Source: Energy Digital
In a controversial move to meet Brazil’s increasing energy needs, the Brazilian government’s environmental agency, IBAMA, has granted Norte Energia a partial license to begin construction on the Belo Monte Dam on the Amazon’s Xingu River. Upon completion in 2015, the dam will be the third largest in the world, and will generate upward of 11.2 GW of power. There are already tens of thousands of people migrating to the area for work opportunities.
However, the Belo Monte Dam has been a controversial topic in the energy world, and opposition has been heavy. The partial license is allowing for 2,118 acres of the Amazon to be deforested in a move that many are calling irresponsible on the part of IBAMA, whose president, Abelardo Bayma, resigned over the issue in response to increased pressure from Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, and the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The dam will divert most of the Xingu River along 62 miles of artificial trenching, and its reservoirs will flood 120,000 acres of rainforest and local settlements, displacing 40,000 people.
Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is taking action. "IBAMA is putting the region at a high social and environmental risk by granting a license allowing installation of the construction site while not requiring compliance with legally-mandated safeguards. No effective preparations have been made to absorb the tens of thousands of migrants who will be attracted to the region in search of employment in dam construction," said Public Prosecutor, Ubiratan Cazetta.
Brazilian civil society is also protesting the mine. "Belo Monte's installation license is a sign of the government's deepening authoritarianism, as it continues to steamroll over environmental legislation and human rights," said Antonia Melo, spokesperson for the Xingu Alive Forever Movement. "The government seeks to build this dam at any cost to benefit corporate interests. We will not stop fighting to preserve the Xingu, our national patrimony."
Even internationally recognized personalities like Sting and James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver of “Avatar” fame have been involved in anti-dam protests to protect the indigenous populations of Xingu.
Brazil’s economy is fast on the rise, and they will need to keep up on their energy production if they are going to compete as an emerging world superpower. Hydroelectric projects have proven to be one of the most efficient ways to generate large quantities of electrical power, especially in regions that experience significant rainfall, as does the Amazon. However, dams also have a nasty history of environmental and human rights abuses that must also be contended with. What’s a world superpower to do?