PRESS ADVISORY
February 27, 2002
Newfoundland company urged to cancel Belize dam
This Friday, Newfoundland activist Greg Malone will present
Fortis Inc. with 30,000 signed petitions from around the world
protesting the company's proposed dam in the rainforest of
Belize, Central America.
Malone will present the petitions at a press conference on
Friday, March 1, 2002, at 11:00 am, at the Fairmont
Newfoundland Hotel, in St. John's, on behalf of a coalition
of Belizean environmental groups (BACONGO) and the
Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
Newfoundlanders are among those urging Fortis to cancel its
proposed dam in Belize, adding their signatures to the
international Stop Fortis campaign at <
www.stopfortis.org>.
"We know how Fortis operates. We fought its takeover
of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and just look
what Quebec got from the Upper Churchill," says Malone.
Fortis President and CEO, Stanley Marshall, has been invited
to accept the petitions on Friday and respond to public
concerns about his company's plans to dam Belize's Macal
River Valley.
"Fortis intends to make obscene profits on the backs of
the people of Belize," says Sharon Matola, a BACONGO
member and leader in the fight to stop the Chalillo dam. "We
already pay Fortis three times what Canadians pay for
their electricity."
Fortis owns Belize's electric utility and expects to charge
Belizeans $800 million over the next 50 years for the
combined output from the Chalillo dam and an existing hydro
facility further downstream.
BACONGO has filed a lawsuit against the Belize government
for granting a conditional clearance to Fortis for the dam's
construction before completing its environmental review. A
preliminary hearing will be held in Belize City on Thursday,
February 28.
Groups in Belize and Canada also charge that the dam's
environmental assessment, paid for by the Canadian
International Development Agency, contains major errors
and omissions.
-30-
For more information CONTACT:
Greg Malone, St. John's, Newfoundland
Tel. (709) 722-7775
[email protected] Gráinne Ryder, Policy Director,
Probe International, Toronto
Tel. (416) 964-9223 ext. 228
[email protected]