World Water Forums Expose Large Dams as ‘Unsustainable’

Numerous non-governmental organisations used the World Water Forum (WWF) held in Marseille last week as an opportunity to remind the international community about the serious global impacts of large dams all over the world

By Cléo Fatoorehchi | Inter-Press Service | Mar. 19, 2012

The World Commission on Dams estimates that 40 to 80 million people have been displaced by the construction of large dams worldwide. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

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Indigenous Peoples Say No To ‘Disaster Development’ In Sarawak

It's no mere coincidence that Sarawak is one of the most impoverished states in Malaysia. For more than 30 years the governments of Malaysia and Sarawak have been far too busy ransacking the region's precious rainforest to secure and strengthen what has been there for thousands of years

By Ahni | Intercontinental Cry | March 9, 2012

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Chinese dams blamed for Mekong’s dwindling flows and fish stocks

Something is wrong with the mighty Mekong River, which frames the lives of 250 million people in six countries of Southeast Asia through which it flows and on which 60 million people depend directly for their livelihoods

By Jonathan Manthorpe | Vancouver Sun | March 14, 2010

Something is wrong with the mighty Mekong River, which frames the lives of 250 million people in six countries of Southeast Asia through which it flows and on which 60 million people depend directly for their livelihoods. Photograph by: Chor Sokunthea, Reuters, Vancouver Sun

But there are widely differing views on why the Mekong has shrunk to its lowest levels in 20 years, with only half its normal volume in some places, so that vital fish migrations have been disturbed and river shipping had to be halted.

Some blame global warming and shrinking glaciers in Tibet where the Mekong starts its 4,900-kilometre journey through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before spreading out through Vietnam’s “Nine Dragons” delta and easing into the South China Sea.

Others blame the El Niño effect on Southeast Asia’s monsoons and especially the lack of rain in Laos, which in normal times supplies 35 per cent of the water in the main reaches of the Mekong. But a favourite culprit among the peoples of the five countries of the lower Mekong is China and its massive program of hydroelectric dam building on the river as it flows through Yunnan province.

In one demonstration of popular outrage against the supposed sins of China, residents of the northern Thai town of Chiang Rai are planning to demonstrate outside the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok next month.

Sensing the public mood, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva brought up the issue at a meeting with China’s assistant foreign minister Hu Zhengyue last week. The statements after the meeting were all sweetness and light.

Hu said China “would not do anything to damage mutual interest with neighbouring countries in the Mekong.” And Abhisit said he is sure China doesn’t want to see people in the lower Mekong basin having difficulties.

But such a public airing of supposed grievances is unusual in Southeast Asia and a measure of public alarm.

In many ways, China has only itself to blame.

Beijing has been dismissive about requests for information about its dam-building plans, usually implying such inquiries are indefensible intrusions into China’s domestic affairs.

China is not a member of the Mekong River Commission, a joint management and information-gathering body founded by Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in 1995, and avoids any liaison with this body as much as possible.

In the last 30 years China has built three hydroelectric dams — all in operation. Two more large dams are under construction and due for completion in 2012 and 2017.

There are plans for at least two more dams, which could mean that by 2030 the Mekong will negotiate seven dams before it ever leaves China.

China has also financed the blasting of some of the many rapids that clog the Mekong’s bed and have made it a difficult river for navigation for most of its long life. As a result of this engineering work it is now possible to travel from Chiang Saen in northern Thailand to China’s Yunnan province in ships of up to 500 tonnes laden.

Indeed, China envisages this being a significant route for importing oil from the Middle East.

China is also dealing with the governments of Laos and Cambodia — two of the more secretive and intransigent regimes in a region noted for governmental secrecy and intransigence — over the building of two more dams. One would be in southern Laos at Don Sahong in the Khone Falls area, which until relatively recently was the major impediment to using the Mekong for river trade and traffic. The other dam slated to be built with the backing of Chinese state-owned companies is at Sambor in northeastern Cambodia.

There is no doubt that these dams would complete the destruction of the patterns of fish migration that are essential for providing protein harvests for an extraordinary number of people living in the Mekong watershed. Already fishermen in the region are reporting dwindling catches, much smaller fish than in the past, and the disappearance of some species entirely.

Fish caught in the Mekong or its subsidiary waterways provide about $2 billion a year in income for local people. Cambodia’s 15 million people get about 80 per cent of the protein in their diet from fish caught in that magical offshoot of the Mekong, the Tonle Sap lake in the centre of the country.

The Tonle Sap is a wonder of natural hydrology. When it is working properly, the lake fills up with water during the monsoons and spreads over a vast flood plain in Cambodia where it becomes a massive breeding ground for fish. Then, in the dry season, the lake gradually releases its water back into the Mekong, allowing three rice crops a year in the delta in Vietnam.

How all these dams might affect Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, which provides 50 per cent of the country’s agricultural gross domestic product, is also a matter of fearful anticipation.

There is something close to a consensus among scientists and technologists involved with the Mekong that China’s three existing dams are probably not the main cause of the river’s ills.

After all, while 44 per cent of the Mekong’s length is in China, it draws only 16 per cent of its water there.

Drought and changing climate patterns are probably the major cause of the problems, not China. But that will change if and when China continues to monopolize development of the Mekong for hydroelectric and navigation purposes without cooperation with or consideration for its neighbours.

As the Bangkok Post newspaper said in the opening sentence of an editorial last week: “China is fast failing the good-neighbour test in the current Mekong River crisis.”

jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

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ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: Dam Plans Open Gates to Tough Choices Ahead

The Nu River flows from the Tibetan highlands through China’s western Yunnan province, cutting between two mountain ranges before rushing through Burma into the Andaman Sea. It is home to a third of the country’s ethnic groups and a diverse ecosystem of 7,000 species of plants and 80 rare or endangered animals and fish

By Gordon Ross | Inter-Press Service | Feb 25, 2010

 

 

 

 

China needs electricity. But what does this mean for the Nu River,one of only two major rivers in China yet to be dammed?  Credit:Gordon Ross/IPS

 

It was here that Christian missionaries from Burma first entered China, and today communities of ethnic Nu and Tibetans remain passionately Catholic, attending mass in small churches and chanting under pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

It is one of the country’s most remote and fascinating places, and one of only two major rivers in China yet to be dammed.

But that may not last.

In 2003, a consortium of power companies proposed building 13 dams along the Nu (the name means "angry", referring to the river’s spring surge), a project that would produce more electricity than the Three Gorges Dam, which spans the Yangtze in Hubei province. The move brought together China’s fledgling environmental movement, which launched a vocal campaign to keep the Nu free-flowing.

National and international press picked up the story, and in 2004 Premier Wen Jiabao ordered a halt to the project and a full environmental assessment – a crucial victory for China’s environmentalists.

The victory was shortlived. The environmental assessment was never released to the public. The government claimed that because the Nu is an international river – known outside of China as the Salween – development plans fell under state secrecy law.

The project was scaled down from 13 dams to four, and preliminary work went ahead despite Wen’s edict. In March 2008, the State Development and Reform Commission published its five-year plan for energy development, which listed dams on the Nu as key projects.

Today, the construction of a small dam on a tributary to the Nu, just south of the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is nearly complete.

In 2007, residents of Xiaoshaba, a village of some 120 families upstream from the city of Liuku, were relocated into newly-built apartment blocks to make way for a power station. Meanwhile, in Burma to the south a planned dam project will produce electricity that will be sold back to China.

Last May, Premier Wen once again stopped the projects until a full environmental assessment is completed. But observers say that when the 67-year-old premier steps down in 2012, the projects will resume.

While environmentalists remain staunchly opposed to damming the Nu, the controversy is not black and white. China is hungry for energy and 80 percent of the country’s electrical supply is currently provided by dirty coal-fired plants. Hydropower, which accounts for just 15 percent of China’s electricity, is seen as a cleaner – albeit controversial – alternative.

The dams could also bring much needed jobs to the impoverished Nu region. The local government has estimated that just 20 percent of residents in the region have electricity, something the dams could remedy.

Along the Nu, opinion varies. Kristen McDonald, an American who interviewed 200 villagers along the river for her graduate thesis, found that roughly one third support the project, one third opposes and one third are undecided.

In Xiaoshaba, the relocated village made up primarily of Lisu people, residents said they are generally happy with their new homes – rows of spacious two-storey apartments a few kilometres from the old village.

"The old village and the new one are pretty much the same," says Li Yu Xin, a 40-year-old mini-bus driver who receives a monthly relocation subsidy of 800 renminbi (117 U.S. dollars) along with his apartment. "The only problem is we can’t keep animals – there’s no room for them. But I like the new one fine. I support the central government’s decision."

Further upstream, near the town of Bingzhongluo, one villager, a Tibetan trekking guide, is less certain about the benefits of damming the Nu. The villager, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals, is in the fifth year of what he hopes will be a 20-year video documentary project chronicling the impact of the dams.

"People are more and more aware of the changes that would come from the dam, and they know they’re not good," he says. "I worry about how we’re going to keep these villages alive."

Indeed, local culture will be jeopardised should the project go ahead, says Wang Yongchen, a journalist and co-founder of the Beijing-based NGO Green Earth Volunteers, a group that was actively involved in the initial fight to save the Nu. Many villagers will have to be relocated from their traditional homes to cities up- and downstream. In one area near Liuku, a traditional Lisu bathing site will be washed away.

"If you dam the river, their culture, their tradition, disappears," Wang says.

Dam opponents are hoping that an ongoing public awareness campaign will rally increasingly environmentally-conscious Chinese to call upon their government to protect the Nu and other areas like it.

Travis Winn, a 26-year-old American who, with McDonald, co-founded China Rivers Project, a non-profit that aims to protect China’s river heritage, hosts rafting trips to the Nu and other rivers with influential and wealthy Chinese who are in a position to take action.

"The science is there – the dams don’t make a lot of sense. But unless there’s a more personal aspect to this, the science isn’t very useful. That’s what we’re trying to do, make a personal connection," Winn says. "The universal response is, ‘I’ve never had this experience before. I never thought China had such beautiful places.’ It’s the time of their lives." (END)

Copyright © 2010 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved

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Large hydropower: renewable or not?

Contradictions in the World Bank's approach to hydropower call into question its burgeoning portfolio in this sector. While a September press release states that, "The World Bank considers hydropower, regardless of scale, to be renewable energy," the Bank no longer counts medium and large dams as renewable energy for reporting purposes

BRETTON WOODS PROJECT|15 FEBRUARY 2010

Nonetheless, Bank publications and planned projects show a continued drive for controversial large hydropower (see Update 66), despite a temporary dip in funding. Lending for large hydropower declined to $177 million in financial year 2009, the lowest level for a decade and far below the $1 billion committed in 2008.

However, projects worth $2 billion are reportedly in preparation. The Bank has taken advantage of other investors' retreat during the financial crisis to expand its role in hydropower, insisting that it is a vital source of clean energy to mitigate climate change.

While accepting the potential for small-scale hydropower to benefit the poor, critics such as NGO International Rivers continue to voice major concerns about the direct social and environmental impacts of large dams, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs (see Update 66).

Yet a Bank report released in November 2009, Africa's Infrastructure: A time for transformation, argues that large dams and regional power trade should play a central role in plugging the energy shortfall that it identifies as Africa's most important infrastructure challenge. It envisages Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea becoming major energy exporters. Sub-Saharan Africa currently receives approximately one third of the Bank's funding for hydropower.

The capacity of large dams and regional power trade to expand access to energy for the poor and to contribute to economic development has been questioned (see Update 67). For example, it was claimed that the Bujagali dam in Uganda, which received $360 million in loans and guarantees from the World Bank Group, would expand affordable energy. However, spiralling costs have prompted the Bank to recommend a 5 per cent increase in tariffs and a similar rise next year, according to recent news reports. In 2008, the Bank's Inspection Panel agreed that the dam's negative effects had not been adequately taken into account and questioned its development benefits (see Update 64).

Frank Muramuzi, of the Ugandan National Association of Professional Environmentalists, states, "The World Bank must focus on alternative renewable energy options .... Small hydropower dams are more sustainable and economically viable than the large hydropower projects as they will not need to transmit energy over long distances. These will also attract industries upcountry as opposed to only to big towns. More importantly, the rural communities will access power."

Elsewhere, Bank president Robert Zoellick visited Ethiopia in early February to hear officials make the case for $50 million for the massive Gilgel Gibe 3 dam. NGO CounterBalance has argued that the dam violates the Bank's social and environmental safeguards, as well as national procurement standards.

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‘We cannot eat electricity’

The adverse impacts of climate change on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam will be amplified several times if hydropower dams planned upstream by other countries are built, experts say

Thannhien News | February 8, 2010

 

 

 

Land erosion on the Mekong River in Dong Thap Province

 

Both local and international experts said at a forum on the Mekong River environment organized by the Can Tho University on Wednesday that the dams will seriously threaten food security in riparian countries.

Dao Trong Tu, former Vietnam country coordinator for the Mekong River Commission, said three hydropower dams are already under construction in China, and another 11 were planned in Laos and Cambodia.

La Chhuon, an expert of Oxfam Australia in Cambodia, said fishermen in the country had told him they wanted to eat fish and would not be able to eat electricity generated by hydropower dams.

Without exception, every resident was unhappy with the building of dams and did not care for the compensation they would get when they are displaced by such projects, he added.

Carl Middleton, Mekong Program Coordinator of International Rivers, an INGO, that seeks to protect rivers and defend the rights of communities that depend on them, stressed that the projects threatened food security in the region.

He estimated that Mekong riparian countries would lose 700,000 to 1.6 million tons of fish a year to the dams, while this has been the main food for millions people there.

Who benefits?

Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen of Palang Thai, a Thailand-based non-profit organization, said the predicted electricity consumption in Thailand was always higher than actual demand.

According to the Palang Thai website, it “works to ensure that the transformations that occur in the region's energy sector are economically rational, and that they augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability.”

Sangarasri accused companies investing in hydropower projects of being motivated solely by economic benefit rather than helping fight power shortages. She said such motivations should be eliminated and more accurate assessments made of power needs.

Natural resources can meet genuine demand but cannot satisfy human greed for profit, she said.

Nguyen Huu Thien, a Vietnamese wetlands expert, said the river flows would be controlled by the managers of hydropower dams to the detriment of other people’s interests.

He said there would be less silt supplied by the river and farmers would have to spend more on fertilizers. The losses caused to farmers and other residents would outweigh by far the total benefits generated by dams, he added.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Copyright © 200

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UNIDO chief urges int'l community to help developing countries develop green energy

Xinhua | 2009-06-23 07:36:53

VIENNA, June 22 -- Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Kandeh K. Yumkella stressed here on Monday that the international community had to place emphasis on helping developing countries carry out green energy revolution.

At the beginning of the Vienna International Energy Conference held on Monday, he said, although in the context of the global financial and economic crisis, the international community had to focus on the development of green energy, and in particular, pay attention to development of green energy in developing countries.

He warned that the current global financial and economic crisis has resulted in a global decrease of 20 percent to 30 percent in investment in the area of renewable energy. Moreover, it might take many years to bring the relevant investment to return to the original level.

Nevertheless, the crisis also forced the countries to "pay more attention to the real economy again." Therefore, the UNIDO must use the chance brought by this global crisis to their advantage to promote "a green energy revolution."

He highlighted, the most important task of UNIDO was to help developing countries develop their economy, while avoiding the mistakes made by developed countries in the development process. At present, they should particularly strengthen support in the promotion of "green energy revolution" for developing countries.

According to the estimation of the economic expert of Vienna University of Technology, Nebojsa Nakicenovic, the current annual investment in global energy industry was about 350 billion U.S. dollars, of which more than 100 billion dollars for renewable energy.

The president of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also pointed out, the realization of the transformation of energy mix to renewable energy cannot abandon developing countries, which would be particularly important to them.

During the meeting, some experts also stressed the importance of the use of new technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and also pointed out that, at least in the foreseeable future, nuclear energy would continue to be an important part.

At present, about one-sixth of global electricity production is by nuclear energy. This three-day International Energy Conference is organized by UNIDO, the Government of Austria, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy.

Some 500 experts in relevant fields as well as politicians from all over the world attended the meeting.

Special Report: Fight against Global Warming

Editor: Xiong Tong

Copyright ©2009 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved

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Bangladesh to issue formal protest against Indian dam project

Earth Times, Sat, 16 May 2009 12:11:46 GMT

Dhaka - Dhaka will formally protest against New Delhi's plan for construction of a dam which may adversely affect Bangladesh's ecology, after a new government takes over in India, a senior Bangladeshi minister said Saturday. Indian plans for construction of a multi-purpose dam on the Tipaimukh River might cause an ecological catastrophe for its downstream neighbour Bangladesh, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters after a meeting in Dhaka.

He charged that the proposed dam could lead to desertification in the north-eastern region of Sylhet, while also drying up the Surma, Kushiara and Meghna rivers downstream.

"We cannot allow this disaster to take place," the minister said, calling on Bangladeshis to campaign against the Indian project, which has also drawn protests inside India itself.

Bangladesh will send a delegation to visit the project areas after the new Indian government assumed office to see their plan and understand the possible impact.

"We'll solve the problem through bilateral discussion," he said.

In April, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Sankar Menon in a surprise visit to Dhaka had requested Bangladesh to send a delegation at the project site to assess the impact of the project in the downstream.

Bangladesh has long asked India to refrain from building the dam, to be located at the confluence of the Barak and Tuivai rivers. India began soliciting international bids for the dam in early 2006.

The Barak River feeds Bangladesh's Surma and Kushiyara rivers in the north-east, eventually flowing into Meghna, one of the three main rivers in Bangladesh.

India plans to complete the project by 2012. India asserts that the dam would not hurt Bangladesh.

Copyright, respective author or news agency

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World leaders urged to link water to climate negotiations

EurActiv, Friday 20 March 2009  

Business leaders attending this week's World Water Forum called on the international community to acknowledge the link between water, energy and climate change, encouraging them to take these up in global climate negotiations that are expected to be concluded this December in Copenhagen.

Background:

The World Water Forum forum is the world's largest international gathering on water policy. It has been organised by the World Water Council (WWC) every three years since 1997.

The Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul this week addressed a variety of issues, ranging from water scarcity and sanitation to climate refugees and water financing.

A high-level panel on climate change also prepared recommendations for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC ) negotiations, which are expected to deliver a post-Kyoto global deal in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

Launching a new report yesterday (19 March), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) pointed to the "inextricable link" between water and energy.

Water is indeed used in the energy generation process as a coolant for nuclear power stations, for example, or as vapour to clean up heavy tar sands from which oil is extracted. Likewise, cleaning up water resources for later reuse consumes large amounts of energy.

With large greenhouse gas emissions, these industrial activities are important contributors to climate change.

Rising demand for water and energy

Furthermore, global demand for both resources is on the rise as growing numbers of middle and high-income citizens need water and energy to power lavish lifestyles and particularly transport, swimming pools and green gardens, the report says.

However, some regions would feel the impact more intensely than others, it adds, urging world leaders due to meet in Copenhagen in December to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, to address water, energy and climate change as an interlinked issue in the UN negotiations.

Business leaders outline recommendations on areas where policymakers, researchers and business can work together to forge a link between water and energy policy.

First and foremost, their report stresses that reliable water, energy and climate change data, models and analytical tools are needed to assess the impacts of climate change on water and to put in place better early-warning systems. These measurement tools should be able to account for the trade-off between water and energy efficiency, as they do not always work the same direction, it adds.

The report also calls for water issues to be mainstreamed by ensuring that water authorities have enough staff trained in common management practices, with the capacity to conduct education and awareness-raising campaigns.

Water pricing

Watershed management requires cooperation between all the parties involved, business leaders say, advocating market mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services or certification standards to ensure that decision-making values the benefits that nature brings to society (see EurActiv LinksDossier). They also say policymakers should encourage best practice, such as reusing wastewater to find cost-effective ways of reducing water and energy consumption.

"Water is everybody's business. It is used to generate energy, and energy is used to provide water. Climate change will affect the use and availability of both. It is important that we get the policies right," said WBCSD President Björn Stigson.

Water high on climate agenda

Calls to make water an essential issue in the UN-led climate negations were echoed by conservationists. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) urged politicians at the World Water Forum to do more to protect the natural environment, arguing that rivers and wetlands offer vital services like clean drinking water and energy.

The organisation said climate change would be felt first via water, amid droughts, floods and rising sea levels. River basins and coasts in good condition could help people fend off impacts of climate change, it argued, stressing that investment in nature should therefore be included in all policies aimed at adapting to climate change.

The European Parliament's delegation to the forum argued that low political and financial priorities are the main hurdle on the way towards efficient water management, calling for the Copenhagen agenda to address water management, water resources and access to water for all.

However, discussions on climate change are only now starting to begin. Maude Barlow, special advisor on water issues to the president of the UN General Assembly, recently told EurActiv that the chances of getting water high up the Copenhagen agenda are "slim" (EurActiv 18/02/09).

"The water crisis is where climate change was five years ago. It is just starting to get into the media and people's heads, and in five years it will be what people talk about," she said.

© EurActiv.com PLC

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China Interested in Building Sumatra Hydro Power Plant

ANTARA News, 03/14/09 07:30

Medan, N Sumatra  - A Chinese investor is interested in building the third unit of Asahan hydro power plant (PLTA) in North Sumatra province, an envoy said.

The Chinese investor is currently building the first unit of the hydro power plant scheduled for completion this year, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Zhang Qiyue said at a meeting with North Sumatra Governor Syamsul Arifin here on Friday.

"The Asahan I project is expected to be completed this year. We also expect we can build the Asahan III project because we have funds and technology," she said.

Governor Syamsul Arifin meanwhile said the local government is still holding discussions with the central government about the plan to build the third unit of the Asahan hydro power plant. (*)

COPYRIGHT © 2009

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Exxon CEO doubts Obama's alternative energy goal

By Tom Doggett, Reuters, Jan 8, 2009 6:27pm EST

1 of 1Full Size

WASHINGTON - Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said on Thursday it would be difficult to meet President-elect Barack Obama's goal to significantly boost U.S. alternative energy production.

In a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, Obama said he wanted the United States to double its output of alternative energy sources during the next three years as part of his plan to revive the American economy.

"I think that's going to be very challenging to do," Tillerson told reporters following a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

He said the United States will not be able to double biofuels output during that period and there was not enough manufacturing capacity to build the wind turbines needed to meet Obama's goal.

"I'm not wanting to be critical of his aspirational goal. Aspirational goals are good because they challenge us all to go out and find the right answer," Tillerson said of Obama's plan.

But he added: "Let's be realistic about timeframes. Let's not fool ourselves."

Despite calls for more alternative energy use, he said, "for the foreseeable future" the world will rely on oil and natural gas for 60 percent of its energy needs.

Renewable energy sources, which include solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biofuels and other biomass, accounted for 7 percent of U.S. energy supplies in 2007, according to the Energy Department.

Tillerson said the slowdown in the global economy would be temporary and then strong energy demand from emerging nations will return.

He also said that even with the weak economy, Exxon remained committed to investing in projects to meet future energy demand.

He said the company was sticking with its $125 billion capital spending budget planned for the next five years, despite the steep drop in oil prices and the global economic slowdown. Any changes to the capital spending budget will be announced in March at a meeting with analysts, he said.

Separately, Tillerson reiterated that it would be better for Congress to pass climate change legislation that levies a carbon tax to curb greenhouse gas emissions, instead of imposing a complicated cap-and-trade system that allows businesses to buy and sell pollution permits to spew emissions.

Tackling climate change is a top priority for the incoming Obama administration and the Democratic-majority Congress.

Tillerson said a carbon tax, which could be tacked on to fuel supplies and electricity consumption, was the most efficient way to reflect the cost of carbon.

By comparison, a cap-and-trade system is difficult to verify, requires new government regulators and "a Wall Street of emissions brokers," he said.

(Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by Walter Bagley)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

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Philippine Energy Dept. OKs hydropower

United Press International, Jan. 5, 2009

MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The Philippine Energy Department announced it issued four contracts for hydropower projects.

Sunset Water and Electric Power Co. will construct an 8-megawatt plant, a 2.3-megawatt plant, a 1.5-megawatt plant and a 1.6-megawatt plant, The Manila Times reported.

The mini-hydro plants are expected to displace an equivalent of 43,000 barrels of oil per year.

"The mini-hydropower projects will contribute to our goal of achieving energy independence by reducing the dependency on imported fuel. More importantly, the projects will utilize a renewable form of energy, therefore giving us benefits through the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions," Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said.

In addition to the four contracts, the Energy Department is expected to award a contract to Gerphil Renewable Energy Inc. for a 0.11-megawatt project.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Nepal will import power from India

United Press International, Jan. 5, 2009

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Nepal announced it plans to import power from India to offset an energy crisis and avert a blackout.

Nepal is expected to experience a power crisis over the next month, and the country will import power from India, said Shanker Koirala, secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources. The government will import 20 megawatts of power from Tanakpur in India, the Press Trust of India reported.

Nepal currently is generating 240 megawatts of power, 60 percent less than its current demand of 700 megawatts.

Once the recently completed 70-megawatt hydropower project comes online in about two weeks, additional power also will be provided, the Nepal Electricity Authority said.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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