We are opposed to the installation of hydroelectric power plants which Endesa intends to build in Patagonia were the words of the presidential candidate of the broad Social Movement (MAS), Alejandro Navarro, after meeting on Thursday last in the seat of the Senate in Santiago with the Defense Council of the Patagonia (CDP), which is in the process of making public the opinion of La Moneda aspiring around multiple dams that various electric planned to build in the Region Aysen. Already last Monday the candidate Sebastian Pinera had done the same, occasion in which raised that sustainable alternatives to exist he would not endorse HidroAysen and that in its eventual Government the main impulse energy would be toward the non-conventional renewable (NCRE). Scopes are absolutely compelling, impacts have been in sight. The presentation that has made the company HidroAysen has had more than 14 thousand comments, both public services and the citizenship said Navarro. He added that the attempt to dam the Baker and Pascua rivers is a project that Chile does not need, because for 12 years is projected contribution to the Central interconnected system (SIC) there will be healthy, viable, lower-cost alternatives for environmentally friendly and therefore we are going to generate all actions to discourage this project and enhance the Patagonia and the proper use of water.The candidate of the more pointed out that the preservation of water in Aysen and the need to nationalize it, are ideas that have promoted throughout our campaign, and we will continue to support, because they are integrated to the presidential programme that we intend to carry out. We talked with the Bishop Infanti and several communities in the region that oppose HidroAysen.
The legislator, who also participates in the Senate Environment Committee, said about Aysen we all know that this area is known as a reserve of life, based on his extraordinary source of wildlife and unique features in their ecosystems. To carry out this project is, without a doubt, destroying part of the Patagonia. At the same time, Navarro added that his presidential programme contemplates the NCRE development and efficient use of energy, where fundamental and innovative is working together with the community that will be affected or benefitted with the project. People are tired his opinion, does not take into account especially when resources who are affected should be State-owned and non-private, who surely shall not ensure foreign interests said the parliamentarian. After exposure before the presidential candidate, Member of Secretariat policy in the CDP Hernan Sandoval stressed on the project that this is not a solution to the energy problems of Chile. The Colbun-Endesa complex, if construct HidroAysen, would concentrate in their hands 92% of the country’s energy production, and if that is not a monopoly we don’t know what it is. It was reported that only 18 generation thousand gigawatts hour (which would produce HidroAysen), marketed in the SIC at today’s price represents a rotation of 1,200 to 1,400 billion of dollars a year (almost half of total cost of dams). This is a project that their owners very interested with that tremendous sales and huge profitability. In addition the regional Secretary of the CDP Miriam Chible, Coordinator of the Coalition citizen Aysen Reserva de life, Peter Hartmann, the head of the Patagonia campaign of International Rivers, Gary Hughes, the Coordinator of the campaign Patagonia of Natural Resources Defense Council, Allison Silvermann and Bernardo Reyes de Forest Ethics, among other directors of the Patagonia Defense Council participated in the meeting.