The battle of Belo Monte came to the headquarters of Brazil’s National Electric Energy Agency, Aneel, in Brasília on April 20. While government and business leaders convened inside, hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets. Indigenous tribes fight proposal. In response to the project being awarded inside the National Electric Energy Agency building, vocal protesters dumped hundreds of pounds of horse manure onto its steps. The project has become a flashpoint for the need to conserve the vast but fragile Amazon as well as meet the country’s growing energy needs. Caught in the middle of the conflict are hundreds of
A controversial 11,200-MW hydroelectric dam deep in the Brazilian Amazon was awarded to a nine-company consortium on April 20, setting aside years of controversy and last-minute protests. The Belo Monte dam will harnass the Xingu River’s power. Brazil’s electricity regulating agency Aneel awarded the tender to build and operate Belo Monte dam to the Norte Energia Consortium led by Compañía Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco (CHESF), a unit of state-run Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA. The group presented an offer to sell electricity from the project for 77.97 reais, or $44.24, per megawatt-hour. The other companies in the consortium include Galvão,
The U.S Army Corps has unveiled a $1.7-billion, 10-year plan to restore to health the ailing Anacostia River in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The plan, two years in the making and released on April 19, identifies 3,000 projects to help restore the severely polluted river and watershed spanning 176 sq miles of land through a combination of stormwater controls, stream restoration, wetland creation and restoration, fish blockage removal, reforestation, and controlling trash and chemical contamination. However, finding funding to pay for the projects could be a challenge. Funding for the plan was authorized under the Water Resources and Development
British Columbia will move forward with the development of a new, 900-MW, $6.6-billion hydroelectric project on the Peace River in the province’s eastern section, Premier Gordon Campbell announced on April 19. As currently designed, the earthfill Site C dam would be 1,100 meters long, with 300 meters of concrete structures located on the right bank for the spillway and power intakes. The Sierra Club of British Columbia criticized the decision on the dam, calling it an “ill-advised” mega-project that fails to meet minimum international standards for large dam construction.
As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Chicago District considers possible scenarios for closing Chicago’s locks to keep predatory Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide if it will hear a lawsuit that could force the locks’ closure. Lynne Whelan, Corps-Chicago District public affairs officer, says the agency is studying several options, including closing the locks to boat traffic as many as three or four days a week. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit with the high court in December to force closure of the locks. The court is expected to
The New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on April 2 denied a water-quality standards certification for Units 2 and 3 of Entergy Corp.’s Westchester County-based Indian Point nuclear powerplant. The certification, under Clean Water Act guidelines, is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew the units’ operating licenses for the next 20 years. The current licenses expire in 2013 and 2015, respectively. DEC says the units, which generate 1078 MW and 1080 MW, respectively, daily take in 2.5 billion gallons of water from the Hudson River and discharge the untreated water back into the river. DEC
The anticipated cost to build a controversial water-supply project in northern Colorado has increased 15% from 2006 estimates, to $490 million, project officials say. That total is up sharply from the original $350-million estimate at the project’s 2003 inception. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy is coordinating the Northern Integrated Supply Project, or NISP, for 11 funding cities and four water districts in Weld and Larimer counties. At completion, NISP will supply 40,000 acre-ft of water per year to area residents. Additional capacity is critical: A recent water study says that, by 2050, Colorado’s population will double, and 80% of the
Contractors on the centerpiece of San Francisco’s $4.6-billion improvement to the Hetch Hetchy Water System were given notice to proceed on April 1. The five-mile subterranean Bay Division Water Delivery Tunnel planned for under the San Francisco Bay will replace two 1920s and 1930s era pipelines with one 9-ft-dia welded steel pipeline bored as deep as 100 ft under the bay’s floor. The new tunnel will be more secure in an earthquake and a tunnel-boring machine will minimize environmental damage. A joint venture of Michels Corp., Brownsville, Wis., Jay Dee Contractors, Inc., Livonia, Mich., and Frank Coluccio Construction Co., Seattle,
Companies came out in force March 24 to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers briefing in New Orleans to pick up details—and size up the competition—on a planned $800-million, design-build contract for permanent closures and pumps at the city’s three outfall canals to better control potential hurricane flooding damage. + Image Image: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The Corps is allowing flexibility for design-build contractors to propose their own pump configuration. About 100 people representing dozens of contracting firms attended the Corps briefing, but few questions were asked as the companies appeared to want to hold any competitive advantages close
A dam on the Green River in western Washington state remains one of the nation’s most unsafe, despite $15 million of work that has been completed over the past year. But the Army Corps of Engineers told local officials on March 18 that an additional $44 million in upgrades is needed to lower the structure’s failure risk to acceptable levels. Photo: Seattle District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Leaks in the Hanson dam landed it on the Corps’ danger list. The Corp says it needs a $44-million repair. “We can manage the risk at the dam, but doing so puts
RSS
