Probe International – Press Release

April 5, 2002

Leading Belize wildlife expert, Sharon Matola, will urge the federal government next week to withdraw its support for a hydro dam that threatens Belize wildlife. Invited to Ottawa by Toronto-based environmental group, Probe International, and the Sierra Club of Canada, Matola, director of the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Centre, has requested a meeting with Susan Whelan, the newly-appointed minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. Matola will demand that Whelan recalls her agency’s “inaccurate and grossly misleading” assessment of the Chalillo dam. The CIDA-funded assessment, which has cost taxpayers almost $500,000, was prepared by Toronto-based engineering firm AMEC for Fortis, a Newfoundland-based power company that owns Belize’s electric utility and wants to build the $45-million Chalillo dam. The CIDA report justifies the dam’s construction even though British wildlife experts hired by AMEC warned that the dam would cause a “significant and irreversible reduction of biodiversity” in the Macal River Valley and should not be built. The Canadian geotechnical assessment of the dam site is also wrong, says Matola. Independent geologists in Belize repeatedly warned CIDA and the Belize authorities about this last year but CIDA denies there’s a problem. Last month, the Canadian assessment became the subject of a lawsuit filed by BACONGO, an environmental coalition in Belize which includes Matola’s organization. The lawsuit argues that the Belize government’s approval of the Canadian assessment is illegal because no public hearings were conducted to review the assessment, no environmental mitigation plan has been completed, nor were experts’ submissions considered, as required by Belize law. A second lawsuit filed by BACONGO last month argues that Fortis’ $500-million deal with the Belize government violates the country’s laws for licensing power producers and promoting competition. “CIDA has paid for a report that denies Belizeans the truth about Fortis’ deal: electricity rates will go up, consumers will be denied access to cheaper, more reliable options, and Fortis will be protected from liability if anything at all goes wrong,” explains Probe’s Gr…inne Ryder. “Now it’s up to Minister Whelan to set the record straight and recall CIDA’s report immediately.” Matola’s mission is supported by some of the world’s leading scientists and tens of thousands of concerned citizens across the continent who have urged Fortis to abandon the project. If completed, the Chalillo dam would destroy a 35-kilometre stretch of unique rainforest habitat in the Macal River Valley, home to jaguars, tapirs, scarlet macaws, and other rare species. The dam would also flood several ancient Maya settlements. -30- Sharon Matola will be in Canada from April 6 to 10, 2002.
To arrange an interview, CONTACT:
Grainne Ryder, Probe International, Toronto, Canada,
Tel. (416) 964-9223 ext.228, or cell (416) 333-1697