U.S. Eco-Millionaire Splits Chilean Opinion Poll
7/10/97
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Headline: U.S. Eco-Millionaire Splits Chilean Opinion Poll
Source: Reuters
Date: 7/10/97
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
SANTIAGO (Reuter) - Chileans are sharply divided over U.S.
millionaire ecologist Douglas Tompkins, who wants to create a
vast wildlife sanctuary on land he bought in southern Chile, an
opinion poll showed Thursday.
Those on the far right of the political spectrum were most
opposed to Tompkins, a San Francisco clothing magnate whose
environmentalist views and purchases of vast tracts of forest
have made him a deeply controversial figure in Chile.
Seventy percent of Chileans said they knew who Tompkins was
and 30 percent of those said they had a good or very good
opinion of him, the survey by polling agency Cerc found. Thirty
percent said they had a so-so opinion of him and 33 percent said
they had a bad or very bad opinion.
Tompkins' property, the size of Rhode Island, covers a
spectacular array of forests, lakes and mountains.
The poll was conducted before President Eduardo Frei's
government signed an agreement with Tompkins Monday throwing its
support behind the project as long as he donates the land to a
local environmental foundation. The land is coveted by timber
companies, and some government and military officials consider
Tompkins a threat to national security because his land cuts
narrow Chile in two.
The poll of 1,200 people had a margin of error of 2.3
percentage points.