Evenkia Dam Project Postponed
Written by Philip Burgess   
Wednesday, 05 May 2010 11:53
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The Moscow Times informed that “RusHydro” will not decide on whether to build a dam in Evenkia this year, the company said Friday, after the project was lambasted at public hearings in Krasnoyarsk. The Energy Ministry has finished work on the 2020 general plan of power generation, which predicts a growth in annual [...]

The Moscow Times informed that “RusHydro” will not decide on whether to build a dam in Evenkia this year, the company said Friday, after the project was lambasted at public hearings in Krasnoyarsk.

The Energy Ministry has finished work on the 2020 general plan of power generation, which predicts a growth in annual power consumption of up to 3.1 percent through 2030, Prime-Tass reported Thursday. A ministry representative said last week that the Evenkia dam was not included in the plan, which is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval this summer.

Removal of the $21 billion Evenkia dam from the government’s official plan would once again put a hold on the controversial project, which met with fierce resistance from local residents and environmentalists.

Regional lawmakers and scientists discussed the dam Wednesday in the Krasnoyarsk legislative assembly, which said RusHydro had not sufficiently researched the consequences of constructing the dam and asked the government to look into alternative energy sources, according to the draft resolution. RusHydro did not attend the hearing.

The Moscow Times

Project of Evenki Hydropower Station in Krasnoyarskiy Krai

The construction would flood about 1 million hectares of the unique deciduous forests and pastures traditionally used by the Evenki reindeer herders and hunters. It would also flood a chamber that contains the radioactive brine left as a result of at least one of the underground nuclear explosions fired in the Lower Tunguska’s floodplain in 1970s.

The hydropower construction can bring to the population of Evenkia: destruction of the key traditional nature use territories; flood of the settlements including Tura, the capital of Evenkia; impossibility of  navigation of the Lower Tunguska, which means a destruction of the transport system; huge influx of strange population that is well-known for its destructive influence on the indigenous peoples’ life.


Posted: 2010-05-05 10:53:09

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Evenkia Dam, Loss of pastures, RusHydro