[R-P] El megagasoducto y la reacción imperialista

[Julio Fernández Baraibar]

Ya aparecieron los buitres del imperialismo.
Es muy tarde y no tengo ganas de traducirlo. Pero lo central es que ya
salieron ambientalistas en el New York Times a oponerse al gasoducto.
Si puedo mañana lo traduzco, y si no que alguien lo haga.
Enviado por Bob Weiss desde Venezuela.

Julio Fernández Baraibar
fernandezbaraibar en yahoo.com.ar
Visite mi blog: http>//fernandezbaraibar.blogspot.com



New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 25, 2006
Filed at 3:52 p.m. ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Environmentalists were caught off guard when
South American leaders announced plans to build a massive natural gas
pipeline through the Amazon rain forest.

Proponents say the $20 billion project, still in early planning stages, will
help satisfy the growing regional demand for gas and help make South America
less dependent on outside sources.

But environmentalists say it could damage part of the Amazon -- the world's
largest wilderness -- by polluting waterways, destroying trees and creating
roads that could draw ranchers and loggers.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says the pipeline is a central part of his
efforts to reduce dependence on the United States and its pressure for free
market policies known as the Washington Consensus.

It's ''the beginning of the South American consensus,'' Chavez has said.
''This pipeline is vital for us.''

At a meeting in Brazil's capital earlier this month, the presidents of
Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil promised to come up with the first set of
preliminary studies for the 5,000-mile pipeline, stretching from Venezuela
to Argentina.

Preliminary plans were promised for a March 10 meeting of the three leaders
in Argentina.

Roberto Smeraldi of the Friends of the Earth-Brazil said the short timetable
seemed unworkable.

''A government like Brazil's can't do similar studies for projects covering
(310 miles) after 10 years of discussion, and now they are going to manage
in-depth studies for a (5,000-mile) project in six months?'' he said.

Smeraldi said he believed the pipeline theoretically could be built with
minimal impact to the environment, but the cost would be prohibitive.

Chavez has said he wants the continent's state-owned oil companies to build
and oversee the pipeline.

He said Venezuela and Bolivia ''have gas for 200 years'' and can supply fuel
to Brazil and Argentina, where there is increasing demand for power
generation, cooking gas and cars.

The Venezuelan leader estimated the pipeline would cost $20 billion to $25
billion, but Smeraldi said strict adherence to Brazil's tough environmental
laws would double the cost.

Brazil's Environment Ministry referred Associated Press calls for comment to
the country's environmental protection agency, which would oversee licensing
of the project. However, press officer Sandra Sato declined to comment,
saying ''We can't take a position until there is a request for licensing.''

Glenn Switkes of the International Rivers Network said if the pipeline were
ever built, it would inevitably foul the environment.

''There are a lot of issues involved: direct construction, the question of
drainage, all the roads that need to be built,'' Switkes said.

Roads are particularly devastating to the Amazon rain forest. They allow
ranchers, loggers and miners to flood into areas that previously were
inaccessible.

Environmentalists estimate that each road cut into the rain forest causes
destruction of the forest for 30 miles on each side of the road within a few
years.

''They always say they're going to fly in the pipes and not build roads, but
they never do that,'' Switkes said. ''Then they say that the pipeline will
go around important ecological areas, but they never do that either because
it gets too expensive.''

Brazil's rain forest is as big as Western Europe and is thought to contain
at least 30 percent of all plant and animal species on the planet. Experts
say as much as 20 percent of its 1.6 million square miles has already been
destroyed by development, logging and farming.

Analysts also questioned the economic wisdom of the plan, especially after
Brazil's government-run oil company announced it would invest $18 billion to
develop the country's natural gas fields.

''Both Brazil and Argentina have gas fields large enough to cover their own
domestic demands. I don't see why they would like to undertake this hugely
costly project, with money they don't have, not to mention environment
costs,'' said Norman Gall, executive director of the Fernand Braudel
Institute of World Economy.

The plan also seems to conflict with other projects proposed for the region.

''If the government goes ahead with this pipeline, it will have no money for
any other type of investment,'' Smeraldi said.




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