Historic Challenge Before Privy Council To Proposed Dam in Belize (3rd and 4th December 2003)

The latest round in the three-year battle over plans to build a dam on the Upper Macal River in Belize will come to London in early December when the Privy Council hears a challenge by Belizean environmentalists to their government’s environmental approval of the project. This is the first environmental case in the long history of the Privy Council, which still serves as the final court of appeal for a number of commonwealth countries The upper Macal River Valley is one of the largest undisturbed wilderness areas left in Central America. It is home to an extraordinary array of rare and endangered species, including jaguars, tapirs, and the last 200 scarlet macaws left in the country. Leading biologists at London’s Natural History Museum who have studied the area
said that the proposed dam would irreversibly damage this biological gem and urged that other options be considered ahead of building as planned.

BECOL, a Belizean subsidiary of Fortis, a Canadian multinational corporation, plans to build the dam and to sell the power to Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the sole Belizean utility also owned by Fortis. In January 2002, BACONGO, a coalition of environmental groups in Belize, initiated legal action in January 2002 to overturn the environmental impact assessment for the project. The assessment, carried out by AMEC, a giant worldwide consulting firm headquartered in London, has been harshly criticised by scientific, technical and economic experts.

BACONGO claims that:

• The Government of Belize entered into a deal behind closed doors with Fortis that could drive up costs of power for Belizeans who already pay twice as much for electricity as their neighbours;
• AMEC misidentified the rock at the dam site as granite an error that raises serious, unresolved issues regarding the safety and economics of the dam
• AMEC has not done adequate hydrological studies for the Macal River, which even at the height of the wet season this autumn was only flowing through four small pipes.

BACONGO has support from Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) WWF-UK, and Canadian and American environmental organizations and from leading scientists and prominent people, including Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford and Bobby Kennedy, Jr. Background Geology Report

For information about interview opportunities, photographs, film footage and further information please contact Simon Forrester, simon@fcom.demon.co.uk.