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Questions have been raised in the Canadian Senate over the role of Fortis, the Canadian Company, in pushing, for a second dam in Belize to complement the existing dam at Mollejon.

The issue was raised by a Canadian Senator, who urged the Senate to demand that Fortis, owner of BECOL and BEL, and AMEC – the Canadian Company responsible for the much criticized environmental Impact Assessment – and CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, which paid for the EIA, give an accounting and act responsibly.

“A Canadian company, supported by the Canadian Government is flouting standards that are rigorously applied to projects that affect Canadians,” she said. “They have the same moral and legal obligations to protect the interests of the citizens of Belize.”

The Canadian Congress heard the following report which was read into the record:

“In accordance with Belizean law, Fortis had an environmental impact assessment done for the proposed project. They gave the job to AMEC, an engineering firm with a long history of hydro development. AMEC in turn succeeded in securing $250,000 from CIDA for this assessment under CIDA’s Industrial Cooperation program, which supports the creation of “justification reports” for development projects.

“Opposition to this project first stemmed from the fact that the area Fortis proposed to flood is a crucial habitat and breeding ground for several threatened and endangered species. The worst fears of these groups were confirmed by AMEC’s own assessment of the dam’s impact on wildlife, which AMEC subcontracted to the Museum of Natural History in London. Their report highlighted the likely devastating effects of the dam on the area’s rare wildlife and ecosystem.

“Unfortunately, this was created as a justification report – as explicitly stated in the contract between CIDA and AMEC – not an objective one, and the wildlife impact assessment was buried in two volumes of text.

“It is mentioned nowhere in the report’s introductory or summary sections. In the months since its publication, more problems with the report have come to light. The most shocking, of these are its highly questionable geological assessments.” According to Brian Holland, technical director of Belize Minerals, the report wrongly identifies the site’s bedrock as granite, when it’s known to be made of poor load-bearing sandstone and shale.

“The assessment also fails to report 45-meter deep faults in the bed of the proposed reservoir. In fact, the report is so full of holes that Probe International, a Toronto-based environmental watchdog, has filed a complaint against AMEC with the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.

“Despite these serious questions concerning the viability of its project, Fortis is already pushing ahead with the construction of a service road network in the area. This is despite the fact that they haven’t yet produced an environmental impact mitigation plan, a requirement of the Belizean Government before proceeding.

“For us, Honourable Senators, the question is about government’s involvement in this exercise. Two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars of taxpayers’ money has gone towards supporting a report that seeks to justify the project of a Canadian company at all costs. Sadly it is not the government or people of Canada who will pay if the dam fails; it is the people who live downstream from the dam and since Fortis holds a monopoly, Belizean consumers.”