Upstart Presidential Candidate Urges Focus On Energy Conservation And Non-Traditional Renewables
 
Presidential contender Dep. Marcos Enriquez-Ominami spoke out sharply Monday against the proposed HidroAysen dam project slated for Chile’s Patagonia region and against development of nuclear energy at an energy forum held Tuesday at Espacio Riesco in Santiago.
 

The upstart presidential candidate, instead, challenged Chile to take energy efficiency measures seriously and to look to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and tides to solve Chile’s future energy needs.

Enriquez-Ominami also called for a royalty tax for the nation’s powerful hydroelectric companies – noting that company profits have been enormous in recent years and that the nation’s private power companies acquired their rights to Chile’s water at practically no cost as a result of policies made by the military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The royalty, he said, would vary between US$10 and US$30 per megawatt, depending on the number of years the project had been in operation.

The two other presidential candidates speaking at the forum, Sen. Eduardo Frei and businessman Sebastian Piñéra, gave their qualified support to both HidroAysen and to nuclear energy.

“We can and we should responsibly develop hydroelectric dams,” said Frei, who also insisted that nuclear energy options should always “be on the table.”

Piñera did not attend the symposium, but instead appeared in a video where he supported both HidroAysen and the development of nuclear energy.

Enriquez-Ominami then challenged Frei, Piñera and Chile’s  nuclear energy lobby to say exactly where they would put their proposed nuclear facilities.

SOURCE: RADIO COOPERATIVA, LA TERCERA
By Steve Anderson