(May 10, 2011) A $7 billion project to dam two wild rivers for electricity won environmental approval Monday from a Chilean government commission, despite a groundswell of opposition.

The commissioners – all political appointees in President Sebastian Pinera’s government – concluded a three-year environmental review by approving five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in Aysen, a mostly roadless region of remote southern Patagonia where rivers plunge from Andean glaciers to the Pacific Ocean through green valleys and fjords.

Eva Vergara, Michael Warren, Associated Pres, May 10, 2011

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