Work on Belo Monte Dam halted from ruling by Brazilian Judge

BBC – Brazil Judge Halts Work on Belo Monte Amazon Dam

Reported on BBC news yesterday (thurs) this is big news for the Belo Monte Dam story: A high court judge has ruled that construction of the Dam to be halted with immediate effect, in order to stop any interference of the flow of the Xingu river, one of the Amazon’s main tributaries. This is great news for the campaign, although the fight is far from over.

According to Ruy Sporsati from Amazonwatch / Xingu Vivo Para Sempre, this is a small step and the type of decision that a large consortium like Norte Energia can easily bypass over time. At present they are only building the workers quarters which is fairly far away from the river, a site which I visited with Ruy back in April when construction had already begun, this was before the full licence was granted on 1st June. This is an important day for the campaign, and has brought it back into the International public eye with some much-needed press, but in essence it’s business as usual for Norte Energia, at least for now.

Below: Workers surveying the site of the banks of the Xingu for the density of the land. Building Belo Monte will need more earth to be moved than was excavated to make the entire Panama Canal.