ACTION ITEM
Bolivian Pipeline is Destroying Tropical Forests
12/26/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
A pipeline is being built in Bolivia through the largest dry tropical
forest areas in the world -- the Chiquitano Tropical Forests, a
globally significant and unique ecosystem. The U.S. government is
providing some financial aid for the project through the US Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Due to requests from many list subscribers, in addition to passing on
the usual full-blown ACTION ALERTS, I will be passing on ACTION ITEMS
for other stories when appropriate and available. These will be
opportunities to write to those responsible for global ecological
destruction and voice your concerns. The contact information will
appear in this overview and commentary section, as below. Recipients
are welcome to turn this highly general information into more
elaborate action alerts. ***Please pass on to me names and addresses
of government officials in the major tropical forest countries, major
companies' contact information, and other targets for letter writing
campaigns to shutdown ancient forest loss worldwide.
ACTION ITEM: Contact the President of the US Overseas Private
Investment Corporation through their web site http://www.opic.gov/ ,
through email at info@opic.gov , or via snail mail at:
George Munoz
President and Chief Executive Officer
US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20527
USA
Request that funding be immediately halted for the natural gas
pipeline in Bolivia, utilizing information from the press account
below.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Environment: Bolivian Pipeline Is Destroying Tropical
Forests
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 22, 1999
WASHINGTON, (Dec. 22) IPS - Environmentalists want the US government
to end financial aid for the construction of a natural gas pipeline
in Bolivia which, they charge, is destroying pristine forests and
harming local communities.
The 630 km pipeline project is owned by Gas Oriente Boliviano, a
consortium made up of Texas-based Enron International, Shell
International, and the Bolivian company Transredes.
The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provided a $200
million loan agreement for the project in June, when Enron declared
the pipeline would be of "world class" environmental and social
standards and include various safeguards to protect the forest and
local indigenous communities.
But Atossa Soltani, executive director of California-based Amazon
Watch, says that since construction began, she and others had
witnessed a "world class disaster."
"Enron continuously has demonstrated a clear lack of commitment to
protect the fragile ecosystem and address the concerns of locally-
affected people," she said.
OPIC's funding for the project went through in the face of demands
from environmentalists and local communities to have the route
altered to avoid this forested area.
The pipeline traverses one of the largest dry tropical forest areas
in the world -- the Chiquitano Tropical Forests listed by the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) as one of the 200 most important ecosystems
throughout the globe.
Nearly 100 mammal, bird and reptile species, including hyacinth macaw
and the ocelot in the Chiquitano are protected under the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), say
environmentalists.
WWF, Amazon Watch and Friends of the Earth have accused Enron --
which heads the construction consortium -- of failing to control
erosion, water and air pollution, illegal hunting and unauthorized
access to the route that runs alongside the pipeline.
After visits to the construction site, Soltani and a geology
professor at the University of California said that Enron had
violated several OPIC guidelines as well as Bolivian law.
Their report said that, without authorization from Bolivian
authorities, Enron built a new air strip, widened several access
roads, and installed new workers camps close to small towns and in
pristine forest areas.
"Of great concern, is Enron's plans to build new access roads through
pristine tropical forests," Soltani said, adding that such roads
would be a violation of the company's loan agreement with OPIC.
The report said the ongoing construction had an adverse social impact
on surrounding communities. Funds were never dispersed for land
titling for indigenous communities and an Indigenous Development
Plan.
"The company is also failing to adequately enforce the workers code
of conduct," the report said. Between 700 to 1000 workers poured into
small surrounding indigenous and farming towns at weekends, bringing
with them a host of violent crimes, trash, and prostitution.
"OPIC has been caught red-handed in violations and broken promises,"
says Jonathan Sohn, an analyst with Friends of the Earth.
"It is time that OPIC's Board of Directors, the General Accounting
Office and the US Congress did an investigation of how OPIC is using
tax-dollars to finance tropical forest destruction," he says.
OPIC has denied violating environmental and social guidelines. In a
seven-page written response, the agency argued that, based on the
challenges of operating in a tropical ecosystem, the project was
making "good progress" with its environmental and social objectives.
OPIC insisted that "No new access roads have been build and none are
planned."
The agency said the claims of erosion and other negative
environmental impacts had been based on limited observations that
took place right after the land was cleared and before controls were
put in place.
It admitted that a "few incidences" were reported in local
communities regarding misconduct by local workers, but they had no
lasting impact.
"Our monitors have spent a considerable amount of time in camps and
local communities and report an atmosphere of mutual respect and good
community relations," OPIC said in its statement.
The pipeline project forms part of a $2.1 billion, 3,150 km scheme to
transport natural gas from Bolivia to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Starting in
Ipias, Bolivia, the new project would branch off the existing
Bolivia-Brazil pipeline.
It would then run northeast through San Matias to Cuiaba, a small
city in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, where Enron is constructing
a 480-megawatt, combined-cycle natural gas power plant.