.

“It is true there are limestone caverns, but they failed to mention that they exist well outside the area of the dam reservoir.”

Hynes said that very sophisticated and in-depth studies have been carried out and “from our perspective this project is a very doable project.”

She said the project meets all the compliance of any international standards required for safety features of a dam.

“The geotechnical studies that have been completed speak to the feasibility of the project and they found that the rock is suitable to support the building of a dam,” Hynes said.

“As far as we’re concerned that dam meets all of the requirements structurally and from a safety perspective.”

Read Probe’s response, Murky waters build behind dam project,
The Telegram, Feb. 14, 2002