SANTIAGO, Chile — A $7 billion project to dam two of the world’s wildest rivers for electricity won environmental approval Monday from a Chilean government commission despite a groundswell of opposition.
The commissioners — all political appointees in President Sebastian Piñera’s government — concluded a three-year environmental review by approving five dams on the Baker and Pascua rivers in Aysen, a mostly roadless region of remote southern Patagonia where rainfall is nearly constant and rivers plunge from Andean glaciers to the Pacific Ocean through green valleys and fjords.
Supporters say the economic benefits of the dam project justify carving roads through the heart of Chile’s remaining wilderness and running 1,000 miles of transmission lines to power the capital, Santiago.
