Hid Ro Electric as 2

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P R O F I L EBrazil s Ba lb ina D arn : En v i ronm ent versus the Leg acyo f th e P h a ra o h s in A m a z o n iaP H I L IP M F E A R N S I D ED epar t m en t o f E c o l ogyNat ional Inst i tute for Research in the Amazon (INPA)C .P . 47869.011 Manaus, Amazonas, Braz i lABSTRAC T / The B alb ina Dam in Braz il 's s ta te o f Amazon asf loods 236 0 km 2 o f t rop ica l f o res t t o genera te an a verag e o fon ly 112.2 MW of e lec t r i c i t y . The f la t t opography and smal ls i ze o f t he dra in age bas in m ake output smal l . Vegeta t ion hasbeen le f t t o decompose in the reservo i r , resu l t ing in ac id ic ,ano x ic water that w i l l cor rod e the turb ines. The sha l low res -e rv o i r c on t a i ns 1500 i s lands and i nnum erab l e s t agnan t bay swhere the water 's res idence t ime w i l l be even longer than theaverage t ime of over one year . Ba lb ina was bu i l t t o supp lye lec t r i c i t y to Manaus , a c i t y that has grown so much whi le thedam was unde r cons truc tion that o ther a l ternat i ves are a l -r eady nee ded . G ov e rnm en t s ubs i d i es ex p l a in t he ex p l os iv egrowth, inc lu ding Braz i l 's u ni f ied tar i f f for elect ric ity . A l terna-

t i ve power sources for Manaus inc lude t ransmiss ion f rommore d is tant dam s or from recen t l y d iscove red o i l and natura lgas depos i t s . Among Balb ina 's impac ts are loss o f potent ia luse o f t he fores t and d isp lacement o f about one th i rd o f t hes u rv iv i ng m em bers o f a m uc h -pe rs ec u t ed A m er i nd i an t r ibe :the Waimi r i -A t roar i . The dam was c losed on 1 Oc tober 1987and the f irs t o f f ive gene rators beg an operat ion in February1989. The example o f Ba lb ina po in ts to impor tant ways thatthe dec is ion-mak ing process cou ld be improved in Braz i l andin the in ternat iona l f und ing agenc ies that have d i rec t l y andindire ct ly contr ibuted to the project. Env ironm ental imp actana lyses mus t be completed pr ior to dec is ions on overa l lp ro jec t implementation and m us t be f ree o f in fluence f romproject proponen ts . The current env ironmental im pa ct as-sessm ent sys tem in Braz il , as in ma ny o ther count r ies , has anunde s i rab le in fluence on sc ienc e po l i cy , in add i t ion to fa i li ngt o add res s t he unde r l y i ng c aus es o f env i ronm en t a l ly des t ruc -t i ve deve lopm ent processe s and inab i l i ty to ha lt i r revers ib leprojects l ike Balbina.

The Balbina DamB a l b i n a is a h y d r o e l e c tr i c d a m b u i l t o n t h e U a t u m ~

R i v e r to su p p l y p o w e r t o t h e c i t y o f M a n a u s , i n t h ec e n t e r o f B r a z i l ' s A m a z o n i a n r e g i o n ( F i g u r e 1 ) . T h ed a m p r o v id e s a n e x a m p l e o f t h e i m p e d i m e n t s t oso u n d d e v e l o p m e n t p l a n n i n g i n B r a z i l i a n A m a z o n i aa n d i ll u s tr a te s e n v i r o n m e n t a l p r o b l e m s t h a t w i ll r e c u ri f Braz i l r ea l izes cur re n t p l ans fo r a mass ive expan s iono f h y d r o e l e c t r i c d e v e l o p m e n t i n t h e r e g i o n . T h i s a r -t ic le s e ek s t o i d e n t i f y so m e o f t h e m i s t ak e s m a d e a tB a l b i n a a n d t h e l e s so n s t h a t c a n b e l e a r n e d f r o mt h e m .

Th e in i t ia l dec i s ion to b u i ld B a lb ina i s d i f fi cu l t t oj u s t i f y i n t e c h n ic a l t er m s . M o r e d i s t u r b i n g is t h e u n -s t o p p a b l e f o r c e t h a t t h e p r o j e c t g a t h e r e d a s it b e c a m e

i r re v e r s ib l e a n d c o n t i n u e d t o c o m p l e t i o n . D u b b e dt h e n o t o r i o u s B a l b i n a D a m i n t h e W o r l d B a n k ' s a p -p r a is a l r e p o r t o n t h e r e q u e s t f o r i ts f u n d i n g ( E n v i r o n -menta l Po l i cy Ins t i t u t e 1987) , i t has succeeded in c i r -c u m v e n t i n g e n v i r o n m e n t a l h u r d l e s b o t h a t t h e n a -t iona l and s t a t e l eve l s i n Braz i l and wi th in the Wor ldB a n k .

B a l b i n a i s a m o n g t h e p r o j e c t s t h a t a r e k n o w n i nKEY WOR D S: Ba l b i na D am; Amaz on i a ; D ams ; H y dr oe l ec t r ic dev e l op -

ment; Brazi l ; World Bank; Tropical forest; Rain forest

Brazi l as pharaonic works (e.g., e j a 1987a). L ike thep y r a m i d s o f a n c i e n t E g y p t , t h e se m a ss iv e p u b l ic w o r k sd e m a n d t h e e f f o r t o f a n e n t i r e so c i et y t o c o m p l e t e b u tb r i n g v i r tu a l l y n o e c o n o m i c r e t u r n s . E v e n i f t h e s t ru c -t u r e s a r e s i m p l y b u i l t a n d a b a n d o n e d , t h e y s e r v e t h es h o r t - te r m i n te r es t s o f a ll c o n c e r n e d - - f r o m f i rm s t h a trece ive cons t ruc t ion cont rac t s t o po l i t i c i ans want ingt h e e m p l o y m e n t a n d c o m m e r c e t h e p r o j e c t s p r o v i d eto the i r d i s t r i c t s dur ing the cons t ruc t ion phase .

The 2 1 PlanR e se r v o i r s f o r h y d r o e l e c t r i c p o w e r g e n e r a t i o n a r e

c l a i m i n g a g r e a t e r a n d g r e a t e r sh a r e o f A m a z o n i a nf o r e s t . T h e p o t e n t i a l f o r e x p a n s i o n o f i m p a c t s f r o mth i s sec tor i s l a rge , a s i nd ica t ed by the 2010 p lan pub-l i shed by E le trobr~ is ( the Braz i l i an govern me nt ' s po we rm o n o p o l y ) o u t l i n i n g p l a n s f o r d a m c o n s t r u c t i o nt h r o u g h t h e y e a r 2 0 1 0 . A s i s c o m m o n i n m a j o r A m a -z o n i a n d e v e l o p m e n t p r o p o sa l s ( F e a r n s i d e 1 9 8 6a ), t h ep l a n s h a v e b e e n p r e se n t e d t o t h e p u b l ic a s a n e v o l v in gse r ie s o f t r i al ba l loons , co ns t an t ly be ing rev i sed in thef a c e o f c r i t i c i sm , b u t r e m a i n i n g u n c h a n g e d i n t h e i rb as ic o u t l i n e . A n e a r l y v e r s i o n o f t h e p l a n p r o p o se d 6 8new dams in the Amazon (Braz i l E le t robr~ i s 1986a ,CI M I 1986) . A subsequ ent ve rs ion l is ts 18 of t hese for

Env i ronmental Managem ent Vol . 13, No. 4, pp. 401 -423 9 1989 Spr inger-Ver lag New York Inc .


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i g u r e 1 A) Location of the Manaus area; B) the Manaus area showing the Balbina Reservoir; C) a port ion of the BalbinaReservoir, showing some of the 1500 islands and the many stagnant backwaters where water quality will be poor and aquaticplants abundan t. Cartographic references for B: Brazil Projeto RADAMBRASIL 1983); C: Brazil Eletronorte 1986b).


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B r a z i l s B a l b i n a D a m 4 3

cons t ruc t ion by 2010 (Braz i l E le t robr f i s 1987, pp .1 5 2 - 1 5 5 ) . N e i t h e r l is t i n c l u d e s t h e t h r e e d a m s u n d e rc o n s t r u c t i o n i n t h e r e g i o n a t t h e t i m e , a p p a r e n t l y c o n -s ide r ing these ( inc luding Ba lb ina ) a s fa i t s accompl i s .S o m e o f t h e ( m o s t c o n t r o v e r s i a l ) f u t u r e d a m s h a v es in c e b e e n t r a n s f e r r e d f r o m t h e 2 0 1 0 p l a n t o t h e 2 0 2 0p l a n , t o b e r e le a s e d i n 1 9 9 1 ( J o s 6 A n t 6 n i o M u n i zLopes , p ubl i c s t a t em ent 1988) . 1 Th e com ple te l is t o fp l a n n e d p r o j e c t s i n A m a z o n i a , i r r e s p e c t i v e o f e x -pec ted comple t ion da te , t o t a l s 80 dams (Braz i l E le -t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 5 a , p p . 2 5 - 2 6 ) .

T h e 8 0 d a m s w o u l d f l o o d r o u g h l y 1 0 0 ,0 00 k m 2, a na r e a t h a t a p p e a r s s m a l l r e la t iv e t o t h e r e g i o n b u t t h a tw o u l d p r o v o k e f o r e s t d i s t u r b a n c e i n m u c h w i d e ra reas . Aqua t i c h abi t a t s would , o f course , be dras t i ca llya l t e red . Mos t of the s i t e s tha t a re favorable for hydro-e l e ct r ic d e v e l o p m e n t a r e l o c a t ed a l o n g t h e m i d d l e a n du p p e r r e a c h e s o f t h e T o c a n t i n s , X i n g fi , A r a g u a i a , T a -pa j6s , and o the r r ive rs (F igure 2) . Thi s reg ion has oneo f t h e h i g h e s t c o n c e n t r a t i o n s o f i n d i g e n o u s p e o p l es .

The D ec is ion to u i ld a lb inaA n u m b e r o f t h e o r ie s e x i st to e x p l a i n w h y B a l b i n a

was in i t i a t ed and why i t was cont inued a f t e r i t s fo l lybecame c lea r . The dec i s ion was t aken when g loba l o i lp r i c e s w e r e a t t h e i r h i g h e s t a n d w h e n t h e t e c h n o l o g yfor long-di s t ance power t ransmis s ion was not a s we l ldeve loped as i t i s t oday . These fac t s , t oge the r wi th theg r o ss u n d e r e s t im a t e s o f p o p u l a t io n g r o w t h a n d p o w e rd e m a n d i n M a n a u s , a r e t h e o f f ic i al e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h ed e c is io n , w h i c h E l e t r o n o r t e ( t h e p o w e r m o n o p o l y in

1Affi lia tions of ind iv iduals c ited in the tex t : Fran k T ade u Avi la, heado f p l a n n i n g d e p a r t me n t , E l e t ro n o r t e , B ra s f l i a ; Wa l t e r d e An d ra d e ,hea d of f aunal sa lvage , Ele t ronorte , Balb ina; Ja lm e de Arafijo , Presi-d e n t , N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l o f R u b b e r Ta p p e rs , M a n a n s ; Jo a q u i m P i -me n t a d e Ar ru d a , En g i n e e r , En ge -R io , R i o d e Ja n e i ro ; W a l d e r li n oTeixei ra d e Carva lho , President , Nat ional Coor d inat ion of Geologis t s ,Bel6m; Jos6 A.S. Nunes de Mel lo , Coord inator , Ele t ronorte / INPA bi -la tera l agree me nt , INP A, M anaus; Rog6rio Gribel, Researcher,INP A, Man aus part ic ipant : Ele t ron orte / IN PA pro jec t a t Balb ina);Mar i t ta Koch-Weser, En vi ro nm ent Sector , Brazil Div ision , W orldB a n k , Wa sh i n g t o n , DC ; An t 6 n i o Do n a t o No b re , R e se a rc h e r , INPA,M a n a n s p a r t ic i p a n t: E l e t ro n o r t e /INPA p ro j e c t a t B a l bi na ) ; Arm i n d aMuniz , Historica l Pa t r imon y Office , Amazo nas Sta te Govern me nt ,Man aus head of archaeological sa lvage , Balb ina); Jos6 An t6nioMuniz Lopes, Coord inator o f Planning , Ele t ronorte , Brasi l ia ; Mel-quiades Pin to Paiva , President , Brazi l ian Foundat ion for the Conser-v a t i o n o f Na t u re fo rme r l y c o n su l ta n t : B ro k o m p o n d o Da m, Su r -i n a m) ; C o l . Wi l ly An t 6 n i o Pe re i ra , h e a d o f e n v i ro n m e n t fo r B a l b in a ,Ele t ronor te , Brasil ia ; Barba ra A. Robertson , Researcher, INP A Lim-nological studies of Curu~i-Una Reservoir); Adelino Sathler Filho,h e a d o f e n v i ro n m e n t , E l e t ro n o r t e , B a lb in a .

nor the rn Braz i l ) concedes would have been unjus t i f i -a b l e h a d t h e e v e n t s o f t h e l as t d e c a d e b e e n k n o w nin advance (Lopes 1986) . However , even wi th ava i l -a b l e i n f o r m a t i o n ( B r az il E l e t r o n o r t e /M o n a s a / E n g e - R i o1976), Balbina was quest ionable as a technical decis ion.

W h e n t h e v i a bi li ty s t u d y w a s d o n e i n 1 9 7 5 - 1 9 7 6 ,r e s t r i c t i o n s o n p u b l i c c o m m u n i c a t i o n m e a n t t h a tB r a z il 's m i l i t a ry g o v e r n m e n t h a d l it tl e r e a so n t o w o r r yabout ques t ioning of i t s dec i s ions . E le t ronor te em-ployees have un of f i c i a l ly s t a t ed tha t they rece ived th eo r d e r t o b u i l d t h e d a m d i r e c tl y f r o m t h e p l n l t o(Brazi l's p res ident i a l of f i ce ) - - i t was not a propo sa l de -v e l o p e d o n t e c h n i c a l g r o u n d s a n d p a s s e d u p t h e h i e r -a r c h y f o r a p p r o v a l . T h e g o v e r n m e n t w a s e a g e r t oh a v e s o m e t h i n g t o g i v e t h e s t at e o f A m a z o n a s ; t h eneares t a l t e rna t ive hydroe lec t r i c s i t e wi th subs tant i a l lybe t t e r p otent i a l (Cachoe i ra Por t e i ra ) is in the ad jo in ingstate o f Pardi .

Th e mi l i t a ry pol i ti ca l pa r ty (PDS) was in pow er botha t t h e n a t i o n a l l ev e l a n d i n t h e s ta t e o f A m a z o n a s a n ds t o o d t o g a i n s u p p o r t i n t h e 1 9 8 2 e l e c t i o n s f r o m t h er u l i n g p a r t y ' s i m a g e a s a r o u t e t o c e n t r a l g o v e r n m e n tl a rgesse . Ba lb ina was presen ted to the publ i c a s an ex-a m p l e o f t h e g o v e r n o r ' s a b i li ty t o e x t r a c t b e n e fi t s f r o mBrasfl ia . In the 1982 elect ion, however, the PDS los tt h e g o v e r n o r s h ip o f A m a z o n as ; a t t h a t j u n c t u r e t h en e w m a j o r i t y p a r t y ( t h e P M D B ) c o u l d h a v e c a s t o f fBa lb ina as a fo lly of the previous ad min i s t ra t ion . Af te rsome in i t i a l hes i t a t ion , however , t he new governor en-d o r s e d B a l b i n a a n d c a r r i e d i t f o r w a r d a s a s a l va t io n o fthe s ta te .

O n e p o p u l a r t h e o r y h o l d s t h a t B a l b i n a w as b u il t i no r d e r t o f a c i li ta t e t h e e x t r a c t i o n o f m i n e r a l s f r o m t h earea, part icularly cass i ter i te ( t in) ore (Garcia 1985).T h e P i t in g a m i n e , lo c a t e d i n t h e u p p e r r e a c h e s o f t h eB a l b i n a c a t c h m e n t a n d i n t h e a d j o i n i n g A l a la f i c a tc h -ment , i s c redi t ed wi th be ing the wor ld ' s l a rges t h igh-g r a d e t i n d e p o s i t . S o m e t i n o c c u r r e n c e s h a v e b e e ni d e n t i f i e d i n t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a , b u t E l e t r o n o r t eins is ts tha t they a re no t econ omica l ly explo i tab le (Col.W i l ly A n t 6 n i o P e r e ir a , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 9 87 ,J u n k a n d d e M e l lo 1 9 8 7) . A s u r v e y o f t h e P i t in g aR i v e r p o r t i o n o f t h e B a l b i n a s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a i n d i -ca ted some occur rences but not vas t depos i t s (Viegaa n d o t h e r s 1 9 83 , V o l . I - b p p . 4 5 8 - 4 6 2 , V o l . I I A n e x oII Ic ) . Th e pr i ce of t in , however , i s a t on e o f it s h i s tor iclows : US 7 .40/kg in November 1988 compared to afo rm er pr i ce of US 17 .60/kg . No in form at ion is avai l-a b l e o n h o w m u c h t h e p r i c e w o u l d h a v e t o r e b o u n db e f o r e t h e B a l b i n a d e p o s i ts b e c a m e e c o n o m i c a ll y a t -t rac tive . The presenc e o f the rese rvoi r would a l so a l t e rt h e e c o n o m i c e q u a t io n , s i n c e th e o r e c o u l d b e s c o o p e d


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9 Dams completed or under construct ionA P l a n n e d d a m s

O i l a n d g a s f i e l d sM i n e s

9 C i t i e s. . . . . B o u n d o r yo f L e g a l m a z o n- - Rivers

S t at e Bo u n d ar iesR e s e r v e r s ( E x i s t in g o r P l a n n e d )

i g u r e 2 Brazil, with locations of places mentioned in the text. Cartographic references: reservoirs for Tucurui, Samuel,Cachoeira Porteira, Itaipti, Brok om pon do (CIMI and oth ers 1 986); Balbina (Brazil Eletro norte , 1986b), Babaquara and Kar-ara6 [Brazil Eletronorte/CNEC , no d ate (1986)], Curu~-Una (Robertson 1980), Ji-Paranfi (JP-14) (CNEC 1985); gas , oil, andmines (Brazil Projeto RADAMBRASIL 1983).

o r s u c ke d u p f r o m t h e b o t t o m f r o m d r e d g e s m o u n t e do n b a r g e s . T h i s p o s s ib i li ty h a s e v e n b e e n r a i s e d b y t h eM a n a u s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e o f t h e N a t i o n a l D e p a r t m e n t o fM i n e r a l P r o d u c t i o n Amazonas em Tempo 1987). Cassi-t e r it e i n A m a z o n i a i s o f t e n m i n e d f r o m b a r g e s f l o a t in gi n a r t i f i c i a l p o n d s b u i l t f o r t h e p u r p o s e . D r e d g e s c a no p e r a t e t o a d e p t h o f 3 0 m a n d s o w o u l d h a v e a cc e ss tot h e e n t i r e r e s e r v o i r ( w h i ch w il l h a v e a m a x i m u m d e p t ho f 2 1 m ) . S i n c e t h e m i n e r a l o c c u r r e n c e s a r e i n t h e

u p p e r r e a c h e s o f th e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a , t h e y w o u l d b ei n t h e s h a ll o w e st p o r t i o n m o s t e a si ly d r e d g e d f r o mb a r g e s ( d e p t h s l e s s t h a n 6 m ) . M i n i n g c o m p a n i e s h a v er e g i s t e r e d p r o s p e c t i n g c l a i m s t o a l a r g e p a r t o f t h es u b m e r g e n c e a r e a a c c o r d i n g to a m a p m a d e b y B r a z il sN a t i o n a l D e p a r t m e n t o f M i n e r a l P r o d u c t i o n ( m a p r e -p r o d u c e d i n M e l c h i a d e s F i l h o 1 9 8 7 ) .

T h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a a l s o c o n t a i n s g o l d ( J u n ka n d d e M e l lo 1 9 8 7 ) - - a n o t h e r m i n e r a l o f t e n m i n ed


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Brazi l s Balbina Dam 4 5

f r o m b a r g e s . A l t h o u g h E l e t r o n o r t e s a y s t h e d e p o s i tsa re no t econom ica l ly a t t r ac t ive , a s l a t e a s 1983 th e d i -r e c t o r o f t h e N a t io n a l D e p a r t m e n t o f M i n e r a l P r o d u c -t i o n ( D N P M ) i n M a n a u s u r g e d t h e s t a t e g o v e r n o r t oh a v e g o l d m i n i n g b e g i n i m m e d i a t e l y b e c a u se B a l b i n aw o u l d so o n f l o o d t h e d e p o s i t ( O Jorna l do C om ~ rc i o1983) . E le t ro nor t e o f f ic i a ls a t Ba lb ina po in t ou t t ha t i ft he g o ld in the a re a were a t t rac t ive , i t wou ld a l ready beb e i n g e x p l o i t e d b y t h e f l o c k s o f f r e e la n c e p r o sp e c t o r st h a t h a v e b e e n a t t r a c t e d t o g o l d - r i c h a r e a s e l s e w h e r ei n A m a z o n i a . T h e i r a b se n c e c o n f i r m s t h e l o w c o n c e n -t r a t i o n s i n d i c a t e d b y su r v e y s c o m m i s s i o n e d b y E l e -t r o n o r t e , w h i c h f o u n d a n a v e r a g e o f 0 . 1 3 g o f g o l d p e rcubic me te r o f o re (Col. Wi l ly An t6nio P e re i ra pe r -so n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 98 7 ). A su r v e y c o m m i s s i o n e db y t h e N a t io n a l D e p a r t m e n t o f M i n e r al P r o d u c t i o n i nt h e P i t i n g a R i v er p o r t i o n o f th e su b m e r g e n c e a r e a i n -d i ca t ed seve ra l occur rences , bu t no l a rge depos i t s(V iega and o the rs 1979 , Vol . I I -b pp . 467-469 , Vol . I IAn exo I I I -c ). As w i th cass it e r it e , t he poss ib i li ty o fu s i n g b a r g e s a n d t h e f l u c t u a t i o n s i n m i n e r a l p r i c e sc o u l d c h a n g e t h e e c o n o m i c a t t r a c t i v e n e s s o f t h e d e -pos i ts i n the fu tu re . E le t rono r t e o f f ic i a ls den y anyc o n n e c t i o n o f B a l b i n a w i t h m i n i n g , r i g h t l y p o i n t i n go u t t h e d a m a g e t h a t s e d i m e n t a ti o n c a u se d b y a n y s u c ha c ti v it y w o u l d b r i n g t o p o w e r g e n e r a t i o n a t t h e d a m .

A n o t h e r t h e o r y f o r t h e m o t i v a ti o n b e h i n d B a l b in ai n v o lv e s th e i n d e m n i z a t i o n t h a t l a n d o w n e r s w o u l d r e -c ei ve . E l e t r o n o r t e m a p s sh o w t h a t , e x c e p t f o r t h e l a n dt a k e n f r o m t h e W a i m i r i- A t r o a r i tr i b e, a l m o s t a ll o f t h epro jec t a rea i s p r iva t e ly ow ned (Braz il E le t rono r t e nd) .T h e p a y m e n t o f c o m p e n sa t i o n w a s st ill u n d e r n e g o t ia -t i o n d u r i n g t h e f i n a l m o n t h s b e f o r e t h e r e se r v o ir c o m -menced t i l l i ng . A l though i t i s l og ica l t ha t t hose whoc l ai m p r o p e r t y r i g h ts t o t h e l a n d a r e t r y i n g to g e t a sm uc h f ina nc ia l r eward a s poss ib le , i t i s un l ike ly tha tt h is i n t e r e s t g r o u p i n f l u e n c e d t h e o v e r a ll d e c is i on s r e -g a r d i n g t h e p r o je c t .

T h e a t tr a c ti o n o f e m p l o y m e n t a n d o f p r o f it s f r o msu p p l y i n g g o o d s a n d s er vi ce s t o t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n e f f o r th a s u n d o u b t e d l y b e e n a c r it ic a l fo r c e b e h i n d B a l b in a .T h e c o m m e r c i a l s e c t o r o f M a n a u s h a s b e e n p a r t i c u -l a r ly s t r o n g i n i t s e f f o r ts t o p r e v e n t f u n d s f o r B a l b in af r o m b e i n g c u t A Cri t ica 1 9 85 b ). W h i le m a n y M a n a u sres iden t s and po l i t i c i ans de fend Ba lb ina w i th grea t ve -h e m e n c e , s u c h s u p p o r t w o u l d p r o b a b l y e v a p o r a t eq u i c k ly w e r e l o c al t a x p a y e r s r e q u i r e d t o p a y t h epro jec t ' s f i nanc ia l cost . A t p res en t Ma naus i s r ece iv ingB a l b i n a a s a g i f t f r o m t a x p a y e r s e l s e w h e r e - - b o t h i nt h e r e s t o f B r a z il a n d , i n d i re c t ly , in t h e f o r e i g n c o u n -t r i e s t h a t f u n d e d t h e W o r l d B a n k ' s B r a z i l i a n p o w e rsec tor l oan .

P r e s su r e t o b u i l d d a m s su c h a s B a l b i n a c o m e s i nl a r g e p a r t f r o m t h o se d i r e c tl y in v o l v e d in c o n s t r u c t i n g

t h e m : t h e barrageiros o r d a m b u i l d e r s . T h e e n g i n e e r sa n d o t h e r s t a f f m a k i n g u p t h e u n i q u e barrageiro sub-cu l tu re in Braz i l i an soc ie ty go to grea t l eng ths to in f lu -e n c e p o p u l a r o p i n i o n i n f a v o r o f d a m s . M o s t ly f r o mso u t h e r n B r a z i l , t h e barrageiros m o v e f r o m p r o j e c t t op r o j e c t l iv i n g in c o m f o r t a b l e b u t r e m o t e c o l o n i e s b u il ta t each s i t e . The soc ia l r e l a t ions of t he Ba lb ina co lonyto the c i ty o f M anau s a re s t r ik ing ly pa ra l l e l to t he re l a -t io n s t h a t A m e r i c a n z o n i es ( w h o u n t i l r e c e n t ly r a nt h e P a n a m a C a n a l ) h a d w i t h t h e w i d e r so c ie ty o fP a n a m a . L i f e i n t h e c o l o n y c a n a p p e a r i d yl li c al ly f r e eo f t h e so c ia l p r o b l e m s o f t h e r e s t o f B r a z i l - - a s i t u a ti o nm a i n t a i n e d b y a r m e d g u a r d s w h o p r e v e n t a n y la -bore rs f ro m en te r in g the c la ss A re s iden t i a l a reas a ta n y t i m e o t h e r t h a n sp e c i f i e d p e r i o d s o n t h ew e e k e n d s . A d j o i n i n g r e s i d e n t i a l a r ea s vilas) (w i thout aphys ica l ba r r i e r ) sepa ra t e c l a ss A em ployee s w i th a un i -ve rs ity - leve l edu ca t ion f ro m those w i thou t t h is d i s t inc -t ion ; each vila i s p ro v ided wi th sepa ra t e schools . Sepa -ra t e soc ia l c lubs ( the Waimar i and the A t roa r i ) d iv ideenginee rs f rom o the r ca t egor i e s : mere sc i en t i s t s a renot a l lowed in the enginee rs ' c lub . Thi s i so l a t ion hase n c o u r a g e d f o r m a t i o n o f a s t r o n g i n te r e s t g r o u p t h a tb a t tl e s f u r i o u s l y a n y w h o q u e s t i o n t h e w i sd o m o f B a l -b i n a - - a n y d o u b t i s p e r c e i v e d a s a t h r e a t t o t h e barra-geiro way of l if e .T h e T e c h n o l o g i c a l F o ll y

S e v e r e a s B a l b i n a ' s i m p a c t s a r e , t h e m a g n i t u d e o fthe en vi ro nm enta l and f inanc ia l d i sas t e r a t Ba lb ina l ie si n t h e m e a g e r b e n e f i t s t h a t t h e p r o j e c t w i l l p r o d u c e .Ba lb ina ' s nom ina l ( i nst a ll ed) capac ity is 250 m egaw at t s( M W ): t h e su m o f f i v e g e n e r a t o r s o f 5 0 - M W c a p a c it ye a c h . T h e a m o u n t o f p o w e r t h a t t h e d a m w ill a c t u al lyproduce , however , i s much l e ss t han th i s . A t fu l l ca -pac i ty , each g ene ra tor uses 267 m3/ sec of wa te r (Brazi lE le t ro nor t e 1987b) , o r 1335 m3/ sec for a ll f ive gene r -a tors . The tu rb ines can ope ra t e w i th l e ss wa te r , bu tproduce l e ss power .

T h e a m o u n t o f w a t e r f l o w i n g p a s t t h e d a m s i te isc ruc ia l t o Ba lb ina ' s ab i li t y t o de l ive r t he pow er i t s de -s i g n e r s h o p e t o o b t a i n . T h e s t r e a m f l o w so m e t i m e sfa ll s t o a lmost no th in g : i n M arch 1983 the f low a t Ba l-b ina reached a low of 4 .72 m3/ sec accord ing to E le -t r o n o r t e ' s m e a su r e m e n t s a t t h e d a m s i t e ( P o s t o 0 8 ) .T h e m i n i m u m r e g i s t e r e d s t r e a m f l o w i n d i c a t e d i n E le -t r o n o r t e ' s p u b l i c a ll y d i s t r i b u t e d p a m p h l e t d e sc r i b in gt h e p r o j e c t d o e s n o t r e f l e c t t h i s d r a m a t i c w a t e rshor t age : a va lue of 68 .9 m 3/sec i s g iven in the O c tobe r1 9 85 v e r s i o n o f t h e p a m p h l e t , su b se q u e n t l y r ev i s e d t o19.7 m3/sec in the February 1987 version (Brazi l Ele-t ron or t e 1985b , 1987b) . E le t ron or t e o f f i c ia l s exp la int h e d i s c r e p a n c y b y s a y i n g t h a t t h e m i n i m u m r e f e r s t o


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4 6 P M Fearnside

Figure 3. Part of the BalbinaReservoir while filling, with thewater level at 47 m above sealevel (3 m below the full reser-voir level). One third of th e res-ervoir will be less than 4 mdeep.

a month ly mean va lue ra the r than to the f low on anygiven day . I t i s wor th not ing tha t the month ly meanstreamflow in February 1983 was 17.51 m3/sec.

Impress ive a s the cont ras t be tween wa te r r equi re -ments and the minimum s t reamf lows i s , the s toredwater in the reservoir will a l low the dam's operators tocushion the power p lan t aga ins t br ie f pe r iods of lowst reamf low. Annua l ave rage s t r eamf low, however , i snot a l imi ta t ion tha t can be c i rcum vented by judic iousmanagement of the re se rvoi r ( cont ra ry to c la ims ofEletronorte 's public re la tions department a t Balbina) .

A severely l imited supply of water is an inevitableresult of Balbina 's small drainage basin, which is onlye ight t imes la rge r than the re se rvoi r i t se l f - -a h ighlyunusua l s i tuat ion in hydroe lec t r ic deve lopment . Evena rough ca lcu la t ion based on dra inage a rea and ra in-fa l l - - a ca lcu la t ion tha t could have been done on theback of an enve lope be fore under tak ing the v iab i l i tys tudy- - indica tes tha t annua l ave rage s t r eamf low wi l lbe small: the average annual precipita tion registered a tBalbina of 2229 mm (Janufir io 1986, p. 15) fa ll ingove r the 18,862-km 2 basin (Brazil Eletro nor te 1987b)would p rodu ce a volu me of wa te r which , a llowing for5 0 % r e tu r n t o t h e a tm o sp h e r e t h r o u g h e v a p o tr a n spi r -a t ion (Leopoldo and o the r s 1982, Vil la Nova andothe rs 1976) , would y ie ld an ave rage s t r eamf low of666 m3/sec . This does not inc lude evapora t ion f romthe water standing in the lake. Eletronorte 's viabil i tys tudy had a lso e s t ima ted a low annua l ave rage s t r eam-flow: 657 m3/sec (Brazil Eletronorte /Monasa/Enge-Rio1976, p. A-21) . Subsequent experience has revealed aneven smaller average streamflow at Balbina: 480 m3/sec (Rog6rio Gribel , public sta te men t 1988).

T h e nnu l average f low of the Ua tumf i R ive r a tthe dam site , as estimated in the viabil i ty study, iss l igh t ly more than tha t needed for two turb ines (onaverage) . Since 13% of the annual tota l discharge isexpec ted to be passed o ver the sp il lway wi thout gener -a t ing power , an ave rage output of 112 .2 MW is ex-pected (Brazil Eletronorte /Monasa/Enge-Rio 1976, p.B-51). O f this, 64 MW represe nts f irm pow er a t awa te r level deple t ion of 4 .4 m, the maxim um forwhich the turb ines were des igned (Braz i l E le t ronor te /Monasa/Enge-Rio 1976, p. B-47) . An assumed 2.5%loss in t r ansmiss ion reduces the f i rm power de l ive redto Manaus to only 62 .4 MW (Braz i l E le t ronor te /Monasa/Enge-Rio 1976, p. B-49) . Some Eletronortecalculations assume a 5% transmission loss (Brazil Ele-tronorte /Monasa/Enge-Rio 1976, p. B-47) , whichwould imply a f i rm power in Manaus of only 60 .8MW. Al th ough a ll dams genera te less than the i r nom-inal capacity, a t 26%, Balbina 's f irm output a t thedamsite is less than usual.

The smal l s t r eamf low of the Ua tumf i R ive r couldse rve as jus t i f ica t ion for a noth e r envi ronmenta l ly dam-aging enginee r ing pro jec t : d ive r s ion of the Ala la f iRiver to f low into Balbina. The Alalaf i , a tr ibutary ofthe R io Negro , f lows through the Waimir i -Atroa r i In-d ian Rese rve provid ing a v i ta l f i sh ing re so urce - -esp e -cia lly since Balbina has now destroyed the tr ibe 's onlyothe r r ive r : the Ua tum~. Bui ld ing the 30-km dive rs ioncanal, which would be entire ly within the reserve,would a lso cause ma jor pe r turba t ion f rom the pres-ence o f cons t ruc t ion c rews.

Th e h is tory and present s ta tus of the Ala la fi d ive r-s ion p lans a re unc lea r . The d ive r s ion appears on a


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Brazil s Balbina Dam 4 7

igure4. Some of the 1500 is-lands in the Balbina Reservoir.Th e light-colored trees are d eador dying.

map included in the viabil i ty study for Balbina (BrazilEletronorte /Monasa/Enge-Rio 1976, i l lustra tion 19) .Th e d ive r s ion was not inc luded in Ba lb ina s budge t ,nor were any of i t s impac ts inc luded in the envi ron-mental studies. During the slow f i l l ing of the Balbinareservoir in 1988, the possibil i ty of diver ting theAla la fi R ive r r e tur ned to cons ide ra t ion in some sector sof Ele t ronor te ( a l though not in the p lanning depar t -ment: Frank Tadeu Jtvila , public sta tement 1988) .

Balbina s 250-MW nom inal capacity is i tse lf minus-cule for a r e se rvoi r of th is s ize - -ab out a s large as the2430-km 2 Tu cur ui r e se rvoi r tha t wi ll supp or t a nom -inal capacity of 8000 MW. Balbina sacr if ices 31 t imesmore fores t pe r megawat t of genera t ing capac i ty in-s tal led than does Tucu rui . Much o f the Ba lb ina re se r-voir will be extremely shallow because the terra in isqui te f la t . One th i rd of the re se rvoi r s 2360-km 2 a reaat the 50-m level will be less than 4 m dee p (Figure 3) .Average depth when full will be 7.4 m (Brazil Ele-trobrfis 1986b, p. 6. 12). The large shallow areas canbe expec ted to suppor t rooted aqua t ic vege ta t ion ,adding to the problem of f loa t ing weeds tha t couldaffect the entire reservoir . Aquatic vegetation, to-ge the r w i th the la rge sur face a rea pe r volu me of wa te rin a shallow re servo ir will lead to heavy losses of store dwate r to evapora t ion and t r anspi ra tion .

Promot iona l e f for ts by Ele t ronor te inc lude breedinga her d o f manatees as an an tidote to weeds and a comicbook distr ibuted in Manaus in which a parrot explainsthe m arvelous tr ip of the l ight to you r house [Brazil Ele-tron orte n d (1987)]. T he staff a t the National Insti tutefor Research in the Amazon (INPA) responsible for themanatee program view it str ic t ly as a research effor t

ra ther than as a means of controlf ing the weeds sincethe manatees bree d v ery slowly (Vera da Silva, personalcommunication 1988) . Manatees have a long gesta tionperiod (Best 1982), which, together with inhibited fer-t il ity durin g lacta tion, restric ts reprodu ction to o ne calfper female every three years (Best 1984, p. 376, Vera daSilva, personal com municatio n 1988). In the m eantime,Ele t ronor te has begun pul l ing out some weeds by handand removing them f rom the a rea us ing outboard mo-torboa ts and t ruc ks- -a me th od tha t i s unl ike ly to be f i-nancially sustainable.

Th e Balbina reser voir will be a labyrinth o f canalsamong the approximate ly 1500 is lands and 60 t r ibu-ta ry s t r eams (F igure 4). Th e res idence t ime in some ofthese backwaters will be many t imes more than the a l-ready ext remely long ave rage of 11 .7 months ca lcu-la ted in the viabil i ty study (Brazil Eletrobffts 1986b, p.6 .12) , or 14 .0 mon ths i f measu red d ischa rge va lues a reused . Wate r in Tucurui , by cont ras t , has an ave rageresidence of 1.8 months, or 6.4 t imes less than the of-f icia l f igu re for Balbina. Some par ts o f the Balbina res-e rvoi r may only tu rn over once in seve ra l yea rs . In ad-d i t ion to Ba lb ina s r e t icu la te a r rangem ent of in te rcon-necting backwaters (Figure 1C), which resembles ac ross sec tion of a hum an lung, the re s idence t ime a tthe bo t tom o f the re se rvoi r (where decomposin g leavesa re concent ra ted) would be grea te r than the re se r -voi r s ave rage because of an expec ted the rmal s t ra t if i -cation (Fisch 1986) . The water enter ing the reservoirf lows toward the dam in the sur face laye rs (Branco1986) , a l thoug h som e mixing wil l occur nea r the d amsince the wa te r r emoved f rom the re se rvoi r wi l l betaken f rom the bot tom where the in takes for the tur -


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408 P M Fearnside

Figure 5 The Balbina Damand part o f the 2% of the reser-voir area from which the forestwas cleared.

h ines a re loca ted . The s low turnover means tha t thedecomp osing vege ta t ion wil l prod uce ac ids tha t causecor ros ion of the turbines . In Tucu rui , despi te the re la -t ive ly rapid average turnover in the rese rvoir domi-na ted by f low throu gh the main channe l , one s ide a rmtha t communica tes wi th the main rese rvoir through anarrow neck is fed by streams so small that, in dryyears , wa te r ent ry cor responds to a turnover t ime onthe order of 50 years . P r ior to c los ing the dam, Ele -t rono r te bul ldozed the vege ta t ion in th is bay, known asthe Lago do Cara ip~ , in order to render the a rea asster ile as possible , thereby minimizing eutrophication(Col. Willy Ant6nio Pereira , personal communication1987; Braz i l INPA 1983 pp. 3 2-34 ) . Specia l t r ea tmen twas undoub tedly a lso mot iva ted by the bay 's proximityto popula ted a reas near the dam. Even wi th bul l -doz ing, the bay was quickly covered by mats off loati ng macroph ytes (Carden as 1986a, pp. 9, 17) .

Ac id wate r caused by decomposing vege ta t ion canmake m aintenance cost ly . Tu cur ui has a l ready had re -pairs to i ts turbines, costing an undisclosed amount. Atthe Curuf i -Una R eservoir near Santa r6m, Par fi , powergenera t ion had to be ha l ted temp orar i ly in 1982 (onlyf ive years a f te r the dam began to produce e lec t r ic i ty)to a l low repa i r s to cor roded turbines a t a cos t ofUS 1.1 million (Brazil Eletrobr~is/CEPEL 1983, p. 34).The cumula t ive cos t of maintenance in the f i r s t s ixyears totaled US 2 mill ion, or US 16,600 per installedmegawat t pe r year - -70 t imes the cos t pe r megawat tfor a comparable dam in the semiar id nor theas te rnpart of Brazil (Brazil Eletrobrf is/CEPEL 1983, p. 44) .Th e repo r t i s r ichly i llus t rated wi th photograp hs of the

deeply p i t ted turbines a t Curuf i -Una . Lost genera t ingt ime is not inc luded in the cos ts of maintenance re -por ted . Th e average res idence time of wa te r in theCuruf i -Una Reservoir i s about 40 days (Rober tson1980, p. 10); Balbina 's turnover t ime, on the order of10 times longer , means that water quality and corro-s ion problems wi l l be worse than a t Curuf i -Una . Thegrea te r number of s tagnant bays and channe ls a t Ba l-b ina wi ll fur the r accentua te the d i f fe rence . At the ra teexper ienced a t Curuf i -Una , Ba lbina ' s maintenancewould cost US 4.15 mill ion per year , or 4.3 mils (US)per k i lowat t -hour of e lec t ric i ty de l ive red to Manaus(about 10% of the ta r i f f charged consumers) . In i t sf irst 13 years of operation, repairs due to similar cor-r o s ion in t he B r okom pondo Da m in S u r ina m to t a l e dUS 4 mi l l ion , or over 7% of the const ruc t ion cos t(Caufield 1983, p. 62) . As at Brokompondo andCuruf i -Una , vege ta t ion is be ing le f t to decompose inmost of the Ba lbina submergence a rea : only a token50 km 2 (2%) of the rese rvoir was c lea red b efore thedam was closed (Figure 5) .The mate r ia l used in the turbines or ig ina l ly or -dered for Balbina was changed to stainless steel whilethe dam was under const ruc t ion . Incur r ing the addi-t iona l cos t of us ing h arde r s tee l was mot iva ted by fea rof cor ros ion. Direc t compar ison of Ba lbina ' s mainte -nance costs with those at Curufi-Una is complicated bytwo opposing factors: better steel and worse water .Given the unprecedented ac id i ty of Ba lbina ' s wa te r ,maintenance costs wi ll undou btedl y be h igh.

Th e fa i lure of Ele t ronor te to c lea r the subm ergencearea at Balbina is a ma tter of legal controversy . Brazil 's


9/23


l a w N o . 3 8 2 4 o f 2 3 N o v e m b e r 1 9 6 0 s ta t e s t h a t i t i so b l i g a to r y to d e s t u m p a n d c l e a r th e b a s in s o f d a m s ,

r e s e r v o i r s o r a r t if i c ia l l a k e s. E l e t r o n o r t e d i d n o t a t -t e m p t s u c h a c le a r i n g i n t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a a t T u -c u r u i , c l a i m i n g t h a t t h e l a w r e f e r r e d o n l y t o r e s e r v o i r si n t e n d e d f o r w a t e r s u p p l y , n o t f o r p o w e r g e n e r a t i o n .T h e p r e c e d e n t o f T u c u r u i w a s s u b se q u e n tl y a p p li e d t oj u s t i f y n o t c l e a r i n g a t B a l b i n a A Cri t ica 1 9 8 5 d ) . P r i o rt o T u c u r u i , t h e f o r e s t h a d b e e n l e f t u n c u t i n t h e8 6 - k m 2 C u r u ~ i - U n a D a m i n P a r f i c lo s e d i n 1 9 7 6 , a n do n l y 5 0 % o f t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a w a s c l e a re d i n t h e2 3 - k m ~ C o a r a c y N u n e s ( P a re d f io ) D a m i n A m a p f ic l o s e d i n 1 9 7 5 ( P a i v a 1 9 7 7) . W h e n v e g e t a t i o n l e f t i nr e s e rv o i r s d e c o m p o s e s , t h e w a t e r b e c o m e s a c i di c a n da n o x i c ( G a r z o n 1 9 84 ).T h e E n v i r o n m e n t a l F o l l y

Impacts on Natural SystemsF o r e s t l o s s i s o n e o f t h e p r i m a r y e n v i r o n m e n t a l

c o s ts o f l a r g e d a m s l ik e B a l b in a . T h e a r e a d i s t u r b e d i sm u c h g r e a t e r t h a n t h e 2 3 6 0 k m 2 a c tu a ll y f l o o d e d ,s i n ce t h e i n c l u s i o n o f is l a n d s r o u g h l y d o u b l e s t h e a r e aa f f e c t e d . D e s p i t e E l e t r o n o r t e ' s p r o m o t i o n o f t h e i s -l a n d s a s h a v i n g c o n d i t i o n s f o r l i f e o f a n im a l s a n dp l a n t s [ B r a z il E l e t r o n o r t e n d ( 1 9 8 7 ), p . 1 8 ], f o r e s t d i -v i d e d i n t o t i n y f r a g m e n t s i s k n o w n t o l o s e m a n ys p e c ie s o f a n i m a l s a n d p l a n t s a s t h e i s o l a t e d p a t c h e sd e g r a d e ( L o v e j o y a n d o t h e r s 1 9 84 ).

T h e a r e a t o b e f l o o d e d i s n o t k n o w n w i t h a n y c er -t a in t y , d e s p it e t h e a p p a r e n t p r e c i si o n o f E l e t r o n o r t em a p s a n d s t a t e m e n ts . T h e t o p o g r a p h i c i n f o r m a t i o n int h e m a p s , a n d i n t h e a r e a c a l c u l a t i o n s d e r i v e d f r o mt h e m , i s b a s e d o n a e r i a l p h o t o g r a p h s . T h e p h o t o -g r a p h s r e c o r d t h e l e v e l o f t h e t o p s o f t h e t r e e s i n t h ef o r e s t , n o t t h e g r o u n d u n d e r n e a t h ; s i n c e a s u b s t an t i a lp a r t o f t h e r e s e r v o i r w i ll b e o n l y a m e t e r o r t w o d e e p ,e r r o r s o f th i s m a g n i t u d e c a n e a s il y a l t e r t h e f i n a l re -sult.

T h e p o s s i b if i ty h a s b e e n s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h e f l o o d e da r e a a t t h e 5 0 - m l e v el m i g h t b e a b o u t d o u b l e t h e a r e ao f f i c ia l ly a c k n o w l e d g e d . S o u r c e s i n t h e e c o n o m i cs e c t o r o f th e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t r e p o r t e d l y re v i s edt h e a r e a f r o m 1 6 0 0 t o 4 0 0 0 k m 2 ( B a r r o s 1 9 82 ). O n ec o n g r e s s m a n c h a r g e d t h e g o v e r n m e n t w i th d e li b e r-a t e ly u n d e r e s t i m a t i n g t h e a r e a t o b e f l o o d e d A Crltica1 98 2) . E l e t r o n o r t e p r o m p t l y d e n i e d t h a t t h e r e s e r v o i rw o u l d f l o o d m o r e t h a n 1 6 5 0 k m 2. T h e o r i g i n o f t h e1 6 5 0 k m = f i g u r e i s u n k n o w n , a l t h o u g h i t a ls o a p p e a r si n a n e a r l y f o r e s t s u r v e y r e p o r t ( J a a k o P 6 y r y E n g e n -h a r i a 1 9 8 3 , p . 3) . E l e t r o n o r t e h a d a t f ir s t e x p e c t e d t h er e s e r v o i r t o o c c u p y o n l y 1 2 4 0 k m 2 w h e n f u l l ( B r a zi lE l e t r o n o r t e / M o n a s a / E n g e - R i o 1 9 7 6 , p . B - 5 5 ) . T h e o f -

f i c i a l f i g u r e f o r t h e r e s e r v o i r a r e a a t t h e 5 0 - m w a t e rl e v e l i s c u r r e n t l y 2 3 6 0 k m 2 ( B r a z il E l e t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 7 b ),a l m o s t d o u b l e t h e o r i g i n a l v a l u e . T h e c u r r e n t v a l u ew a s c a l c u l a t e d i n 1 9 8 0 ( B r a z i l E l e t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 1 ) , a n ds o d o e s n o t r e f l e c t a n y r e f i n e m e n t s i n t o p o g r a p h i c i n-f o r m a t i o n t h a t m a y h a v e b e e n m a d e s i n c e t h a t t i m e .E n g i n e e r s w h o w o r k e d o n B a l b i n a ' s t o p o g r a p h i cs u r v e y h a v e t o l d I N P A r e s e a r c h e r s t h a t t h e s u r v e y 'sm a r g i n o f e r r o r i s s o g r e a t t h a t a 4 0 0 0 - k i n = r e s e r v o i r isw i t h i n t h e r a n g e o f p o s si b il it y ( A n t 6 n io D o n a t o N o b r e ,p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 98 8) . T h a t t h e r e s e r v o i rc o u l d f l o o d a n a r e a m u c h l a r g e r t h a n t h e o f f i ci a l e s ti -m a t e h a s n o t b e e n i n d e p e n d e n t l y c o n f i r m e d ; i t r e -m a i n s o n l y a p e r s i s te n t r u m o r . O n l y m a p p i n g t h e r e s-e r v o i r w h e n f u l l w i l l r e v e a l t h e i m p o u n d m e n t ' s t r u esize.

T h e d e c o m p o s i t i o n o f t h e v e g e t a ti o n in t h e w a t e rp r o d u c e s h y d r o g e n s u l f i d e H2S)gas , g iv ing it a ro t t ens m el l. T h e B r o k o m p o n d o R e s e rv o i r i n S u r i n a m p r o -d u c e d H2S t h a t f o r c e d w o r k e r s a t t h e s i t e t o w e a rm a s k s f o r o v e r t w o y e a r s a f t e r t h e d a m w a s c l o s e d( M e l q u i a i d e s P i n t o P a i v a , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n1 9 8 8 , P a i v e 1 9 7 7 , C a u f i e l d 1 9 82 ). I n t h e m u c h s m a l l e rC u r u f i - U n a R e s e r v o i r i n P a r f i , t h e s m e l l w a s e v e n a p -p a r e n t t o p e o p l e o v e r f l y i n g t h e a r e a i n s m a ll a i rp l a n e s( B a r b a r a A . R o b e r t s o n , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n1 9 88 ). D e s p i t e p o p u l a r c o n c e r n o v e r t h i s a s p e c t o f t h ee n v i r o n m e n t a l i m p a c t , a i r p o l l u t i o n f r o m H 2 S i s a r e la -t iv e ly t e m p o r a r y a n d r e s t r i c te d p h e n o m e n o n .

T h e s h a l l o w r e s e r v o i r w i t h a l a r g e l a n d a r e a a l t e r -n a t e ly f l o o d e d a n d e x p o s e d w i ll a ls o p r o d u c e m e t h a n e( C H 4 ) g a s . B a l b i n a h a s b e e n s u g g e s t e d a s a p o t e n t i a lc o n t r i b u t o r t o t h is p r o b l e m ( G o r e a u a n d M e l lo 1 9 87 ).M e t h a n e c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e g r e e n h o u s e e f f e c t n o ww a r m i n g g l o b a l c l i m a t e ( D i c k i n s o n a n d C i c e r o n e1 9 86 ). A m a z o n i a h a s r e c e n t l y b e e n i d e n t i f i e d a s o n e o ft h e w o r l d 's m a j o r s o u r c e s o f a t m o s p h e r i c m e t h a n e ; t h evdrzea ( f l o o d p l a i n ) i s t h e p r i n c i p a l c o n t r i b u t o r( M o o n e y a n d o t h e r s 1 98 7) . T h e vd~ea o c c u p i e s a b o u t2 % o f B r a z i l' s 5 m i l l io n k m 2 a d m i n i s t r a ti v e r e g i o nk n o w n as t h e L e g a l A m a z o n ( Fi g. 2 ), o r a b o u t th es a m e p e r c e n t a g e t h a t w o u l d b e f l o o d e d b y t h e 8 0d a m s u n d e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n f o r c o n s t r u c t i o n i n t h e r e -g i o n o v e r t h e n e x t f e w d e c a d e s . W e r e t h e s e r e s e r v o i rst o c o n tr i b u te a n o u t p u t o f m e t h a n e o n t h e o r d e r o ft h a t p r o d u c e d b y t h e vdrzea, t h e y w o u l d t o g e t h e r r e p -r e s e n t a s i g n i f i c a n t c o n t r i b u t i o n t o g l o b a l a t m o s p h e r i cp r o b l e m s .

F i sh d e a t h a t t h e c l os in g o f t h e d a m is o n e o f t h ei m p a c t s t h a t a t t r a c t s t h e m o s t a t t e n t i o n . E l e t r o n o r t eh a s m a d e i t d i f fi c u l t f o r o b s e r v e r s t o w i t n es s t h is a s p e c tb y n o t i n f o r m i n g r e s e a r c h e r s a n d o t h e r s o f w h e n t h ed a m w o u l d a c t u a l l y b e c l o s e d . B a l b i n a w as c l o s e d


10/23

41 P M Fearnside

w i t h o u t w a r n i n g 3 0 d a y s b e f o r e t h e a n n o u n c e d d a t e o f3 1 O c t o b e r 1 9 8 7 . S o m e r e s e a r c h e r s w e r e p r e s e n t a tt h e t i m e , h o w e v e r . F i s h m o r t a l i t y o c c u r r e d d o w n -s t r e a m o f t h e d a m a t B a l b in a ( J o s 6 A .S . N u n e s d eM e l l o , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 9 8 8 ) . A t T u c u r u i ,E l e t r o n o r t e c l o s ed t h e d a m w i t h o u t w a r n i n g o n 6 S e p -t e m b e r 1 9 8 4 - - o n e d a y b e f o r e th e N a ti o n al I n d e p e n -d e n c e D a y a n d a t h r e e - d a y h o li d a y . A n I N P A t e a mw a s a b l e t o r e a c h t h e s i t e b y 1 0 S e p t e m b e r , a n d s o m ef i s h m o r t a l i t y w a s o b s e r v e d . F i s h m o r t a l i t y a t T u c u r u io c c u r r e d w h e n w a t e r w a s fi r st a ll o w e d t o p as s t h r o u g ht h e t u r b i n e s i n a t e s t p r i o r t o t h e d e d i c a t i o n c e r e m o n y .T h e b l a s t o f a n o x i c w a t e r k i l l e d m a n y f i s h in t h e a r e ai m m e d i a t e l y b e l o w t h e d a m ; E l e t r o n o r t e r e m o v e dt h e s e b y t r u c k i n o r d e r t o i m p r o v e t h e a r e a ' s v i s u a la n d o l f a c t o r y a p p e a l f o r t h e d e d i c a t i o n c e r e m o n y . A tB a l b i n a , t u r b i n e i n t a k e s a t t h e v e r y b o t t o m o f t h e r e s -e r v o i r w i ll i n e v it a b l y t a k e w a t e r v i r t u a l l y d e v o i d o f o x -y g e n .

Impacts on N onindigenous ResidentsR e l a t iv e l y f e w p e o p l e l iv e n e a r B a l b i n a , a s c o m -

p a r e d t o m a n y o t h e r h y d r o e l e c t r ic p ro j e ct s . E le t r o n -o r t e r e c o g n i z e d o n l y o n e n o n - A m e r i n d i a n f a m i l y w i t hs e v e n p e o p l e i n t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a . A s u r v e y b yt h r e e o r g a n i z a t i o n s o p p o s e d t o t h e d a m c o n c l u d e dt h a t 2 1 7 f a m i l i e s t o t a l i n g o v e r 1 0 0 0 p e o p l e w o u l d b ed i r e c t l y a f f e c t e d ( M A R E W A 1 9 8 7 , p . 2 3 ). A b u s i n e ssp u b l i c a t i o n f a v o r a b l e t o t h e d a m r e p o r t e d t h e n o n i n -d i g e n o u s p o p u l a t i o n i n t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a t o b e 4 2p e o p l e i n 1 1 fa m i l i es Visao 1986).

P a r t o f t h e M a n a u s - C a r a c a r a / ( B R - 1 7 4 ) h i g h w a yw o u l d a l s o b e f l o o d e d ; p r o p e r t y o w n e r s i n t h e a r e ac a l c u l a t e d a s l i k e l y t o f l o o d o n c e i n 1 0 0 0 y e a r s a r e t ob e p a i d c o m p e n s a t i o n b y E l e t r o n o r t e . O n e E l e t r o b r ~ i sr e p o r t r e c o g n i z e s 6 5 p r o p e r t i e s a n d s q u a t t e r cl ai m s i nt h e r e s e r v o i r a r e a , w i t h a t o t a l o f 2 5 0 p e o p l e ( B r a z i lE le tr ob r~ ts 1 9 8 6 b , p p . 6 - 1 3 ) . T h e n o n i n d i g e n o u s r e s i -d e n t s o f t h e B a l b i n a s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a w e r e o f f e r e dl a n d i n a g o v e r n m e n t s e t tl e m e n t p r o je c t .

R e s i d en t s a l o n g t h e r i v e r b el o w t h e d a m o p t e d t os ta y w h e r e t h e y w e r e i n e x c h a n g e f o r b e n e f i ts t o c o m -p e n s a t e f o r t h e lo ss o f f i s h a n d p o t a b l e w a t e r d u r i n gt h e f i l l i n g p h a s e : t h e 5 0 f a m i l i e s c l o s e s t t o t h e d a m( t ho s e l o c at e d a b o v e C a c h o e i r a M o r e n a , 3 0 k m b e l o wt h e d a m ) w o u l d b e s u p p l i e d w i t h s o l ar d r y e r s f o r u s ei n p r e s e r v i n g t h e f i sh e x p e c t e d t o b e t r a p p e d i n p o n d sf o r m e d i n t h e d r y r i v e r b e d ; t h e s e f a m i l i e s p l u s t h e 5 0a d d i t io n a l f a m i li es b e t w e e n C a c h o e i r a M o r e n a a n d t h eA b a c a t e R i v e r w o u l d r e c e i v e w e l l s a n d w a t e r t a n k s .E l e t r o n o r t e o n l y c o m p l e t e d a b o u t o n e t h i r d o f th e 1 0 0w e ll s b e f o r e t h e d a m w a s c lo s ed . E l e t r o n o r t e p r o m i s e dt o s u p p l y w a t e r f r o m t a n k t r u c k s to t h o s e w h o h a d n o t

r e c e i v e d w e l l s ( a b o u t h a l f w e r e o n l o ts w i t h a c c e ss t o ar o a d t h a t h a d b e e n b u i l t f r o m B a l b i n a t o C a c h o e i r aM o r e n a ) . O n l y o n e d e l i v e r y o f w a t e r w as a c t u al l ym a d e ( J a i m e d e A r a f i j o , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n1988).

T h e n u m b e r o f d o w n s t r e a m r e s i de n ts b e n e f it in gf r o m t h e a s s i s t a n c e p r o g r a m w a s r e d u c e d d u r i n g t h ec o u r s e o f d a m c o n s t r u c t i o n . O r i g i n a l ly 1 7 7 f a m i li e sb e l o w t h e d a m w e r e i n t e r v i e w e d f o r i n c l u s i o n i n t h eb e n e f i t p r o g r a m ; a m o r e d e t a il e d s u r v e y s t o p p e d a t1 51 f a m i li e s, i n d i c a t i n g f a m i l ie s o n l y a s f a r d o w n -s t r e a m a s t h e J a t a p f i R i v e r , o r 1 4 5 k m b e l o w th e d a m( B r a z il E l e t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 6 a ). T h e s u r v e y w as h a l t e d i nD e c e m b e r 1 9 8 6 w h e n E l e t r o n o r t e d e c i d e d t o r e s t r i c ta s s i s t ance to the 100 fam i l i e s l iv ing above Abaca teR i v e r , 9 5 k m d o w n s t r e a m . A c l i m a t e o f d i s t r u s t h a sp r e v a i l e d b e t w e e n d o w n s t r e a m r e s i d e n t s a n d E l e t r o -n o r t e .

Impact on AmerindiansT h e f l o o d i n g o f p a r t o f t h e W a i m i r i- A t r o a r i tr i be 's

r e s e r v e i s t h e m o s t d r a m a t i c o f t h e r e s e r v o i r ' s n o n -m o n e t a r y c o s t s . T w o o f t h e t r i b e ' s 1 0 r e m a i n i n g v i l -l a g e s w i l l b e f l o o d e d : T a q u a r i ( p o p u l a t i o n 7 2 ) a n d T a -p u p u n ~ ( p o p u l a t i o n 3 5) [B r a zi l F U N A I / E l e t r o n o r t en d ( 1 9 8 7 ) , p . 1 1 ]. T h i s r e p r e s e n t s 2 9 o f t h e t r i b e 'sp o p u l a t i o n , n o w t o t a l i n g 3 7 4 i n d i v i d u a l s . T h i s t o t a l i sd i v i d e d i n t o 2 2 3 W a i m i r i a n d 1 51 A t r o a r i ( B r a z il E l e -t r o b r fi s 1 9 86 b , p p . 6 - 1 2 ) . T h e 1 0 7 p e o p l e in t h e t w of l o o d e d v i ll a g es a r e al l W a i m i r i s , r e p r e s e n t i n g 4 8 o ft h is g r o u p ' s p o p u l a t i o n . S i n c e th e g r o u p s m o v e w i t h int h e i r t e r r i t o r y to h u n t a n d f is h , t h e n u m b e r a f f e c t e d isg r e a t e r t h a n t h o s e i n t h e f l o o d e d v il la ge s.

T h e a r e a t o b e t a k e n f r o m t h e r e s e r v e is c a l cu l a te do n t h e b a s i s o f t h e h e i g h t t o w h i c h t h e r e s e r v o i r i sl i k e ly t o r e a c h w i t h a f r e q u e n c y o f o n c e i n 1 0 0 0 y e a rs .T h e l e v e l s o c a l c u l a t e d is 5 3 m a b o v e s e a l e v e l, o r 3 ma b o v e t h e n o r m a l f u l l ie v e l o f t h e r e s e r v o i r. H i g h e rf l o o d i n g is e x p e c t e d i n t h e u p p e r p a r t o f t h e r e s e r v o i r,w h e r e t h e r e s e r v e is lo c a te d , b e c au s e t h e n a r r o w n e c kt h a t d i v i d e s t h e B a l b i n a r e s e r v o i r in t o t w o p a r t s(F igure 1 ) re s t r i c t s wa te r f low to the dam (Cot . Wi l lyA n t 6 n i o P e r e i ra , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 9 87 , B r az i lE l e t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 6b ) . I t s h o u l d b e n o t e d t h a t s e d i m e n t a -t i o n w ill b e g i n a t th e u p p e r e n d o f t h e i m p o u n d m e n t .I f s e d i m e n t s s h o u l d p a r t i a l l y b l o c k t h e n a r r o w p a s -s a g ew a y b e t w e e n t h e t w o p a r t s o f t h e r e s e rv o i r , t h e nt h e c h a n c e o f h i g h e r a n d m o r e f r e q u e n t f l o o d s in t h eW a i m i r i - A t r o a r i a r e a w o u l d b e g r e a t l y i n c r e a s e d .

A t t h e 5 3 - m l ev e l, 3 11 k m 2 o f t h e r e s e r v e w o u l d b ef l o o d e d ( B r a z il , E l e t r o b r f is 1 9 8 6 b, p p . 6 - 1 3 ) . O f t h ep r e s e n t l y p r o p o s e d r e s e r v e ' s 2 4 , 4 0 0 - k m 2 a re a , t h i sr e p r e s e n t s 1 .3 . W h i l e t h e f l o o d e d p o r t i o n i s v e r y


11/23

Brazil s Balbina Dam 4

s m a l l a s a p e r c e n t a g e o f t h e r e s e r v e a r e a , i t i n c lu d e s as i g ni f ic a n t p a r t o f t h e t r i b a l p o p u l a t i o n a n d t h e i r f o o dr e s o u r c e s . T h e r i v e r s i d e f i s h i n g l o c a t io n s o f t h e t w o v il -l a g e s w i l l n o t b e m o v e d i n l a n d w h e n t h e r i v e r b a n k i sr e p l a c e d w i t h a s t a g n a n t b a y o r a v as t m u d f l a t c o v e r e dw i t h s t a n d i n g s k e le t o n s o f d e a d t re e s . T h e t u rt l esw h o s e e g g s f o r m a s t a p l e o f t h e t r i b e ' s d i e t h a v e b e e np r e v e n t e d f r o m r e a c h in g t h e a r ea b y t h e d a m n o wb l o c k i n g t h e i r y e a r l y a s c e n t o f t h e U a t u m f i R i v e r .

B r a z il 's a g e n c y f o r A m e r i n d i a n a f f a i r s ( F U N A I : t h eN a t i o n a l F o u n d a t i o n f o r t h e I n d i a n ) t o o k a d e le g a t i o no f W a i m i r i - A t r o a r i l e a d e r s t o v i s i t t h e P a r k a n f i t r i b e ,w h i c h h a d h a d m u c h o f i ts t e r r i t o r y f l o o d e d i n 1 9 8 4b y t h e T u c u r u i R e s e rv o i r. T h e v is it qu i c kl y c o n v i n c edt h e W a i m i r i - A r t r o a r i t h a t t h e y w o u l d h a v e t o l e a v et h e ir v il la ge s a n d c o o p e r a t e w i th F U N A I - - s o m e t h i n go r a l e x p l a n a t i o n s a n d a d e m o n s t r a t i o n u s i n g a m o c k -u p o f a d a m a n d r e s e r v o i r h a d f a il e d to d o . T w o n e wv i ll a g es w e r e b u i l t b y t h e t r i b e i t s e l f e l s e w h e r e i n t h et e r r i t o r y . T h e p o p u l a t i o n t h a t m o v e d r e c e i v e d a v a -r i e ty o f g if ts f r o m F U N A I , s u c h a s o u t b o a r d m o t o r sa n d a l u m i n u m b o a t s t o r e p l a c e t h e i r t r a d i t i o n a ld u g o u t c a n o e s . T h e i n d i v i d u a l s w h o h a v e l e d i n c o l l a -b o r a t i n g w i t h F U N A I a r e n o t t h e t r a d i t i o n a l t r i b a ll e a d e r s ; t h e s u d d e n m a t e r i a l w e a l t h o f t h e g i f t r e c i p -i e n t s h a s c r e a t e d i n t e r n a l t e n s i o n s w i t h i n t h e t r i b e( A d o l f o 1 9 8 7 ) . A n t h r o p o l o g i s t s w o r k i n g i n t h e a r e ah a v e b e e n s h o c k e d b y t h e a l a c r it y w i t h w h i c h t h e r e -c i p i e n t s o f t h e g i f ts h a v e c a s t o f f t h e i r f o r m e r c u s t o m sa n d l o s t t h e i r s e l f - s u ff i c ie n c y ( A r m i n d a M u n i z , p e r -s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 9 8 7 ) .

T h e m o v i n g o f t w o i n d i g e n o u s v il la g es a n d l os s o fp a r t o f a re s e r v e w o u l d a p p e a r t o b e a s m al l m a t t e ra g a in s t t h e b a c k g r o u n d o f a f f ro n t s t h a t A m e r i n d i a n sh a v e s u f f e r e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e r e g i o n i n r e c e n t y e a r s .T h e c a s e o f B a l b i n a is s ig n i f ic a n t , h o w e v e r , b e c a u s e o ft h e p a r t i c u l a r ly d r a m a t i c d e c i m a t i o n o f t h e t r i b e inq u e s t i o n i n t h e d e c a d e p r i o r t o b e g i n n i n g c o n s t r u c -t ion .

T h e t r ib e h a d a p o p u l a t i o n o f 60 0 0 i n 1 9 05 a c-c o r d i n g t o a n e s t i m a t e b y t h e G e r m a n n a t u r a l i s t sG e o r g H f i b n e r a n d T h e o d o r e K o c h - G r f i n b e rg ( C IM I1 9 7 9 , p . 5 , G a r c i a 1 9 8 5 , M A R E W A 1 9 8 7 ). B y t h a tt i m e t h e t r i b e h a d a l r e a d y s u f f e r e d a l o n g s e r i e s o fm a s s a c r e s ( M a r t i n s 1 9 8 2 , p . 2 8 4 ) . T h e 6 0 0 0 t u r n - o f -t h e - c e n t u r y p o p u l a t i o n w a s r e d u c e d t o 3 5 0 0 b y 1 9 7 3t h r o u g h a s e r i e s o f v i o l e n t e n c o u n t e r s ( c a t a lo g e d b yM a r t i n s 1 9 8 2 , p p . 2 8 4 - 2 8 6 ) . V i o l e n t c o n t a c t s h a v ec o n t i n u e d u p t o t h e p r e s e n t d e c a d e . I n 1 9 7 0 , t h eM a n a u s - C a r a c a r a i ( B R - 1 7 4 ) h i g h w a y w a s b e g u n t ol i n k M a n a u s w i t h V e n e z u e l a . T h e h i g h w a y b i s e c t e dt h e t r ib e ' s t e r r i t o r y ; a c c e ss t o t h e a r e a w a s r e s t ri c t e d b yt h e m i l i ta r y w h il e t h e h i g h w a y w a s u n d e r c o n s t r u c ti o n

a n d f o r s e v e ra l y e a r s t h e r e a f t e r . I n 1 9 7 5, F U N A I d e -c i d e d t h a t s o m a n y h o s ti le e n c o u n t e r s h a d t a k e n p l a c et h a t t h e a g e n c y ' s e f f o r t s to p a c i f y t h e t r i b e w e r e s u s-p e n d e d ( M a r t i n s 1 9 8 2 , p . 2 7 8 ). T h e f o l l o w i n g y e a rE l e t r o n o r t e c o n t a c t s w i t h F U N A I b e g a n i n o r d e r t oc l e a r t h e a r e a f o r B a l b i n a ( G a r c i a 1 9 8 5 ).

T h e 3 5 0 0 p o p u l a t i o n i n 1 9 7 3 w a s r e d u c e d t o 1 1 0 0b y 1 9 7 9 ( b y F U N A I e s t i m a t e s , s e e A t h i a s a n d B e s s a1 98 0 ) a n d f u r t h e r t o 3 7 4 - - m o s t l y c h i l d r e n - - b y 1 98 6.A s G a r c i a ( 1 98 5 ) st a te s : i n tw e l v e y e a r s m o r e t h a nt h r e e t h o u s a n d I n d i a n s d i s a p p e a r e d , k i l l e d b y e p i -d e m i c s o f m e a s l e s o r b y t h e b u l l e t s o f a d v e n t u r e r s ,h u n t e r s , a n d t h e g u n s l i n g e r s h i r e d b y la r g e l a n d -h o l d e r s , w i t h t h e c l e a r s u p p o r t o f f e d e r a l a n d s t a t e a u -t h o r i t ie s . T h e s e e v e n t s a r e n o t a c a d e m i c fa c t s f r o m ad i s t a n t h i s t o r i c a l p e r i o d ; t h e y h a v e o c c u r r e d a m e r e2 0 0 k m f r o m M a n a u s o v e r a p e r i o d t h a t m o s t o f th ec it y's a d u l t p o p u l a t i o n c a n r e m e m b e r .

T h e W a i m i r i - A t r o a r i t r i b e ' s r e s e r v e h a s b e e n d e -c r e a s e d w h e n e v e r t hi s p r o v e d c o n v e n i e n t . T h e r e s e rv ew a s c r e a t e d b y D e c r e e s 6 9 . 9 0 7 / 7 1 , 7 4 . 4 6 3 / 7 4 , a n d75 . 310/75 ( o f 1971 , 1974 , an d 1975) . I n 1981 P r es i -d e n t F i g u e i r e d o r e v o k e d t h e s e t h r o u g h p r o c e s sB S B / 2 2 7 85 / 8 1 w h e n h e s i g n e d d e c r e e 8 6 .9 0 7 /8 1 . T h i sa b o l i s h e d t h e r e s e r v e , t r a n s f o r m i n g i t i n t o a m e r e

t e m p o r a r i l y i n te r d i c t e d a r e a f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f at -t r a c t i o n a n d p a c i f i c a ti o n o f t h e W a i m i r i - A t r o a r i I n -d i a ns [ B ra z il F U N A I / E l e t r o n o r t e n d ( 1 98 7 ), p. 1 5 ] . I nt h i s t ra n s f o r m a t i o n t h e a r e a n o t o n l y lo s t s o m e o f i tsl e g a l p r o t e c t i o n b u t a l s o d e c r e a s e d b y 5 2 6 , 0 0 0 h a ,w h i c h w a s g i v e n t o T i m b 6 M i n e r a d o r a L t d a - - a s u b -s i d i a ry o f P a r a p a n e m a , t h e f i r m t h a t is m i n i n g c a ss i-t e r i t e a t P i ti n g a i n t h e u p p e r r e a c h e s o f t h e B a l b i n ac a t c h m e n t . E l e t r o n o r t e f u n d s a r e h e l p i n g s p e e d t h ed e m a r c a t i o n o f t h e r e s e r v e b y s u r v e y i n g a n d m a r k i n gi ts b o r d e r s o n t h e g r o u n d .

T h e k e y e v e n t i n t r a n s f o r m i n g B a l b i n a f r o m as h e a f o f p a p e r s i n t o a 2 3 6 0 - k m 2 re a l it y o f b l e a c h e dt r e e t r u n k s a n d f o u l -s m e l li n g w a t e r w as t h e B r a z i l i a n -F r e n c h a c c o r d s i g n e d b y B r a z i l i a n P r e s i d e n t E r n e s t oG e i s e l a n d F r e n c h P r e s i d e n t V a l e r y G i s g a r d D ' l ~ s t a n gd u r i n g a 1 9 7 8 v i si t t o B r a si li a . T h e F r e n c h w e r es h a r p l y a tt a c k e d b y A m e r i n d i a n r ig h t s g r o u p s f o rh a v i n g s i g n e d a n a g r e e m e n t t h a t w o u l d f l o o d t r i b a ll a nd s ; t h e F r e n c h r e s p o n d e d t h e t h e B r a z i li a n g o v e r n -m e n t h a d a s s u r e d t h e m t h a t t h e r e w e r e n o A m e r i n -d i a n s i n t h e a r e a A F olha de Sg~oPaulo 1978) . I n f or m a-t i o n o n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f t h e W a i m i r i - A t r o a r i w a s n o td i f f i c u l t t o o b t a i n a t t h e t i m e .

B e c a u s e o f t h e i m p a c t o n t h e W a i m i r i- A t r o a ri i m -p l i e d b y th e p l a n s f o r B a l b i n a , F r a n c e a n d B r a z il w e r ea c c u s e d o f g e n o c i d e a t t h e F o u r t h B e r t r a n d R u s s e l lT r i b u n a l i n R o t t e r d a m i n N o v e m b e r 1 9 8 0 . S e v e r e a s


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4 2 P.M. Feamside

t h e i m p a c t s o f t h e r e s e r v o i r m a y b e , t h e s t r e n g t h o ft h e c h a r g e s w a s p r o b a b l y c o l o r e d b y t h e e v e n t s a s s o -c ia ted w i th ( Br az i l i an ) r o ad - b u i ld in g ac t iv i t i e s in th et r ib e ' s t e r r i t o r y p r i o r t o t h e f i rs t p r e p a r a t i o n s f o r B a l -b i n d, e s p e c i a ll y 1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 5 . E l e t r o n o r t e o f f ic i a ls a r eq u i c k t o p o i n t o u t t h e u n f a i r n e s s o f c r it i c iz i n g B a l b i n af o r f l o o d i n g a s m a l l p a r t o f t h e t r i b e ' s t e r r i t o r y w h e nn o t h i n g i s s a id a b o u t m o s t o f t h e g r o u p h a v i n g b e e nk i l l ed o n ly a f ew k i lo mete r s aw ay ( A d e l in o Sa th le rF i lh o , p e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 98 7) . H o w e v e r , t h isb a c k g r o u n d d o e s n o t a l t e r t h e f a c t t h a t B a l b i n a w i l lh a v e a n e g a t i v e i m p a c t o n t h e s u r v i v i n g W a i m i r i -A t r o a r i . I n t e r n a t i o n a l s o u r c e s p r o v i d i n g t h e d a m ' s f i -n a n c i n g h a v e a p p a r e n t l y n o t c o n s i d e r e d t h i s i m p a c t .I n t h e c a s e o f t h e W o r l d B a n k , d e c l a r e d p o l i c i e s r e -q u i r e t h a t h e a v y c o n s i d e r a t i o n b e g i v e n t o a n y e f f e c t st h a t l o a n s m a y h a v e o n t r i b a l p e o p l e s ( G o o d l a n d1982).

The Economic Fo l l yConstruction CostsT h e c o st o f b u i ld i n g t h e d a m h a s a p p r o x i m a t e l y

d o u b l e d s i n c e t h e i n i t i a l e s t i m a t e o f U S 3 8 3 m i l l i o n( Br az i l E le t r o n o r te /Mo n asa /En g e- Rio 1 9 7 6 , p . A - 2 4 ) .E l e t r o n o r t e a d m i t s t o a c o st o f U S 7 5 0 m i l li o n , e x c l u -s i ve o f t h e t r a n s m i s s i o n l i n e . T h e c o n s t r u c t i o n c o s t o fB a l b i n a i s U S 3 0 0 0 / k W o f i n s t a l l e d c a p a c i t y , c o m -p a r e d t o U S 6 7 5 / k W a t T u c u r u i ( 4 . 6 t i m e s l e s s t h a nBalb in a ) an d U S 1 2 0 6 /k W a t I t a ip f i ( 2 .6 t imes le s st h a n B a l b i n a ) ( T u c u r u i a n d I t a i p f i c o s t s f r o m V eja1 9 8 7 , p . 3 0 ) . Po w er a t Ba lb in a may ac tu a l ly co s t mo r et h a n d o u b l e t h i s a l r e a d y a s t r o n o m i c a l f i g u r e s i n c e t h ec a l c u l a t i o n a s s u m e s t h a t 2 5 0 M W w i l l b e g e n e r a t e dr a t h e r t h a n t h e a v e r a g e p o w e r o f o nl y 1 0 9 .4 M W t o b ed e l i v e r e d t o M a n a u s . A l s o n o t i n c l u d e d i n t h e c a lc u la -t i o n s a r e m a i n t e n a n c e c o s ts , r e p l a c e m e n t o f p a r t s, a n dd e p r e c i a t i o n o f t h e d a m a s a w h o l e o v e r it s e x p e c t e du s e f u l l if e . I n t e r e s t p a i d o n t h e d e b t a s s u m e d t o b u i l dt h e d a m i s a l so n o t i n c l u d e d .

The Brazilian French AccordT h e B r a z i l i a n - F r e n c h a c c o r d p r o v i d e s f o r t e c h -

n ica l a s s i s tan ce an d a sp ec ia l c r ed i t l in e f o r p u r ch as in gt h e t u r b i ne s f r o m F r a n c e . T h e f i rs t t u r b i n e w a s m a d ei n F r a n c e b y N e y r p i c , a c o m p a n y b e l o n g i n g t o t h eC r e u s o t L o i r e G r o u p ; t h e o t h e r f o u r t u r b i n e s a r eb e i n g m a d e i n T a u b a t ~ ( i n t h e s t a t e o f S f t o P a u l o ) b yMecf in ica Pesad a , a Br az i l i an su b s id ia r y o f th e sameC r e u s o t L o i r e G r o u p .T h e t e m p t a t i o n t o o r d e r m o r e t u r b i n e s a n d g e n e r -a t o r s t h a n n e c e s s a r y i s g r e a t w h e n p u r c h a s e f i g r e e -

m e n t s f o r t h e s e f o r m p a r t o f a g e n e r o u s f i n a n c i n gp a c k a g e : P a u l o M a l u f , f o r m e r g o v e r n o r o f S ~ o P a u l o ,p r o v o k e d a m a j o r f i n a n c i a l s c a n d a l w h e n i t w a s d is c ov -e r e d t h a t m o r e t u r b i n e s h a d b e e n p u r c h a s e d t h a nn e e d e d f o r t h e T r ~ s I r m ~ o s D a m Is to E 1 9 8 6 ) . Th eT r ~ s I r m ~ o s t u r b i n e s c a m e f r o m t h e s a m e F r e n c h f a c -t o r y t h a t s u p p l i e d B a l b i n a ' s i m p o r t e d t u r b i n e . A l -t h o u g h f i ve 5 0 - M W t u r b i n e s o n a r i v e r a s sm a l l as t h eU a t u m ~ is c o n s i d e r e d s u p e r m o t o r i z e d b y E l e t r o n o rt e ,o f f ic ia l s in s is t th a t i t i s w i th in th e n o r m al r an g e . Tw oj u s t i fi c a t i o n s a r e c i t ed : ( 1 ) t h e f a c t t h a t p o w e r d e m a n di n M a n a u s s o g r e a tl y e x c e e d s t h e d a m ' s g e n e r a t i n g c a-p a c i t y t h a t a l l p o w e r c a n b e s o l d ( m o s t d a m s p a s s w a t e ro v e r t h e i r s p il lw a ys d u r i n g f l o o d s e a s o n b e c a u s e e x t r ap o w e r i s n o t n e e d e d ) , a n d ( 2 ) t h e l a c k o f a r e g i o n a ln e t w o r k t o c o v e r d e m a n d d u r i n g p e r i od s w h e n o n e o ft h e t u r b i n e s i s u n d e r r e p a i r . R a t h e r t h a n 1 0 % e x c e s sin s ta l l ed cap ac i ty , th e Br az i l i an n o r m in a r eg io n a lg r id , a f u l l sp a r e tu r b in e i s p lan n ed f o r Ba lb in a ( i . e . ,2 0 % e x c e s s c a p a c i t y ) . E l e t r o n o r t e ' s p r o j e c t i o n o f e n -e r g y p r o d u c t i o n i n d i c a t e s t h a t a l l f i v e t u r b i n e s w o u l do p e r a t e f o r , a t m o st , o n e m o n t h p e r y e a r, a n d t h e d a mc o u l d o p e r a t e w i t h f o u r t u r b i n e s f o r o n l y o n e a d d i -t i o n a l m o n t h d u r i n g t h e f l o o d s e a s o n ( B r a z i l E l e t r o -n o r te 1 9 8 7 b ) .

Costs of the Rush to Fill the ReservoirT h e m o s t e v i d e n t w a s t e f r o m E l e t r o n o r t e ' s h a s t e t o

f i l l th e r ese r v o i r i s lo s s o f f o r es t p r o d u c ts , e sp ec ia l lyt i m b e r . T h e p o t e n t i a l v a l u e o f f o r e s t s a c r i f i c e d i s n o ti n c l u d e d i n c a l c u l a ti o n s o f t h e r e s e r v o ir ' s co s t a n d h a sb een a f o cu s o f p u b l ic a t t en t io n ( e . g . , A C r l t i ca 1984,1 98 5c ). A t i m b e r s u r v e y b y I N P A r e v e a l e d 2 8 . 8 m 3 o fv a l u a b l e w o o d p e r h e c t a r e ( H i g u c h i 1 9 8 3 , p . 2 0 ) , o ra p p r o x i m a t e l y 6 . 8 m i l li o n m 3 i n t h e 2 3 6 0 - k m z r e s e r -v o i r a re a . A s u r v e y b y a c o n s u l t i n g f i r m c o n c l u d e d t h a tw o o d v o l u m e o f a l l s p e c i e s a v e r a g e d 1 6 1 m 3 / h a f o rt r e e s o v e r 1 0 c m d i a m e t e r a t b r e a s t h e i g h t ( d b h ) a n d5 8 m 3 / ha f o r t r e e s o v e r 5 0 c m d b h ( J a a k o P 6 y r y E n -g e n h a r i a 1 9 8 3, p . 50 ). T h i s r e p o r t e d l y w a s r e g a r d e d a si n s u f f i c i e n t a n d d i s c o u r a g e d l o g g i n g e f f o r t s Vis to1 9 86 ) . T h e s h o r t n o t i c e g i v e n t o p o t e n t i a l l o g g i n g c o n -t r a c t o r s a ls o m a d e a n y s e r i o u s c o m m e r c i a l e x p l o i ta t i o nu n l ik e ly : lo g g in g f i r ms h ad le s s th an tw o y ear s b e -t w e e n t h e d a t e t h a t b i d s w e r e s o l i c it e d a n d t h e o r i g i n a ld a t e s e t f o r c lo s i n g th e d a m .

T h e i n a b i l i t y o f E l e t r o n o r t e t o i n t e r e s t c o m m e r c i a ll o g g i n g f i r m s i n e x p l o i t i n g t h e r e s e r v o i r a r e a r e p r e -sen ts an em b ar r as s me n t g iv en th e h ig h v i sibi li ty o f th el os s i nv o l v e d . T h e p r e s i d e n t o f E l e t r o n o r t e e m p h a s i z e st h a t t h e f l o o d e d t i m b e r i s n o t l o s t , s u g g e s t i n g t h a td u r i n g t h e l o w - w a t e r p e r i o d l o g g e r s c a n c u t t h e t r e e so n t h e e x p o s e d g r o u n d a n d r e t u r n b y b o a t t o to w lo g s


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a w a y d u r i n g t h e h i g h - w a t e r p e r i o d ( L o p e s 1 9 8 6 ) . A tT u c u r u f s o m e l o g g e rs h a v e d o n e c u t t in g f o r v a l u a bl es p e c i e s u s i n g d i v e r s w i t h a s p e c i a l u n d e r w a t e rc h a i n sa w ; t h e c o st s a r e m u c h l o w e r t h a n f o r t r a d i t io n a ld r y - l a n d l o g g i n g b e c a u s e o f t h e e a s e o f t o w i n g a w a yth e cu t lo g s . O f f ic ia l s a t Ba lb in a say th a t lo g g er s co u ldc u t d e a d t r e e s s t a n d i n g i n t h e s h a l l o w w a t e r . T h ed a n g e r i s g r e a t f o r t h e p e r s o n s a w i n g t h e t r e e s , h o w -e v e r . W h e n t r e e s d i e s t a n d i n g i n p a s t u r e s i n A m a -z o n ia , t h e y a r e l e f t u n t o u c h e d b e c a u s e d e a d b r a n c h e sa r e l i ke l y t o f a l l o n a n y o n e w h o s a w s t h e t r u n k b e l o w .

N o n t i m b e r f o r e s t p r o d u c t s a r e a l s o l o s t . R u b b e ra n d r o s e w o o d w e r e b e i n g e x p l o i t e d u p t o t h e l a s tm o n t h s b e f o r e f i l l i n g B a l b i n a . T h e p o t e n t i a l l y m o s tv a l u a b l e p r o d u c t s o f t h e f o r e s t i n A m a z o n i a h a v eb a r e l y b e g u n t o b e i d e n t i f i e d , e s p e c i a l l y p h a r m a c e u -t i ca l c o m p o u n d s ( M y e r s 1 9 7 6) .

T h e o r d e r i n w h i c h t h e v a r io u s s e g m e n ts o f t h ep r o j e c t w e r e c o n s t r u c t e d c o u l d h a v e b e e n c h a n g e dw i t h p o s s i b l e e n v i r o n m e n t a l b e n e f i t s a n d f i n a n c i a lsav in g s . Th e t r an smiss io n l in e w as th e la s t i t em b u i l t ,w h e r e a s i f t h is h a d b e e n t h e f i r s t i t e m , t h e r m o e l e c t r i cp l a n t s a t t h e d a m s i te c o u l d h a v e u s e d t h e w o o d i n t h ef u t u r e r e s e r v o i r a r e a a n d t r a n s m i t te d t h e e n e r g y t oM a n a u s . A b o v e g r o u n d b i o m a s s d r y w e i g h t e s ti m a t e da s a w e i g h t e d a v e r a g e o v e r f o r e s t t y p e s i n t h e a r e a i s4 0 0 met r ic to n s /h a ( Car d en as 1 9 8 6 b , p . 2 7 ) . Co n s id -e r i n g t h e p e r c e n t a g e o f t h e t o t a l r e p r e s e n t e d b yt r u n k s in th e sam p le p lo t s ( Car d en as 1 9 8 6 b , p . 1 6 ), th ed r y w e i g h t o f t r u n k s w o u l d a v e r a g e 2 6 7 m e t r i c t o n s /h a , o r 6 3 m i l l i o n m e t r i c t o n s i n t h e 2 3 6 0 - k m 2 s u b m e r -g e n c e a r e a . P l a n s f o r w o o d - b u r n i n g p o w e r p l a n ts t o b ein s ta l l ed in smal l c i t ie s in th e s ta te o f A m azo n as h a v ec o n s i d e r e d w o o d t o c o n t a i n a n a v e r a g e o f 2 5 0 0 k c al / k ga n d p o w e r g e n e r a t i o n t o r e q u i r e 4 0 0 0 k c a l / k W h o fe l e c t ri c i ty ( B r a zi l C E L E T R A 1 9 84 ). T h e t r u n k s o ft r e e s t o b e f l o o d e d a t B a l b i n a a r e t h e r e f o r e e q u i v a l e n tt o a p p r o x i m a t e l y 3 9 . 4 g i g a w a t t - h o u r s ( G W h ) o f e l e c -t r i c i t y . T o g e n e r a t e t h i s f r o m p e t r o l e u m w i t h t h e m i xo f d i e s e l a n d f u e l o i l u s e d i n M a n a u s w o u l d r e q u i r et h e e q u i v a l e n t o f o v e r 1 6 1 , 0 0 0 b a r r e l s o f c r u d e o i l( ca lcu la ted f r o m Br az i l E le t r o n o r te 1 9 8 5 c , p . 1 9 ) ,w o r t h U S 3. 2 m i l l i o n a t t h e p r e s e n t l o w p r i c e o fU S 2 0 / b a r r e l .

D e s p i t e t h e n o n c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s o f u s i n g f i r e w o o din s tead o f o i l a t cu r r en t lo w o i l p r ices , i t sh o u ld b e r e -m e m b e r e d t h a t o i l r e p r e s e n t s a p h y s i c a l r e s o u r c e , n o tm e r e l y a g i v e n a m o u n t o f m o n e y . B y t h r o w i n g a w a yt h e f o r e s t t h a t c o u l d h a v e b e e n u s e d f o r p o w e r g e n e r -a t i o n i n s t e a d o f o i l t o d a y , o n e i s a l s o t h r o w i n g a w a yt h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o k e e p t h a t a m o u n t o f o i l i n t h eg r o u n d u n t i l t h e t i m e w h e n p e t r o l e u m i s i n s h o r ts u p p l y a n d , c o n s e q u e n t l y , i t s p r i c e i s m u c h h i g h e r .

U s i n g t h e f o r e s t i n t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a s a l s o w o u l dh a v e r e d u c e d t h e w a t e r q u a l i t y p r o b l e m s c a u s e d b yr o t t i n g v e g e t a t i o n i n t h e i m p o u n d m e n t . A n y p l a n t oc o n v e r t f o r e s t b i o m a s s i n f u t u r e r e s e r v o i r s t o t h e r m o -e l e c t r i c p o w e r s h o u l d b e a c c o m p a n i e d b y s t r i c t r e -q u i r e m e n t s t h a t t h e p o w e r p l a n ts b e m o v e d e l s e w h e r eo n c e t h e s u b m e r g e n c e a r e a s h a v e b e e n h a r v e s t e d , l e s tt h e p l a n t s c o n t r i b u t e t o d e f o r e s t a t i o n b e y o n d t h e l i m i tso f t h e r e s e r vo i r s .

Alternatives to BalbinaB a l b i n a i s p a r ti c u l a r l y u n f o r t u n a t e b e c a u s e i t is u n -

n e c e s s a r y . T h e d a m i s e x p e c t e d t o p r o d u c e f i r mp o w e r t h a t c o u l d b e c o u n t e d o n f o r o n l y a b o u t o n et h i r d o f th e 2 1 8 - M W l e v e l o f p o w e r d e m a n d o fM a n a u s ( B r a z il E l e t r o n o r t e 1 9 8 7b ) ; t h e a v e r a g e p o w e rd e l i v e r e d i n M a n a u s ( 1 0 9 . 4 M W a f t e r 2 . 5 % t r a n s m i s -s i on lo ss ) w o u l d b e h a l f t h e 1 9 8 7 d e m a n d . I n r e l a t i o nt o t h e a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 3 0 M W a c t u a l l y c o n s u m e d i n1 9 8 7 , i t r e p r e s e n t s 8 4 % . T h e d a m w i l l n e v e r s u p p l yt h is p e r c e n t a g e ( 50 % ) o f t h e M a n a u s d e m a n d .

T h e p e r c e n t a g e o f p o w e r c o n s u m e d i n M a n a u ss u p p l i e d b y B a l b i n a w i l l s h r i n k w i t h e a c h s u c c e e d i n gy e a r a s t h e c i t y c o n t i n u e s t o g r o w : B a l b i n a ' s a v e r a g eo u t p u t ( a t t h e 5 0 - m l e v e l) d e l i v e r e d t o M a n a u s w il l b eo n l y 2 6 % o f th e 4 2 0 - M W a n n u a l p o w e r d e m a n d t h a tE l e t r o n o r t e p r o j e c t s f o r t h e c i t y i n 1 9 96 w h e n a n o t h e rd a m , t o b e b u i l t 5 0 0 k m f r o m M a n a u s a t C a c h o e i r aP o r t e i ra o n t h e T r o m b e t a s R i v er , is e x p e c t e d t o m a k eu p th e c i ty ' s p o w er d e f ic i t ( Br az i l E le t r o n o r te 1 9 8 7 b ) .C a c h o e i r a P o r t e i r a i s t o h a v e 1 4 2 0 M W o f i n s ta l l e d ca -p a c i t y a n d p r o d u c e a n a v e r a g e o f 7 6 0 M W ( B r a zi l E l e -t r o n o r t e 1 9 85 b ), o r a b o u t s e v e n t i m e s t h a t o f B a l bi n a .R a t h e r t h a n b u i l d i n g b o t h d a m s , o n l y o n e d a m ( C a -c h o e i r a P o r t ei r a ) c o u ld h a v e b e e n b u i l t - - w i t h h a l f t h ec o s t a n d h a l f t h e i m p a c t .

T h e f u t i l i t y o f B a l b i n a b e c o m e s e v e n m o r e a p -p a r e n t w h e n o n e c o n s i d e r s t h a t n a t u r a l g a s 5 0 0 k mf r o m M a n a u s i n t h e J u r u ~ R i v e r b a s i n c o u l d s u p p l yM a n a u s w i t h p o w e r . T h i s i s p r o p o s e d a s a n a l t e r n a t i v et o B a l b i n a b y B r a z i l ' s l e a d i n g e x p e r t o n e n e r g ym a t t e r s , J o s 6 G o l d e m b e r g ( 1 9 8 4 , M e l c h i a de s F i l h o1 9 8 7 ). Rec en t d i sco v e r y o f o i l an d g as a t U r u cf i ,n e a r e r M a n a u s , c o u l d a l s o s u p p l y t h e c i t y w i t h p o w e rw i t h o u t B a l b i n a ( F a l c ~ o F i l h o 1 9 8 7 ) . T h e m a g n i t u d eo f t h e Ju r u ~ i g as d e p o s i t s o n l y b e c a m e a p p a r e n t w h i l eB a l b i n a w a s u n d e r c o n s t r u c t i o n . E v e n s o , B a l b i n a ' sc o n s t r u c t i o n c o u l d h a v e b e e n s t o p p e d y e a r s b e f o r ec o m p l e t i o n , s a v i n g s e v e r a l h u n d r e d m i l l i o n d o l l a r st h a t w o u l d b e b e t t e r s p e n t o n t r a n s m i t t i n g e n e r g yf r o m J u ru g t . P r e l i m i n a r y s t u di e s h a v e e v e n b e e n m a d ef o r t r an s m i s si o n o f p o w e r f r o m J u r u ~ t o t h e G r a n d eC a r a j~ s a r e a i n e a s t e r n A m a z o n i a , w h e r e i t w o u l d b e


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4 1 4 P M Fea rnside

u s e d i n p i g - i r o n s m e l t i n g . T h e d i s t a n c e t r a v e r s e d i ns u c h a s c h e m e w o u l d b e m u c h g r e a t e r t h a n f r o mJ u r m i t o M a n a u s . T h e 5 0 0 k m d i s t a n c e f r o m M a n a u st o t h e J u r u ~ g a s fi e l ds is a b o u t t h e s a m e a s t h e d i s t a nc ef r o m M a n a u s t o C a c h o e i r a P o r t e i r a , a l t h o u g h t r a n s -m i s s i o n f r o m J ur u ~ t w o u l d r e q u i r e t h e a d d i t i o n a l e x -p e n s e o f c r o s s i n g e i t h e r t h e A m a z o n a s ( L o w e r A m -a z o n ) o r b o t h t h e S o l i m 6 e s ( U p p e r A m a z o n ) a n d t h eR i o N e g r o . B u i l d i n g a d a m i s a l so e x p e n s i v e , h o w e v e r .G a s p i p e l i n e r o u t e s h a v e a l s o b e e n p r o p o s e d f r o mJ u r m i ( B r a zi l C E A M 1 9 85 ) o r f r o m U r u c f i ( B r a z il E l e -t r o n o r t e 1 9 86 c , p . A m a z o n a s - 6 ). T h e p r e s i d e n t o f E l e -t r o n o r t e h a s r e p o r t e d l y s t a te d t h a t i t w as a d e c i s io n o ft h e p o p u l a t i o n o f M a n a u s t o b u i ld B a l bi n a r a t h e r t h a nu s e g a s o r b u i l d t r a n s m i s s i o n l in e s a n d t h a t g e n e r a t i n gf r o m g a s a n d b u i l d i n g t r a n s m i s s i o n a r e t e c h n o l o g ic a l l yf e a s ib l e (L o p e s 1 9 86 ) . N o p u b l i c d e b a t e o n e n e r g y o p -t io n s w as h e ld , h o w ev er , s in ce Ba lb in a w as b eg u n a t at ime w h en Br az i l ' s mi l i t a r y r eg ime l imi ted su ch d i scu s -s i on s ( s ee B r a z i l I N P A , N f i c l e o d e D i f u s~ o d e T e c n o -logia 1986) .

T r a n s m i s s i o n f r o m m a j o r h y d r o e l e c t r ic g e n e r a ti n ga r e a s i n t h e T o c a n t i n s , X i n g f i , a n d T a p a j 6 s R i v e rb as in s i s a l so p o ssib le . Th es e la r g e t r ib u ta r ies f l o w in tot h e A m a z o n R i v e r f r o m t h e s o u t h , d e s c e n d i n g f r o mB r a z i l ' s c e n t r a l p l a t e a u . T h e i r p o w e r - g e n e r a t i n g p o -t e n t i a l i s e n o r m

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