CBC News Online

May 16, 2002

A small group of protesters stood in the rain outside a hotel in St. John’s Wednesday morning, speaking out against the Chalillo hydro dam project in Central America.

(St. John’s, Newfoundland) – A small group of protesters stood in the rain outside a hotel in St. John’s Wednesday morning, speaking out against a hydro dam project in Central America.

FROM DISCLOSURE: The Dam Canadians

Shareholders making their way into the annual meeting of Fortis Inc. had to make their way past demonstrators armed with pamphlets attacking the company’s Challilo Dam project in Belize. Fortis, an electrical distribution and real estate conglomerate in Newfoundland and Labrador, plans to build a hydro dam on the Macal River. Proponents say the project would provide something the small country bordering Mexico and Guatemala needs: a reliable source of energy at a low price. But the protesters say the real cost is too high. The dam would flood nine square kilometres of environmentally sensitive rain forest, drowning the habitats of vulnerable wildlife. Eligorio Sho is a Maya Indian and naturalist who made the journey from Belize to St. John’s to take part in the demonstration. Sho studies the rare scarlet macaw. There are about 1,000 of the birds left in the world, and about one-quarter of them live in Belize.

FROM CBC ST. JOHN’S: Challilo Coverage on Community Radio

He says when the floods come, the macaw will have no place to nest. “How far that nest is going to go under the water? It’s going to go under the water 150 feet,” he said. “All the food source from the river for those wildlife – not only scarlet macaw, but we have jaguar, we have tapir, we have crocodile, we have king fisher. They feed on those trees you know. “Where are they going to go?” The protest ended once all the shareholders had gone inside. But the protesters said they’ll continue to raise public awareness about the dam and its impact. Many of the shareholders said they don’t know what to think, but some want to hear what the environmentalists have to say. “All I want to find out is if they are for real or what we are doing is either right or wrong,” said Henrietta Ellis. “Because believe me, I’m for the environment.” Stan Marshall, the head of Fortis, says it’s up to the government of Belize to determine on the future of the proposed dam. But environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club disagree, saying the courts will decide if the proposed dam can go ahead or not. Two separate lawsuits are set to begin in June.