Puelo Rapids, near the Chile-Argentina border.

Plans by Spanish-owned electricity company Endesa to dam Region X’s Puelo River have so far generated little public attention here in Chile. The project has, however, become quite a hot topic in neighboring Argentina, where activists and even a provincial legislator are threatening to turn the hydroelectric scheme into a major international conflict.

The Patagonia Times reported earlier this month that Endesa, already at the center of a major controversy over its so-called Aysén Project (a US$2.5 billion plan to dam Region XI’s Baker and Pascua Rivers), is now turning its attention to the Puelo River (PT, June 4). The Puelo, which begins in Argentina’s Lake Puelo and flows west to the Pacific Ocean, is Chile’s second most voluminous river – after the Baker.

The company’s plans include a large, 320 MW dam on the Puelo River, an accompanying 5,000-hectare (12,300-acre) reservoir, plus two smaller “run-of-the-river” dams to be built along the nearby Manso River. In total the project would produce roughly 720 MW and could cost as much as US$650 million.

Though still at an early stage, Endesa’s latest hydro scheme has attracted a handful of Chilean critics who worry about its possible environmental impact. As with all large-scale dam-reservoir complexes, the Puelo river project would involve major flooding that in addition to displacing residents, would also drown native forests and permanently alter the area’s existing ecosystem.

The project could also affect Region X’s Reloncaví Sound, a large bay into which the Puelo River flows. According to Mauricio Fierro of the Puerto Montt-based environmental group Geoaustral, the river provides about 60 percent of Reloncaví’s oxygen. That oxygen, in turn, sustains the area’s lucrative aquaculture industry which, if the river is dammed, could suffer dramatically.

“If the flow is cut, who knows what could happen,” Fierro told the Patagonia Times. “All the salmon and shellfish farms could disappear because they wouldn’t have oxygen… Everything that’s down there could die.”

Despite Fierro’s concerns, the Puelo River plan – unlike Endesa’s high-profile Aysén Project – has not grabbed the attention of Chile’s mainstream press. Nor has the issue yet become a topic of discussion within political circles.

That’s not, however, been the case in neighboring Argentina, where people in places like El Bolsón – located approximately 20 kilometers north of Lake Puelo – have been organizing an increasingly visible campaign against the project.

Why, if the project is slated for Chile, does it matter to people across the border?

For starters, Endesa is planning to dam a river that for all intents and purposes is Argentine – at least that’s where the Puelo begins. The project also threatens to alter the climate on both sides of the border, argue opponents like Alejandro Nebbia of the Argentine Network of Environmental Educators. Of particular concern is the proposed reservoir, a massive artificial lake that – through the natural evaporation process – will change nearby weather patterns and humidity levels.

“What you need to know is that this is a lake zone that has a certain average humidity and is home to many tree and bush species. All of that came about over the course of 60 million years and we can’t just come along, pretend we’re gods and from one day to the next put in a lake just like that,” Nebbia explained in an e-mail sent to the Patagonia Times.

“This whole area, just like anywhere else in the world, is a system based on a delicate balance that’s very sensitive to any change,” he added. “We’re not talking about chopping down a few trees. We’re talking about creating a 5,000-hectare lake that will put humidity levels, animal habitats, seed cycles, everything at risk.”

In recent months environmental NGOs in Argentina – in partnership with Chilean groups like the Region XI-based Citizen Coalition for Aysén Life Reserve – have organized several forums on the issue, including one held this last weekend in the Argentine town of Los Antiguos. The seminars give participants an opportunity to air concerns not just about the Puelo River project, but also about threats posed to the area by mining ventures and other hydroelectric plans.

They also “spark as sense of solidarity with Chilean activists who face the difficult task of opposing these mega-projects that principally favor oil and mining interests operating on both sides of the mountains,” said Lucas Chiappe, coordinator of an Argentine group called the Lemu Project.

“Corporations take all the benefits they want while the people look on without being able to share their opinions, let alone oppose this looting, which is organized in the Northern Hemisphere and implemented here thanks to the corrupt politicians that administer our shared property,” he added.

But can groups of Argentine activists really have an influence over projects being planned in Chile? Maybe.

Fifteen years ago Chile and Argentina signed a bilateral treaty that specifically addresses the issue of “shared waterways.” According to the 1992 treaty, projects involving shared waterways must – before being allowed to proceed – be approved on both sides of the border (PT, May 15).

“In the case of shared waterways,” the treaty reads, “the use of water resources in the territory of one (of the two countries) must not in any way harm their shared water resources, a common waterway or the environment…The actions and projects involving the use of the shared water resources must be carried out in a coordinated or joint manner via general use plans.”

It’s with that treaty in mind that Patricia Ranea, a Rio Negro provincial legislator decided last week to speak out on the issue, calling on both local and national authorities to educate themselves on the subject.

“It is fundamental that first as a province and then as a national we be aware of these proposed projects and take concrete steps in order to avoid a repeat of the paper plants,” she said.

The “paper plants” in this case refer to two massive pulp mills under construction on the Uruguayan side of the Plata River. The plants have been at the center of an unprecedented conflict between Argentina and Uruguay, which share the Plata. Argentina, complaining that the plants pose and environmental and public health threat, took the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Like the pulp plants, the Endesa project “could affect extremely vulnerable ecosystems on both sides. It’s an issue that goes beyond the border between the two countries,” said Ranea.

“This is a difficult fight, but one be must undertake together. It’s not easy to face off against the interests and capital of companies that don’t take into account the damages they cause, only earnings. It’s even more difficult when they have the support of a government, in this case the Chilean (state),” she added.

By Benjamin Witte (benwitteATsantiagotimes.cl)