[Vision2020] James Cameron, Director/Writer of "Avatar, " is Avatar to Amazon Indigenous

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126006167
 Cameron-Backed Amazon Dam Delay Nixed By Judge

by The Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil* April 16, 2010, 09:04 pm ET*

A judge on Friday overturned a decision that could have delayed construction
of a huge Amazon dam opposed by environmentalists, Indians and the director
of "Avatar."

The judge in the capital of Brasilia reversed a decision to suspend contract
bidding scheduled for next week and also overturned the suspension of the
environmental license for the 11,000-megawatt Belo Monte dam, according to a
statement from Brazil's solicitor general.

Federal prosecutor Renato Brill de Goes, acting on behalf of dam opponents,
said an appeal would be filed, but he did not say when. He also questioned
why the dam was put back on track so quickly, just a day after the
suspensions were appealed by Brazil's government.

James Cameron, director of the blockbuster movie "Avatar," asserted that
government pressure played a role in the quick court reversal.

"When you have entrenched interests and billions of dollars, that's a big
steamroller," Cameron said from Washington in a telephone interview after
spending a week in Brazil protesting the dam and meeting with Indians who
would be affected.

Brazil's electricity regulator resumed plans to hold an auction Tuesday to
pick a consortium to build and operate the $11 billion dam and sell
electricity to the nation, according to a statement from the agency, known
as Aneel.

The original decision halting the dam from going forward came Wednesday,
when Cameron was visiting a small city near the dam site, accompanied by
members of Amazon Watch, a San Francisco-based group that works to protect
the rain forest and the indigenous people living there.

In a statement Friday, Amazon Watch said "the battle is not over."

"We are committed to supporting Brazilian indigenous peoples who have vowed
to fight to stop the Belo Monte dam," the statement said. "This dam is one
of the most destructive projects ever undertaken in the Amazon."

Belo Monte would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric energy producer,
behind China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu dam that straddles the border
of Brazil and Paraguay.

Environmentalists and indigenous groups say Belo Monte would devastate
wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people who live in the area to be
flooded. They also argue that the energy generated by the dam will largely
go to big mining operations, instead of benefiting most Brazilians.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has repeatedly insisted that
the dam is essential, and says it will provide clean and renewable energy to
feed increasing demand.

Latin America's largest nation has a fragile energy grid that was hit last
year by a blackout that darkened much of the nation. Belo Monte would supply
6 percent of the country's electricity needs by 2014, the same year Brazil
will host soccer's World Cup and just two years before Rio de Janeiro holds
the 2016 Olympics.

Silva also suggested foreigners should not tell Brazil what to do in the
Amazon, but Cameron said the nation's jungle is an international issue
because the Brazilian Amazon is seen by many as the world's biggest natural
defense against global warming.

It acts as a "sink," or absorber, of carbon dioxide while also serving as a
contributor because about 75 percent of Brazil's emissions come from
rain-forest clearing, as vegetation burns and felled trees rot.

"The international community needs to engage on this issue because it
affects all of us," Cameron said. "I am sure (Silva) doesn't like us poking
around in his affairs, but this is an international issue."

Actress Sigourney Weaver, who starred in "Avatar," accompanied Cameron to
the jungle city of Altamira and to Brasilia for a protest march.

Their visit was reminiscent of a 1989 trip by rock star Sting, who protested
the same dam alongside Indians in an event that helped persuade
international lenders not to finance it. Brazil was shuddering under a heavy
foreign debt at the time.

But economically booming Brazil no longer needs money from abroad to build
the dam.

Brazilian officials contest environmentalists' estimates of the damage the
dam would cause, saying it was approved after years of planning to protect
wildlife and people living nearby.

The solicitor general's office said in its statement that the dam's
construction will create 18,000 jobs in Para state, one of Brazil's poorest
regions.

Cameron said he believes his opposition to the dam will give opponents a
boost because his presence focused media attention on the issue.

"The tug of war has become quite public in the media in Brazil and
internationally, and that's a gain because up until now the people affected
by the dam haven't had a voice."

But the director said that if he ever returned to Brazil, it would be as a
filmmaker and not as an environmental lobbyist.

"If Brazil will let me back in," he added.

Two consortiums are expected to bid on the dam, and the state-owned
Brazilian National Development Bank will finance up to 80 percent of the
cost over a 30-year period.

One of the consortiums is Norte Energia and counts among its partners
Construtora Queiroz Galvao SA, a large Brazilian construction company. The
other, Belo Monte Energia, includes Brazil's Vale SA, the world's largest
producer of iron ore.

To win, a consortium must offer the lowest price for producing electricty.

------

Associated Press writer Marco Sibaja reported this story from Brasilia and
Alan Clendenning from Sao Paulo.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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