17 May 2010 | News | Linking Alternatives 4 | Climate Justice and Energy
Energy disaster
Endesa and Enel once again accused by the social movements
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The energy corporation Endesa Chile, a subsidiary of Endesa Spain, and the company Colbun, are planning on building five big dams in the Chilean Patagonia, which will imply flooding 6,000 hectares of land, including agricluture, cattle and forest lands. The energy generated would be aimed to supply the industry of Santiago de Chile, 2,300 kilometers away, and the mining industry in the North of the country.
Endesa is part of Italian transnational corporation Enel. Juan Pablo Orrego (from the organization Ecosistemas de Chile, who presented the case against Endesa and Enel before the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Saturday) visited the shareholders board of Enel. There, he verified that the Italian company supports the construction of a complex of five hydroelectric dams called HidrAysen.
“The electric wiring of the project would go through nine regions of Chile, 64 municipalities, including some areas of Araucania, the territory of indigenous communities and 14 wild protected areas. This will lead to huge deforestation, displacement of peasant and indigenous communities and the division of others as a result of the wiring. It will also affect several national parks”, says the case filed before the Permanent Peoples Tribunal.
