Belo Monte Dam in Brazil - WITH UPDATES

[Toruk Makto]

A special message from Mayalu to you

Thanks from Mayalu

Please watch this special message from Mayalu Txucarramãe, an indigenous leader of Brazil's Mebêngôkre and Waura ethnicities working to defend her people in the Xingu River Basin from destructive mega-dams – including the Belo Monte Dam.

Accompanied by Amazon Watch, Mayalu left her home to travel to Washington, DC, New York and San Francisco last week to share a message on behalf of the people of the Xingu River. Her people and her culture are at grave risk because of Brazil's plans to continue construction of Belo Monte. Causes supporters have already raised over $5000 toward Amazon Watch's Annual Event. Thanks to a generous offer by the Kindle Project Fund – every dollar contributed will be doubled up to $10,000. If you have not already done so, please donate today to help us meet this goal.

If completed, Belo Monte will ruin the lands and livelihoods of thousands of riverine communities and indigenous peoples. This campaign is one of several that Amazon Watch is waging to protect the Amazon – the "lungs of our planet" – in partnership with communities who are front line defenders of the Amazon rainforest.

Thank you for standing with Mayalu and Amazon Watch. Together we will keep working against the forces bent on destroying the rainforest.

For The Amazon,

Paul Paz y Miño
Online & Operations Director

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

Irayo for the video, ma Toruk Makto  . I'd almost forgotten about this issue due to the fact that it hasn't been any news on this forum regarding it for quite some time  .

[Toruk Makto]

There unfortunately hasn't been a lot of news on it anywhere else either.  These people are still fighting for their rights in Brazil and any exposure we can give them is much needed.

Markì

[Tsmuktengan]

How has the dam gone so far? Did its construction sensibly started?

[Toruk Makto]

It is under construction and has already caused a considerable amount of damage already.  I will see if I can find some recent information on it and post the link here.

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

Ma Toruk Makto; Do you think that, perhaps, the media has become a bit blaze to this issue  ?

[Clarke]

Do you mean blaise?

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

I mean the synonym to ``indifferent´´. Tried to look it up on Google Translate and Wiktionary but i couldn't find it anywhere  .

[Toruk Makto]

Update! Belo Monte Dam Construction Suspended Again

October 29, 2013

Translated and adapted by Amazon Watch from a post by ISA Social-Environmental Institute

Last week the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) accepted a request made by public prosecutors of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and suspended the installation license (LI- Licença de Instalação) which had authorized the start of construction sites of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam in 2011.

The Court also ruled that BNDES (Brazilian National Development Bank) should not transfer further resources to Norte Energia, the company responsible for construction of the dam complex, before the 40 conditions of the preliminary license (LP-Licença Prévia) are met. The ruling was made by appeals court Judge Souza Prudente and will need to be confirmed by collegial decision of the court.

The 40 conditions of the preliminary license address the actions established by Brazil's Environmental Agency (IBAMA) so that the nearby cities of the region where Belo Monte is being built will be prepared to face the impacts of construction. To initiate them, Norte Energia and the government would have to fulfill a number of conditions, several of them complex, such as the removal of non-indigenous occupants from the indigenous lands in the region, and the installation of an infrastructure for health, education and security in the cities which would be receiving the approximately 100,000 migrants anticipated in the impact studies for the construction.

In January of 2011 IBAMA granted a partial installation license (LI-Licença de Instalação) that permitted the start of construction solely for the construction sites. The court action by the MPF was filed against this partial installation license, because it had been given without consideration of the constraints issued by IBAMA, considered indispensable prior to the start of any construction having been undertaken.

"The partial installation license, something nonexistent in the Brazilian law, permitted Norte Energia to avoid obligations of the preliminary license without delaying construction of the dam," said Biviany Rojas, a lawyer for ISA.

"This lawsuit is proof that Belo Monte is not only unviable, but also illegal," said Antonia Melo, coordinator for Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre. "This decision demonstrates that social movements have been telling the truth all along. It also serves to reinforce our commitment to this fight against a predatory development model that violates environmental law and human rights. We reaffirm that we will keep up the fight for justice."

IBAMA granted the license without fulfilling the anticipatory measures

Despite having verified that the conditions had not been met, the IBAMA decided to authorize the start of construction and reissue the goals and deadlines for the conditions. Shortly thereafter in June of 2011, the environmental agency granted an installation license for the rest of the construction work, again without compliance with the anticipatory measures. This second installation license replaced the partial installationlicense, in such a way that the decision of the TRF-1 addresses not only the construction of the sites, but the entire construction project.

The preliminary license, granted in February of 2010, was also signed by the President of IBAMA, despite having an opinion by his technical staff, issued two days earlier, which stated that there were "elements insufficient to attest to the environmental viability of the enterprise."

The decision of Souza Prudente could still be taken by the government and by Norte Energia to the President of the Superior Court, who could suspend the decision. "The Superior Court could order resumption of construction using political and economic criteria, independently of having violated environmental laws," says Leonardo Amorim, ISA's lawyer. "The reason for this is because the nation did not strike down a law that has its origins in the dictatorship, which permits the government to ignore judicial decisions until the final judgment of the actions against it. Meanwhile, the work is concluded and hence considered a fait accompli."

The last time that the Court ordered a halt of the plant construction was in August of 2012 when the TRF-1 issued the opinion that the Brazilian government had not attended to the right of the indigenous peoples affected to be consulted, but the decision was suspended by the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Minister Ayres Britto, and is still awaiting judgment.

"The fragility of IBAMA in the enforcement of the conditions and the delay in our obtaining definitive court decisions only exacerbates the social situation, making it increasingly serious with each day that goes by," said Federal Public Prosecutor in the State of Pará (MPF/PA) Ubiratan Cazetta.

The Belo Monte hydroelectric plant has received R$3.2 billion in financing for investment in socio-environmental projects, the most ever approved by the BNDES for socio-environmental initiatives.

"BNDES only approved the loan after the installation license for construction," said ISA executive secretary André Villas-Boas. "Norte Energia, disobeying the preconditions established by the IBAMA, did not anticipate for investments for meeting the conditions that were supposed to precede the start of construction. It did so only after the installation license and when the loan from the BNDES had been secured. The IBAMA relented to this defiance in its last official opinion, which now results in an enormous gap between the pace of work and the socio-environmental investments considered basic for minimizing the impacts in the region."

More information:

•     Brazilian Federal Court Rules for Public Scrutiny over BNDES Loans
•     Brazilian Court Blocks Controversial Dam

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

Irayo for the article, ma tsmukan  . Sadly, i don't think this will change much in the long term regarding this project  . Norte Energia's lawyers will probably find some kind of loophole in the law that allows them to resume the construction, and we'll just be back to square one.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

This project is so massive, that I am surprised there hasn't been a bigger outcry. It destroys a huge area of oxygen generating foliage, which affects everyone on the planet. Displacing 100,000 people is almost unthinkable. Why aren't the people of Brazil vehemently objecting to this project, and putting a stop to it? How much electric power does Brazil really need?

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

This project is so massive, that I am surprised there hasn't been a bigger outcry. It destroys a huge area of oxygen generating foliage, which affects everyone on the planet. Displacing 100,000 people is almost unthinkable. Why aren't the people of Brazil vehemently objecting to this project, and putting a stop to it? How much electric power does Brazil really need?

AFAIK many Brazilians seem to see this dam as a necessary evil to provide them with electricity, which a large portion of the country's poor are severely lacking. Unfortunately, the electricity that will eventually be generated by this dam is most likely only going to the highest bidder and big national/multi-national Brazilian corporations. At least, that's what i think  .

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

This project is so massive, that I am surprised there hasn't been a bigger outcry. It destroys a huge area of oxygen generating foliage, which affects everyone on the planet. Displacing 100,000 people is almost unthinkable. Why aren't the people of Brazil vehemently objecting to this project, and putting a stop to it? How much electric power does Brazil really need?

AFAIK many Brazilians seem to see this dam as a necessary evil to provide them with electricity, which a large portion of the country's poor are severely lacking. Unfortunately, the electricity that will eventually be generated by this dam is most likely only going to the highest bidder and big national/multi-national Brazilian corporations. At least, that's what i think  .

Unfortunately the fact is, the electricity generated from this project will in fact help with a huge energy shortage in Brazil. Electricity only going to large corporations does not actually make a lot of sense (corporations are not electricity guzzlers). The problem is that Brazil can't figure out a way to fix their energy problems without exacerbating their environmental problems.

[Toruk Makto]

  The reason that the banks and industrial complex in Brazil are running with this without an approved environmental review is that the commissioned independent studies so far done suggest, among other obvious things, three big problems. One, rainforest rivers run slowly and require a huge reservoir area compared to other similar capacity hydro projects. Two, the dam will only produce rated capacity for at best, 3-4 months out of the year during the rainy season, the rest of the time dipping to below 25% of capacity. And three, the methane and other greenhouse gasses from the rotting vegetation in the flood area along with the destroyed carbon sink makes this one of the most ozone destructive power projects ever conceived - worse than coal.

  Opposing this is the Chinese money being used and the air of "progress" and "modernization" this brings to Brazil. Once Belo Monte is done, an additional 40+ more dams all over the Amazon Basin are planned. The rainforest in Brazil will be gone within 25 years. But, since the big money has silenced the press, nobody hears about any of this.

  The only chance of defeating these idiotic programs will come from the indigenous people of the region, whether in the courts of Brazil, or the court of world opinion. That is why it is so important to support these groups like Amazon Watch that are trying to back those people.

Markì

[Tìtstewan]

This project is so massive, that I am surprised there hasn't been a bigger outcry. It destroys a huge area of oxygen generating foliage, which affects everyone on the planet. Displacing 100,000 people is almost unthinkable. Why aren't the people of Brazil vehemently objecting to this project, and putting a stop to it? How much electric power does Brazil really need?

The thing is, in Brazil are living a lot of poor people. The most of those people know it's bad for the forest, environment and clima, but they hope, that the dam generating new job for them. The indigenous people (who are also poor at an economic view) don't need such a dam, because they have everything what they need by help of the forests and rivers. Additionally, the cities and economy growing and this need energy. Of course, there is a lot of money for the energy companies and for the gouverment (taxes etc.).

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

This seems to me to be an excellent place to employ alternative energy. At first, a couple solar panels per home would make a tremendous difference, and would not be terribly expensive. There should be plenty of insolation in that part of the world. Heavy industry would be located in cities where more conventional power generation is practical.

The roads they have cleared for Belo Monte would be excellent places to build solar arrays.

I may not be a 'green', but destroying one of the world's great ecosystems in the name of progress doesn't make sense (or shouldn't, anyway) in any one's book.

Did anyone notice in that article published a few posts back, a feature on the earthmover in the foreground? It looks like the camera stalk on the RDA's big earthmovers.

[Raiden]

This project is so massive, that I am surprised there hasn't been a bigger outcry. It destroys a huge area of oxygen generating foliage, which affects everyone on the planet. Displacing 100,000 people is almost unthinkable. Why aren't the people of Brazil vehemently objecting to this project, and putting a stop to it? How much electric power does Brazil really need?

For the record, forests do not produce the majority of the world's oxygen.

That title goes to marine phytoplankton.

The main issue is that altering the hydrology on such a large scale might ruin the rest of the Amazon "by extension", and the monolithic moral crimes that are committed when millions of life forms (including the humans in the tribes) are stamped out of existence.

Actually, I really don't think that humans in our current state can live in South America without ruining it. Brazil has done nothing but that throughout their history, because the leaders of the country are greedy scum and the people were tricked into thinking that they would have a decent life there. The only way for a modern society to live there without ruining it would be if such a society had super-condensed cities that "built up" instead of spreading out and controlled their own population.

But sometime I forget that I'm a savant in a world of savages....

[archaic]

They could also build down, but you're right, it's building out that causes the damage.

[Toruk Makto]

http://learnnavi.org/2014/01/21/this-is-brazils-belo-monte-dam/

[Tìtstewan]

http://learnnavi.org/2014/01/21/this-is-brazils-belo-monte-dam/

Kawnga sute....keftxo nì'aw...

There's no green there. We are killing our Great Mother.

^This.