[French at the end] Hello everyone concerned with our recent Conference, [Anglais/Francais] For more info, please contact: Tom Holzinger t.holzinger@netaxis.qc.ca tel/fax 514-271-0564 * * * * * MONTRÉAL DECLARATION ON ELECTRICITY Montréal, 16 November 1997 We believe that the production and consumption of energy are fundamentally linked to both human welfare and the health and sustainability of the natural world in which we live. We believe that human activity in the electricity sector should be governed by the principles of environmental sustainability and social justice and respect for the rights of all peoples, including indigenous peoples, to the continued use of their natural heritage. We believe that it is now necessary to take immediate steps to set our societies on such a course. Based on our deliberations here in Montréal on 15-16 November 1997, at a meeting of representatives and persons from many diverse communities in Québec and Canada and the United States, including indigenous communities, we unite in making the following declaration: - We are all responsible for the well-being of the earth, the air and the water that we share with the plant and animal species, and for the climate and air quality upon which we all depend. - Our economic system includes the production and consumption of energy. We share the responsibility for bringing it into accord with our long-term goals of sustainability and social and intergenerational equity. Energy infrastructure is a public good and must be democratically managed in the public interest of each society or nation. - The priority in the North American electricity sector must be the conservation of energy: elimination of waste, reductions in use, and conversions to more efficient and benign technologies. - If new generating capacity is required for domestic energy needs, it should not damage the environment or the welfare of the human communities affected. Free-flowing rivers, rapids and falls should remain free-flowing. Any exception would require a prior open public debate. Heavily polluting generation should be replaced with clean alternatives and nuclear power should be phased out and replaced with efficiency measures and renewable sources. Electricity exports should be generated from conservation and efficency programs. The import of coal, oil or nuclear power should be limited in Quebec. - Economic policies should as a priority encourage investment in energy conservation and energy efficiency, followed by renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. - New investments in the electricity sector should also lead to socially equitable results, including the creation of long-term employment and accessibility and affordability for residential and agricultural consumers. - Democratic and transparent oversight of the energy sector is essential in order to protect the interests of all social sectors, future generations and the environment. The present parties urge all governments and electricity providers to adopt the principles enunciated above. It is only by encouraging energy sustainability in each of our societies together with the protection of our natural heritage that we will secure our common future. — Declaration of the conference "Electricity at the Crossroads", November 15 and 16, 1997, at UQAM, Montréal, Québec * * * * * DÉCLARATION DE MONTRÉAL SUR L'ÉLECTRICITÉ Montréal, le 16 novembre 1997 Nous croyons que la production et la consommation d'énergie électrique sont fondamentalement liées au bien-être de l'humanité ainsi qu'à la santé et à la conservation des milieux naturels dans lesquels nous vivons. Nous croyons que les principes de pérennité environnementale, d'équité sociale, ainsi que le respect des droits de tous les peuples, y compris ceux des autochtones, à leur patrimoine naturel, doivent régir l'activité humaine dans le domaine de l'énergie électrique. Finalement, nous croyons qu'il est aujourd'hui nécessaire de prendre des mesures immédiates afin d'orienter nos sociétés dans cette direction. Suite aux délibérations issues d'une assemblée les 15 et 16 novembre 1997 à Montréal, réunissant les représentants et membres de diverses communautés du Québec, du Canada et des États-Unis, dont certaines communautés autochtones, nous nous unissons aujourd'hui pour faire la déclaration suivante : - Nous sommes tous responsables de la conservation et de la protection de la Terre, de l'air et de l'eau que nous partageons avec les plantes et les animaux, ainsi que de la préservation du climat et de la qualité de l'air dont nous dépendons tous. - La production et la consommation d'énergie forment une composante essentielle de notre système économique. Nous partageons la responsabilité d'adapter ce système à nos objectifs à long terme, qui sont la pérennité environnementale, de même que l'équité sociale et intergénérationnelle. L'infrastructure de l'énergie est un bien public et doit être géré démocratiquement dans l'intérêt public propre à chaque société ou nation. - La priorité dans le secteur de l'énergie électrique nord-américain est la conservation de l'énergie : l'élimination du gaspillage, les économies d'énergie et la conversion vers des technologies efficaces et peu destructives pour l'environnement. - Si les besoins domestiques nationaux requièrent la construction de nouvelles capacités de production, la protection de l'environnement et le bien-être des communautés humaines concernées doivent être assurées. Les rivières, rapides et chutes vierges doivent le demeurer; toute exception exige un débat public préalable. Les alternatives propres doivent remplacer graduellement la génération d'électricité très polluante, et les installations nucléaires doivent être éliminées pour y substituer l'efficacité énergétique et les nouvelles formes d'énergie renouvelable. Les exportations d'électricité doivent être générées par des mesures de conservation et des programmes d'efficacité énergétique. Les importations d'électricité produite par les centrales thermiques au mazout et au charbon, de même que par les centrales nucléaires doivent, quant à elles, être limitées au Québec. - Les politiques économiques doivent encourager prioritairement les investissements dans la conservation et l'efficacité énergétique, de même que, par la suite, les nouvelles sources d'énergie renouvelable telles que l'éolien et le solaire. - Les nouveaux investissements dans le secteur de l'électricité doivent mener à des résultats socialement équitables et privilégier la création d'emplois à long terme. L'électricité doit être accessible à des coûts abordables pour tous les consommateurs résidentiels et agricoles. - Une supervision transparente et démocratique du secteur énergétique est essentielle à la protection des intérêts de tous les secteurs sociaux, de même que des intérêts des générations à venir et de l'environnement. Les parties concernées demandent donc à tous les gouvernements et à toutes les entreprises d'électricité d'adopter les principes énoncés ci-haut. Ce n'est qu'en favorisant la pérennité de notre patrimoine naturel et un mode de développement énergétique soutenable dans chacune de nos sociétés que nous pourrons assurer notre avenir commun. — Déclaration de la conférence « L'électricité à la croisée des chemins », les 15 et 16 novembre 1997, à l'UQAM, Montréal, Québec * * * * * From owner-irn-narmada@igc.org Thu Apr 30 11:02:11 1998 Return-Path: Received: from igc7.igc.org (igc7.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.35]) by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id LAA16911 for ; Thu, 30 Apr 1998 11:02:09 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by igc7.igc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id SAA29562; Wed, 29 Apr 1998 18:34:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mxrelay.lanminds.com (root@mxrelay.lanminds.com [208.1.127.6]) by igc7.igc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA21891 for ; Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:57:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [208.25.72.78] (irn13.there.net [208.25.72.78]) by mxrelay.lanminds.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id RAA28244 for ; Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:54:57 -0700 (PDT) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 18:05:11 -0800 From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk Sender: owner-irn-narmada@igc.org Subject: MAHESHWAR DECLARATION: ENDORSEMENTS NEEDED To: irn-narmada@igc.apc.org X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by igc7.igc.org id RAA21893 X-Sender: patrick@pop.igc.org Status: OR PLEASE ENDORSE THIS DECLARATION! International Rivers Network and Narmada Bachao Andolan/Save the Narmada Movement have prepared the following declaration on Maheshwar Dam. The declaration will be addressed to all Indian and foreign public and private sector bodies supporting the project. We are seeking endorsements to the declaration from groups in India and around the world. If you are able to add your endorsement please send us your name and institutional affiliation by Thursday, May 7. Please reply to patrick@irn.org. The NBA is currently working on raising awareness and support within India for the Maheshwar struggle and are planning their next mass action at the dam site. THANK YOU! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF THE STRUGGLE FOR THE PROMISED SUSPENSION OF CONSTRUCTION ON THE MAHESHWAR DAM, MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA NOTING THAT: 1. Maheshwar Dam would submerge 5000 hectares of land, displacing 2200 families and harming the livelihoods of thousands more. Families whose land has been seized have received inadequate - and illegal - levels of compensation. No resettlement plan exists. Local people have opposed the seizure of their land and have requested the Narmada Bachao Andolan/Save the Narmada Movement (NBA) to join them in their struggle to defend their rights. 2. Following a year-long struggle, the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) on January 30, 1998, issued a written order announcing that it would suspend construction on the dam pending a comprehensive review of its costs, benefits and alternatives. This announcement met the demands of the NBA who called off a dam-site occupation by thousands of local people and a hunger strike. A Task Force previously established to review the Narmada Valley Development Project, and including representatives from the GoMP, NBA and academia, has been directed to carry out this review. 3. At a special meeting of the Task Force on March, 4, 1998, the project developer, S.Kumars, urged to be allowed to restart construction at Maheshwar for "safety purposes". The NBA opposed this request believing that it is a ruse to allow work to continue and thus reassure investors that the project will not be significantly delayed. However on March, 11, 1998, GoMP issued a notification allowing "any work for the purposes of safety and resettlement". 4. In early April, S.Kumars restarted work, including blasting, at Maheshwar under protection of a force of around 1500 police and prohibitory orders banning protestors from the dam site. On April 22, several thousand people recaptured the dam site. Police arrested hundreds of villagers and prevented drinking water tankers from reaching the protestors despite the 42 degree centigrade heat and lack of shelter, forcing people to drink oil-contaminated river water. In the evening police arrested those remaining at the site, bringing the total of the day's arrests to around 1200. 5. The following day, hundreds more people dodged police barricades and once again took over the site. The police, without warning or provocation, reacted with brutality, repeatedly beating the peaceful protestors with batons and rifle butts, charging them on horseback, and using sexually abusive language against women protestors. Several tear gas shells were fired. By the evening of April 23, around 1500 people were in jail and around 23 in hospital, some with serious injuries. Work is currently continuing under the protection of the prohibitory orders and a massive police presence. 6. The concession to build and operate the 400 megawatt Maheshwar Dam on the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh state in central India has been given to a private company, S.Kumars. Preliminary work on the project began in 1996. The dam is scheduled to be completed in 2002. S.Kumars are receiving numerous public subsidies and guarantees to ensure that private investors will make a profit from Maheshwar while the sizeable financial risks of the project are borne by the public sector. The NBA and independent energy experts have challenged the economic and technical viability of the project, which will be one of the main subjects in the ongoing review. 7. According to an S.Kumars document dated 17 December, 1996, and other sources, financing for the project will come from: a) German bank Bayerische Vereinsbank and probably Export Credit Agency, Hermes-Bürgschaften. b) US energy utility PacifiCorp. A former subsidiary of PacifiCorp, Pacific Generation Co. (PacGen), has worked with S.Kumars on structuring the financing package for Maheshwar and is listed to be one of the largest equity holders in the project. Although PacifiCorp sold PacGen in November 1997 they have retained their interest in Maheshwar. c) Power Finance Corporation, a specialized financial institution wholly owned by the Government of India. PFC funders include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, US Agency for International Development and UK Overseas Development Agency. d) Industrial Finance Corporation of India e) State Bank of India f) Dena Bank 8. Siemens AG and ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. are believed to have signed contracts to supply generating and other equipment for the dam. S.Kumars has requested both companies to buy equity in the project. THEREFORE, THE UNDERSIGNED ORGANIZATIONS Condemn the repression of peaceful protests at Maheshwar Dam and the breaking of the Madhya Pradesh government's written commitment to suspend construction work. Call on the Madhya Pradesh government to cease the repression at Maheshwar and to reinstate their commitment to suspend construction pending the results of the Task Force's review. Call on S.Kumars to immediately cease all work on Maheshwar Dam and to only restart work if the Task Force concludes that the dam should be built and local people agree with this conclusion. Call on Power Finance Corporation, Industrial Finance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Dena Bank and Bayerische Vereinsbank to make public announcements condemning the use of violence against peaceful protestors and guaranteeing that they will only lend to or invest in the Maheshwar Project if the Task Force reaches a consensus that the dam should be built and local people agree with this conclusion. Call on Hermes-Bürgschaften to make a public announcement condemning the use of violence against peaceful protestors and guaranteeing that they will only guarantee loans to the Maheshwar Project if the Task Force reaches a consensus that the dam should be built and local people agree with this conclusion. Call on PacifiCorp to make a public announcement condemning the use of violence against peaceful protestors and stating that they no longer support the project and would only reconsider their involvement if the Task Force reaches a consensus that the dam should be built and local people agree with this conclusion. Call on ABB and Siemens to make a public announcement condemning the use of violence against peaceful protestors and withdrawing their involvement in the project until such a time as the Task Force reaches a consensus that the dam should be built and local people agree with this conclusion. Endorsed by