Probe International filed a complaint yesterday against Canadian engineering firm, AMEC, for professional misconduct, negligence, and incompetence regarding its geotechnical assessment of the proposed Chalillo dam in Belize.

The complaint was filed with the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, the provincial regulatory body authorized to license engineering firms in Ontario and uphold professional engineering standards of conduct and ethics.

Probe has based its allegations on reports from a whistle-blowing geologist in Belize who discovered last year that AMEC’s geotechnical assessment contains major errors and oversights. According to Brian Holland, technical director and chief geologist for Belize Minerals Limited, AMEC’s assessment of the dam site is “so filled with errors” that it is “useless as a document for engineers to use in the design and construction of the proposed dam.”

Holland found, for example, that:

• AMEC incorrectly mapped the project area as granite – an ideal foundation for dam-building – when, in fact, the area consists of weaker sandstones and shales;

• AMEC incorrectly states that there are no faults or fractures in the project area when, in fact, prior geological studies indicate an abundance of faults and fractures, some of which are open to a depth of at least 45 metres.

“The mistakes made by AMEC in the geological mapping of the Chalillo site would get a failing mark in an introductory geology class,” says Holland. In its letter to the APEO, Probe notes that AMEC has an obligation to immediately correct and report any mistakes to the Belize authorities and the general public.

“An inaccurate geological assessment of the dam site will not only affect the dam’s design and structural integrity, but also the project’s costs and risks, which Belizeans ultimately have to bear if the project proceeds,” writes Gráinne Ryder, policy director of Probe International.

Under the Professional Engineers Act, a member of APEO may be found incompetent if they display “a lack of knowledge, skill or judgement or disregard for the welfare of the public. . . .” “Negligence” is defined as “an act or an omission in the carrying out of the work . . . that constitutes a failure to maintain the standards that a reasonable and prudent practitioner would maintain in the circumstances.”

“Professional misconduct” is defined as “negligence” or a “failure to act to correct or report a situation that the practitioner believes may endanger the safety or welfare of the public.”

Probe says that AMEC was notified about the mistakes in its report last November but has yet to correct or report the situation to the Belize government and to the general public.

Completed in August, 2001, AMEC’s report was paid for by the Canadian International Development Agency and conducted for Fortis, a Newfoundland-based power company.

Fortis owns Belize’s electricity industry and wants to build the US$30 million Chalillo dam which, if completed, would flood the Macal River Valley, home to some of the world’s rarest and most endangered wildlife.

Critics, including Probe International, argue that Fortis has used AMEC’s pro-dam report to rush through approval of the scheme, while using its monopoly powers to shut out competitors and deny Belizeans cheaper, better electricity generating options. Probe International is a Toronto-based environmental group which monitors the environmental and economic impact of Canadian aid policies and projects, as well as Canadian corporate activities overseas.

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