(February 4, 2008) HidroAysen, a joint entity formed by Spanish-Italian electricity giant Endesa and Colbun, a Chilean energy company, plans to build five massive hydroelectric dams along Region XI’s Baker and Pascua Rivers. The Baker River, Chile’s largest, is in fact just a few miles from Tompkins’ Estancia Chacabuco, a massive stretch of pristine steppe land that Tompkins would eventually like to donate to the Chilean government.
Challenging apartheid’s foreign deb
(February 1, 2008) South Africa’s widely commended Truth & Reconciliation Commission has a blind spot. Surprisingly, no attention appears to have been given to the foreign corporations, individual investors and Western governments that helped create and sustain the racial dictatorship which came to be known as apartheid.
Geographical overview of the Three Gorges dam and reservoir, China—geologic hazards and environmental impacts
(2008) The Three Gorges dam and reservoir are an ongoing project that will involve a continuous process of construction, maintenance, monitoring, evaluation, and modification. Some of the history, construction characteristics, hydropower statistics, environmental and population impacts, monitoring, and current and potential hazards of the massive dam project are presented in this Microsoft PowerPoint® format.
Critics Of dam-power line projects raise concerns in a letter to Bachelet
(July 29, 2008) Residents in the Region X communities of Ralún and Cochamo – a sparsely populated rural area located some 60 kilometers directly east of Puerto Montt – are raising their voices against a massive transmission line Canadian-owned Transelec plans to run through their backyards.
China to clear "1,000-year-old" trash from mega-dam
Three Gorges dam officials have promised to clean up a "1,000-year-old" mountain of garbage dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Reuters reported on December 13.
Beijing Olympic water scheme drains parched farmers
(January 23, 2008) A frantic ‘100-day battle’ is underway to complete a 300-kilometre network of canals and pipes that will take water from the parched countryside of Hebei province to Beijing, for its ‘green’ Olympic games in August.
Beijing Olympic water scheme drains parched farmers
(January 23, 2008) A frantic ‘100-day battle’ is underway to complete a 300-kilometre network of canals and pipes that will take water from the parched countryside of Hebei province to Beijing, for its ‘green’ Olympic games in August.
EDITORIAL: As Three Gorges ramps up, operating conflicts will intensify
(January 23, 2008) China’s Three Gorges dam operator plans to fill the Three Gorges reservoir to capacity this year despite the risk of more landslides and worsening environmental problems along the Yangtze, the country’s most important river.
Theun Hinboun Power Company displaces Laotian farmers: PI report
(January 22, 2008) The Lao government’s ambition to become one of Southeast Asia’s biggest exporters of hydropower and wood chips is hurting the country’s small farmers and driving young people to neighbouring Thailand in search of better prospects, a recent Canadian-led study has found.
New documentary examines the impact of carbon trading
(January 16, 2008) The Carbon Connection, a new documentary by Fenceline Films with support from Carbon Trade Watch and the Transnational Institute is now available at the New Internationalist online shop.
“World Bank disgrace”: Wall Street Journal
(January 16, 2008) A review of World Bank loans to India’s health sector by the Bank’s own internal watchdog, indicates fraud and corruption put lives at risk, enriching contractors in the process. Worse still, says WSJ, the bank repeatedly looked the other way.
China Southern Power Grid Company turns to Three Gorges and Hong Kong amid coal shortage
(January 16, 2008) China Southern Power Grid, owner and operator of power distribution networks in the country’s southern provinces, will seek to buy more power from the Three Gorges dam and Hong Kong to plug a supply gap caused by the worst coal shortage in the southwestern region in five years, SCMP reported.
Clearly Odious
(January 16, 2008) Reporting on Indonesia’s ex-president Suharto’s death watch, Canada’s National Post writer, Peter Goodspeed, paints a clear picture of how the people of Indonesia became saddled with a legacy of odious debts.
Scholars chart new legal course
(January 16, 2008) The principles of the odious debt doctrine exploded into the modern debt debate following the U.S. led invasion of Iraq, capturing the attention of legal scholars and exciting new thought on the history, the foundation, and the future application of the doctrine.
Folsom quits
(January 16, 2008) The World Bank’s chief anti-corruption investigator calls it a day: pressure to leave over allegations her appointment due to Republican party connections.
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