The one-time payment would be spread out over 10 years and the power companies will be allowed to discount or offset the payments from the companies’ annual tax bill to the government. It would thus be “revenue neutral” for the electricity companies.

Tokman insisted that the proposed new law will not alter any of Chile’s current environmental rules, rules and norms that all energy companies will continue to have to meet. 

Energy experts estimate that during the next 10 years Chile’s two energy grids – the SIC (servicing central and southern Chile) and the SING (servicing northern Chile) – will increase their capacity by 10,000 MW (from their current 14,000 MW). This means about US$180 million would be kicked back to the host communities for these new projects.

Should Congress approve the proposed law, the two small communities hosting the controversial HidroAysen dam project slated for Patagonia would receive US$49.5 milllion, while Copiapó - the proposed site for MPX´s Castilla Thermoelectricity (coal-burning) complex (ST, Dec.12, 2008) - would receive US$43 million.

Energy projects are a hot-button issue in Chile, which relies on dams and coal/diesel power production in almost equal proportions.

While hydroelectricity is “clean,” meaning it doesn’t release CO2 emissions (as do fossil fuel burning plants) a growing number of people question the utility of large-scale hydro dams from an environmental perspective.  
 
HidroAysén’s high-profile Patagonia project is a case in point, critics say. The project, a joint venture by energy companies Endesa and Colbún, calls for five massive dams: two along Region XI’s Baker River (Chile’s largest) and three on the powerful but much shorter Pascua River, also in Region XI.

The pristine waterways, located deep in Chilean Patagonia, are for the most part untouched and support unique and fragile ecosystems. The huge, multi-billion-dollar energy project would destroy those ecosystems, not only by altering the flow of the rivers, but also by drowning large tracks of wilderness below reservoirs. The project will also require huge transmission lines that will create a 2,000 km long “scar” across the entire underbelly of the country. 

HidroAysen project would also consolidate a virtual 90 percent monopoly on energy production in the SIC by Italian-owned Endesa and Chile’s Colbún energy companies.

Additionally, there are many controversial thermal electric power plants on the drawing boards – burning either diesel or coal – which are also generating tremendous community opposition. Citizens’ protests have already begun against coal-burning facilities proposed for Copiapo (ST, Aug. 6) and near Concepcion (ST, Aug. 20).

It remains to be seen if the new law proposed by Tokman will lower community resistance to the controversial power plants.

SOURCE:  EL MERCURIO
By Steve Anderson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )