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Keep Chilean Patagonia Wild Log in to

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Published: May 23, 2011 Privacy Policy

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An environmental review commission in the Aysén region of southern What
Chile has made a potentially disastrous decision, voting to approve the TWITTER
Supreme
construction of five hydroelectric dams, two on the Baker River and E-MAIL Upholds Order to
three on the Pascua. The damage these dams would do to the Reduce Calif.
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environment is tremendous, and their construction — in a largely
unspoiled natural haven — would open the way for further REPRINTS

development, including more dams. SHARE

The Baker and Pascua Rivers flow into the wild fiords that thread
their way along the southern Chilean coast. The dams would partially
flood a national park as well as portions of a landscape that Chile had
been hoping to have named a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The vote follows an environmental review that looked only at the immediate consequences
of construction and not the long-term effects on the ecology of these watersheds or the
downstream risks of damming short, violent, glacial rivers that are subject to abrupt
outburst floods from the lakes above them. To deliver the power they would generate —
some 2.75 gigawatts — Chile would have to build a 1,400-mile corridor of power lines to
the north, creating the longest clear-cut on the planet.

There is no disputing Chile’s energy needs or the fact that it pays much more for electricity
than any of its neighbors. But major studies have made it clear that Chile has extraordinary
renewable energy sources, including solar, geothermal and wind power that could be
developed with far less impact on the environment.

This is an early skirmish in a lengthy, hard-fought battle. A separate environmental review

must be completed and approved for the transmission corridor. We hope it takes a more 2
comprehensive look at the damage this project would cause. Perhaps then the Chilean

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/opinion/24tue3.html?_r=4&ref=opinion 5/24/2011
Keep Chilean Patagonia Wild - NYTimes.com Página 2 de 3

government, which supports the dam project, will come to understand what many Chileans
already know: that sacrificing Patagonia for power would be an irreparable mistake.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on May 24, 2011, on page

A28 of the New York edition with the headline: Keep Chilean Patagonia
Wild.

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