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Southern Chile Environmental Issues
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In part I of this series we looked at
who the players are in the environmental battle for Southern Chile.
In Part II, we republished an article from the New York times to give
an you an idea about the international scope of Endesa's dam projects
across Chile. Now we would like to take a look at the Government's
role, their position on the Endesa's Project, and what is the current
status of the road and dam project in Southern Chile.
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Well, just as you think Endesa could
not do any more wrong, they come up with something new. They turn the
public perception of the blame for the road not being completed on to
Tompkins with the 'Road to Chile Now!' campaign. It turns out that it
is not up to any of them. Thus, our fourth and very absent actor
makes its appearance. That is the federal Chilean government. Are
they not responsible for building roads and sorting these sorts of
public works messes out?
Public and Private Roads in Chile
Well, yes and no in Chile. In Chile,
for the most part, major highway projects are not run by the
government. They are toll road concessions run by private companies.
This is especially true when it is a big expensive project like
carving mountains to cross the rugged terrain of Pumalin Park.
It turns out that the real reason there
is no road is that the Chilean government will not allocate the money
to build the road themselves, and there is no company willing to
venture the money for a very expensive road project to a relatively
unpopulated part of Chile. Chaiten is the largest city with a
population of about 6,000-7,000 people.
Douglas Tompkins: Persona non grata
A recent report in Chile's national
paper El Mercurio looked at the problems that Douglas Tompkins is
having with the new administration of Michelle Bachelet.
Bachelet, a pediatrician by training that campaigned with on an
environmental platform, has now turned in support of the road. Where
Douglas Tompkins had a relatively friendly relationship with the
former administration, Bachelet's administration is refusing to
negotiate or even meet with Tompkins on the issue.
The reasons they give is that Tompkins
is no longer the owner of Pumalin. He gave the land to a
None-Governmental Organization, and he no longer has any legal
authority to speak on behalf of Pumalin Park. Their position is that
the road project is going to go forward, and now the only thing to be
settled is how much they are going to pay for the land. The saber
rattling is that the government wants to pay what Tompkins payed for
the land some 20 plus years ago. Some of the land Tompkins bought for
as little as $3000 pesos a hectare (about $6 US a hectare).
Reality Check for Southern Chile's Environment
All that said, the political and
practical reality is not as bad as it sounds. The road has not even
begun. Bachelet's administration will be long gone by the time the
first tree is cut. The real decisions, with real contracts for
construction, are still many years away. Fortunately for the trees at
Pumalin, Bachelet has also proved to be rather light on her
commitment to development projects in the deep South of Chile. The
planned bridge to connect Chiloe to the mainland for example was
recently canceled for being too expensive.
So, in the end, it is not Endesas fault
really that the road is not being built. It is not even Tompkins
fault, although he does not seem to terrible broken up about it. It
is the Chilean governments fault, and that means politics and lots of
it.
All the deep pockets are talking with
their political friends. Tompkins, has been very good about mustering
support with the Chilean party that holds a minority position. In
fact, Piñera the presidential candidate that ran against
president Batchlet and lost, also owns a large nature reserve of his
own just across the water in Chiloe. Tompkins and Piñera have
worked on many environmental projects together.
Endesa has gained sufficient political
influence because Chile is in a energy crisis currently with the
ruling party. They already have one hydroelectric dam on the Bio Bio
river in the VIII region of Chile. They have also committed to going
ahead with construction of a dam on the Baker river. For the next 5
years or so, it does not appear that the road through Pumalin will
be top priority for them, and therefore the Futalefue river will be
safe for many years to come from the dam.
A Wild Card in the Battle for Patagonia, Chile
There are rumors of a wild card in this
race for southern Chile's environment. It seems a German company is
looking in to the purchase of Spanish owned Endesa. The hope is that a purchase by a German company, with Germany's strong environmental
culture, will make Endesa's priorities take a different direction in
South America. We will keep you up to date on this twist.
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