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Toronto and Washington, D.C. – In a dramatic turnaround, the Belize government has denied ever giving Canadian power company Fortis Inc. permission to build a controversial hydro dam in one of Central America’s last undisturbed rainforests.

In arguments before Belize’s Supreme Court last week, government lawyers said no final environmental approval has yet been granted for the dam, despite letters presented by Fortis’ lawyers to the contrary.

Belize environmentalists, as well as Canada’s Probe International and the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council, are hopeful the government’s backpedaling will prompt Fortis to rethink its first dam-building venture outside North America.

“We went to court because we cannot allow companies like Fortis to bulldoze our laws and rob us of our rivers,” says Jamillah Vasquez, Executive Director of BACONGO, a Belizean coalition of environmental groups.

BACONGO’s lawyers argued that the government broke the country’s environmental law last year when it gave Fortis the green light to build the Chalillo dam without first conducting public hearings and completing an environmental assessment.

“This case makes plain that Fortis is operating on the shady side of the law,” says Gráinne Ryder, Policy Director for Probe International. “We trust Fortis will now respect the law so that Belizeans, not Fortis, have the last word on this dam.”

Lawyers for the Belize government conceded that public hearings and more studies are needed before the government can make a final decision.

Fortis’ lawyers appeared surprised and perplexed by the government’s position.

In Toronto, foreign-aid watchdog Probe International has obtained a report prepared by Fortis consultants, AMEC, which estimates that Canadian companies stand to win at least $12 million worth of engineering and equipment contracts if the dam goes ahead.

The report warns that future opportunities for AMEC’s hydro division “will be directly dependent on how Fortis and AMEC will manage to soothe the present atmosphere created by the many controversies of the [Chalillo] project.”

Fortis hired Toronto-based AMEC last year to prepare an environmental assessment which BACONGO says is biased and fails to meet Belizean standards.

Environmentalists worldwide are opposed to the Chalillo dam because it threatens one of Central America’s last rainforest valleys where rare wildlife, including jaguars, freshwater crocodiles, howler monkeys, and a rare subspecies of scarlet macaw still thrive. The dam would also increase electricity costs for Belizeans who already suffer rates two to three times higher than neighbouring Central American countries.

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For more information, CONTACT:

Gráinne Ryder, Probe International, Canada, Tel. (416) 964-9223, ext. 228

Ari Hershowitz, Natural Resources Defense Council, United States, Tel. (202) 289-6868

Jamillah Vasquez, Belize Alliance of Conservation NGOs, Belize, Tel. (501) 2-33385

For photos and more information about the campaign to save Belize’s Macal River Valley, see http://www.stopfortis.org.

Probe International is a Toronto-based environmental group working with citizens groups around the world to stop Canadian aid-financed environmental disasters. For more information, visit Probe International’s Web site at https://journal.probeinternational.org/.

Natural Resources Defense Council is a Washington-based groups of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. For more information, visit NRDC’s Web site at http://www.nrdc.org.