Protecting Patagonia
Chile is facing an energy crisis, but is damming wild rivers the solution?
FIMA's Andres Pirazzoli visits Chile's Torres del Paine National Park.
ELAW is working to protect the heart of Patagonia from a Spanish company's plans to dam the Baker, Pascua and El Salto rivers for a hydroelectric scheme. The proposed $2.5 billion HidroAysén project would flood 22,000 acres and require the world's longest transmission line -- crossing national parks, wildlife protected areas and forest reserves.
A strong feed-in program, such as the one
adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable energy
generation in Chile.
ELAW has teamed up with lawyers at Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA) in Santiago to protect Patagonia's wild rivers by strengthening Chilean law to encourage more generation of electricity from renewable sources. Andres Pirazzoli is developing FIMA's renewable energy program. He traveled to Eugene in February to work one-on-one with ELAW Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason. Jen teaches energy law at the University of Oregon School of Law and helps grassroots lawyers around the world promote renewable energy.
Renewable Energy for Chile
FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable to develop laws that would promote renewables as part of Chile's energy strategy. Jen has been working with lawyers from the U.K.-based Climate Justice Programme and the World Future Council (WFC) to analyze laws and polices that create renewable energy "feed-in tariff" (FIT) programs around the world. These programs encourage the generation of electricity from qualified renewable sources by guaranteeing generators that they will be able to sell electricity to the grid for a set price for a set period of time. A strong feed-in program, such as the one adopted in Germany, may be the best way to encourage sustainable energy generation in Chile.
FIMA is working with Chile Sustentable on a law reform effort to make Chile's voluntary quota system mandatory. Next, the organizations want to consider a new law to address climate change that would include a feed-in program. Jen and Andres will work together to develop a feed-in program that will compliment Chile's renewable portfolio standard and help Chile reach its renewable goals more quickly.
Andres Pirazzoli and Jennifer Gleason discuss Chile's energy crisis on KLCC-FM's "Northwest Passage."
Jen gained valuable insight from dozens of experts who are promoting and implementing FITs at a March workshop in Washington, D.C. sponsored by WFC, Worldwatch Institute, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Also in March, Jen joined WFC's Dan Bristow on a panel presentation at the University of Oregon's Public Interest Environmental Law Conference: "Solving the Energy Crisis: Are we making the right policy decisions?"
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the first stage of the HidroAysén project is scheduled to be released for public review in early 2008. ELAW scientists will review the EIA and help its partners in Chile assess the project's pitfalls and propose sustainable alternatives. In preparation for this, ELAW has provided its partners with information about common flaws in EIAs for hydroelectric dams. ELAW has reviewed more than a dozen EIAs for proposed hydroelectric projects around the world. ELAW partners are using these reviews to help communities make their voices heard and challenge ill-advised dams.
Papua New Guinea: Protecting indigenous communities on Woodlark Island
Papua New Guinea: Protecting indigenous communities on Woodlark Island
"For the first time, the government has put people before profits! Thank you for assisting us with the information requested. A lot of people worked behind-the-scenes on this issue and the information you provided was powerful!"
Effrey Dademo
PNG Eco-forestry Forum
Woodlark Island, Papua New Guinea (Photo: www.galenfrysinger.com
A Malaysian company proposed a 60,000 hectare oil palm estate for the tiny tropical island of Woodlark, 130 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The project includes a $300 million plant to convert palm oil into bio-diesel for international markets. ELAW partners at the PNG Eco-forestry Forum are working with local landowners who actively oppose the project.
ELAW provided its partners with information about the hazardous emissions and wastewater discharges from palm oil plants. After the PNG government learned of these and other concerns, they shelved the proposal.
In a statement to the media, the Minister for Agriculture said, "...the government will respect the wishes of the local landowners and will not go ahead with a project that the landowners do not want..."
India: Exposing Fraud in Bauxite Mining Plan
India: Exposing Fraud in Bauxite Mining Plan
ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta is working to protect communities and local waterways from polluting mining projects.
IIn theory, EIAs are supposed to help communities make good decisions about the environment. But that theory breaks down when an EIA is fraudulent!
A multinational mining company received a 74-year lease to mine bauxite in Maharashtra, India, based on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared for a mining project in Russia!
ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik uncovered the fraud.
The Mint, a national newspaper in India partnered with The Wall Street Journal, quotes Mark:
"Unless, by some amazing coincidence, mineralization in the Barja River in India and the Vorykva River in Russia both peak at 452.95mg/liter during the summer months, then the water quality information in the Indian EIA for the Ashapura project in Ratnagiri is fraudulent."
"Mark did an excellent critique"
Ritwick Dutta
ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta called on Mark to review the EIA for the
Ashapura project. Ritwick is working to protect communities and local
waterways from polluting mining projects. He helped found Legal
Initiative for Forest and Environment in New Delhi, and traveled to
Oregon to participate in the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting.
Dominica: Oil Refinery on Hold
ELAW Executive Director, Bern Johnson, is interviewed for a Dominican radio station.
Some say Dominica is the only Caribbean island that Christopher Columbus would recognize if he returned today. A project proposed by Venezuela's President Chavez to build an oil refinery in Dominica would shock Columbus.
President Chavez provides a range of assistance programs to Dominicans and wields enormous influence. Citizens fear that this influence will move the Dominican government to accept the short-term gains of a long-term environmentally devastating oil refinery project.
The oil refinery project was first announced by the governments of Dominica and Venezuela in early 2007, but no detailed information about the project or its potential environmental impacts was ever disclosed to the public. Citizens were concerned that a deal to construct the refinery would be made without any public participation in the decision and without considering the potential harm to Dominica's incredible biodiversity and fledgling ecotourism businesses.
In January 2008, after the government of Dominica declared that it was giving a "green light" to the oil refinery project, Dominica's Waitukubuli Environmental Foundation (WEF) requested help challenging the project.
ELAW advised WEF on filing public information requests and shortly thereafter, WEF submitted a request to the Dominican government demanding that it disclose any environmental studies and reports supporting the government's decision to approve the project.
The information request had a positive effect and likely confirmed what citizens had thought all along to be true -- that the government had not completed any environmental impact assessment or studies.
In February, ELAW received good news from Bernard Wiltshire, attorney and President of WEF.
Bernard wrote: "The Prime Minister sent for WEF on Friday, 1st February, to tell us that Government has decided to put the refinery project on hold."
Reaching out to communities in Dominca and St. Lucia
Left to right: Bernard Wiltshire (Dominica), Liz Mitchell (ELAW), Diana McCaulay (Jamaica), Danielle Andrade (Jamaica), and Bern Johnson (ELAW).
ELAW helps partners around the world host community workshops to empower citizens to play a role in decisions that impact their lives. ELAW Executive Director Bern Johnson, ELAW Staff Attorney Liz Mitchell, and ELAW partners at the Jamaica Environment Trust traveled to Dominica and St. Lucia in November 2007 to co-host community workshops.
Bern says: "People living in these islands are committed to protecting them. Working with local lawyers, we help these citizens speak with a strong voice."
In Dominica, citizens voiced concerns about Chavez's oil project and the adverse impacts of a proposed airport expansion project on water quality and coral reefs. In St. Lucia, citizens are worried about the recent lifting of a ban on sea turtle harvesting. In both Dominica and St. Lucia, community members want access to justice and stronger community participation in decisions that impact the natural environment.
ELAW thanks the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for supporting its work protecting the biodiversity of Caribbean island nations through law.
Habitat Under Pressure: The Mesoamerican Reef
Cheryl provided a Trip Report and agreed to share excerpts from her diary:
Continental provides special training for pilots landing in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. As expected, the landing was thrilling. Lori and I emerged, and were greeted with hugs from ELAW partner Clarisa Vega, a passionate, articulate Honduran attorney.
Our meetings with ministers and agency heads have been fascinating. The contrast is stunning. Nothing demonstrates it better than their offices and private bathrooms. The Minister of Tourism has a lovely office. Her bathroom has running water and toilet paper. The minister of the agency that reviews permits for development is housed in a crumbling building. Her bathroom is falling apart.
Patricio Martin runs the Cancun office of Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA).
We would learn some discouraging facts. Roatan, a sleepy island just two years ago, is under tremendous pressure from developers. This is Honduras's closest point to the Mesoamerican Reef. The government is under-staffed and environmental assessments of proposed projects are not checked carefully. During our meeting with the permitting agency we learned that there are only five government employees who review development permits for all of Honduras.
Rondine Twist and Candy Gonzalez (Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy), Lori Maddox (ELAW), Jeanette de Noack (Guatemala’s Center for Environmental, Legal & Social Action), Cheryl Coon and Clarisa Vega (Environmental Law Institute of Honduras).
When Lori and I traveled to Roatan my fears were confirmed. Everywhere you look, land is for sale. The construction practices are haphazard, with fill being dumped in the ocean near the Reef. Reefs that are accessible from shore, such as in Roatan, are no longer pristine. We saw evidence of damage, from bleaching to broken corals. There are signs warning tourists not to damage the coral, but hordes of cruise ship visitors (and plans for increased cruise ship traffic) means the Reef is under severe pressure.
The Mesoamerican Reef is one of the world's great treasures of marine biodiversity. My visit to Honduras and seeing the Reef firsthand has left a haunting impression and a determination to protect this treasure.
Cheryl Coon has served as Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Conservation, U.S. Virgin Islands; Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, Technology and Space; Legal Counsel to the Ocean Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee; and Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Natural Resources Section, Oregon. She holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and an L.L.M. in Marine Law from the University of Washington School of Law. She is now collaborating on efforts to establish marine reserves in Oregon.
Alejandra Sobenes Garcia, IDEADS
Alejandra Sobenes Garcia, founder of the Environmental Law and Sustainable Development Institute (IDEADS) of Guatemala and long-time ELAW partner, has been named Vice Minister for Natural Resources in Guatemala. Alejandra pioneered public interest environmental law in Guatemala in the early 1990s and built a coalition of advocates throughout Central America. She has been a professor of environmental law and is a strong advocate for Guatemala's spectacular natural resources. We wish her the very best in her new position!
ELAW Impact
The ELAW Mesoamerican Legal Strategy Group works to protect marine life and coastal watersheds connected to the Mesoamerican Reef. The Group's recent gains include:
- Winning a court order sending a bad mining law in Honduras back to the legislative drawing board;
- Protecting Guatemalan citizens' right to participate in decisions about proposed developments;
- Advocating for indigenous peoples before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;
- Negotiating a settlement that will bring ecologically-sound forest management to a Honduran watershed;
- Helping citizens file ten complaints against poorly-planned developments on Utila and Guanaja, in the Bay Islands;
- Filing suit against the Department of Environment in Belize for failing to follow its own Environmental Compliance Plan;
- Forging an alliance between government agencies and NGOs to work toward comprehensive ocean-coastal zone planning in Guatemala;
- Investigating
the disbursement of funds intended for coastal Garifuna tourism
development that never reach Garifuna hands in Honduras; - Filing a court challenge against an illegal natural gas terminal in Tela Bay; and
- Promoting watershed-based conservation strategies throughout the region.
Strengthening the Rule of Law in Asia
Pavol Zilincik speaks at Lao National University’s Law Faculty in Vientiane.
Lawmakers and citizens are looking to Central Europe for new models to strengthen democracy in transitional countries. Over the past year, ELAW partner Pavol Zilincik traveled to Mongolia, China, India, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia to share his expertise building access to justice in Slovakia. Pavol founded Via Iuris, Slovakia's leading public interest environmental law organization.
Slovakia (pop. 5 million) was part of Czechoslovakia in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe until 1989 when the authoritarian regime collapsed. "It is only since that time that we can talk about effective protection of human and civil rights," says Pavol. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully and since 2004 they have met as members of the European Union.
ELAW helped Pavol connect with grassroots advocates in China and Laos who are at the forefront of efforts in those countries to strengthen the rule of law.
Pavol writes:
Authoritarian regimes have unique systems with no feedback mechanisms. As channels for government feedback are closed, institutions and society degenerate. That is why in post-Communist countries, human rights litigation and advocacy are critical tools for citizens to provide feedback to government.
In my presentations across Asia, I focused on Slovakia's transition to democracy and how civil society contributes to this positive development through access to information, access to justice, freedom of speech and public participation. I gave examples of Slovakia's practical achievements in protecting forests, resolving land conflicts, and addressing issues involving dams, the forced displacement of villagers, and waste dumps.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Gandhi's words have inspired the successful campaigns of many civil society groups throughout Europe.
For more information see: http://www.viaiuris.sk 
.
ELAW Fellows: Eva Kovacechova and Irina Bogdan
Eva Kovacechova
Eva traveled to Eugene to work on problems facing communities in Slovakia
A waste dump in Pezinok, Slovakia, is dangerously close to residential areas. Citizens are challenging this and new plans by an investor to build an even larger, regional landfill in this small western Slovak town.
Eva traveled to Eugene for an ELAW Fellowship, to work on this and other problems facing communities in Slovakia.
Experts say landfills should be no closer than 3 km from residential areas. The Pezinok dump is 150 meters from the closest home and 300 meters from the city center. The new dump will be just 250 meters from local homes.
ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik provided Eva with information on the impact of landfills on human health and best practices for landfill waste management. Eva also learned how other countries around the world use the Environmental Impact Assessment process to ensure that communities have a voice in decisions that impact community health.
While in Eugene, Eva received good news: the Bratislava regional land use agency announced that it has prohibited construction or use of the new landfill while the matter is pending.
Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Eva's visit.
Irina Bogdan
Protecting Russia's Environment Through Law
"There are very few lawyers in Russia who dedicate themselves to practicing environmental law. ELAW provides a vital connection to my colleagues around the world," says Irina Bogdan.
Irina is Director of the Environmental Law Center at Ecodal, a non-government organization in Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. She concluded a 10-week ELAW Fellowship in March, working with ELAW staff on efforts to protect Russia's native forests and studying English at the University of Oregon's American English Institute.
Over the past two years, Russia's laws protecting forests have weakened. Developers seeking to cut Russia's forests no longer need to submit an environmental impact review.
While at ELAW, Irina learned that U.S. laws protecting forests are also being challenged. She worked closely with ELAW staff and forest experts Doug Heiken at Oregon Wild, Dan Kruse at Cascadia Wildlands Project and Todd True at Earthjustice. She attended federal court hearings of cases similar to those found in Russian courts and met with Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson to learn about the economic issues surrounding forest protection in Oregon.
Irina's organization has filed 40 cases to help strengthen Russia's forest laws and hold government agencies accountable. "ELAW builds relationships and fosters collaboration. Working together we can make land management more responsible," she says. Many thanks to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for supporting Irina’s Fellowship.
Environmental Hero: Pablo Fajardo
Pablo Fajardo (right) with a villager from Secoya.
"Our work in Ecuador is an example of the good things that can happen when thousands of people, most without money or power, can come together in a common effort to better themselves and the planet"
Pablo Fajardo
accepting the CNN Hero Award
Oil drilling in Ecuador has contaminated hundreds of square miles of Amazon rain forest. ELAW partner Pablo Fajardo is working to hold oil companies accountable for decades of polluting activities. ELAW helped Pablo document the compensation Chevron has paid to communities impacted by far less egregious contamination by Chevron in the U.S.
In 2007, Pablo was named a CNN Hero. This award was given to "ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary deeds around the world."
Pablo grew up in poverty and worked for many years as a laborer in forests and oil fields. He completed his secondary education in night school and earned his law degree via a correspondence course. His first case is the massive suit against Chevron.
Pablo embodies the spirit of hundreds of ELAW partners around the world. We are inspired by Pablo's commitment to justice for disadvantaged communities in Ecuador.
ELAW congratulates Pablo Farjardo who won a 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize for his work with Luis Yanza to hold oil companies accountable for decades of polluting activities in the Ecuadorean Amazon.
THINK GLOBALLY. ACT GLOBALLY.
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