When Hugo Ch谩vez, president of Venezuela, called George W. Bush a 鈥渄evil鈥� at a UN summit last month it was only the latest in a series of provocative statements that has made him one of the White House鈥檚 least favourite foreign leaders. That antipathy may soon be shared by South America鈥檚 environmentalists, who are infuriated by his plans for a giant oil pipeline to unite the continent. The proposal alone will be disastrous, they say.
Last year, Ch谩vez secured the backing of the continent鈥檚 other main leaders to construct the world鈥檚 biggest oil pipeline, 10,000 kilometres long, linking the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, with the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. At an estimated cost of $23 billion, it would pass through Brazil and Uruguay and also connect to Bolivia and Paraguay.
鈥淲e think the proposed pipeline is absolutely insane,鈥� says Cl谩udio Maretti, director of WWF鈥檚 Programme for Protected Areas in the Amazon. 鈥淐ould you imagine the impact that an oil spill might have? The pipeline would open up access to huge parts of the Amazon. That would be very dangerous.鈥�
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Ch谩vez says the pipeline will solve South America鈥檚 growing energy crisis as the Orinoco Oil Belt near El Tigre in Venezuela has the world鈥檚 largest reserves of petroleum 鈥� some 1.3 trillion barrels. But according to Friends of the Earth 45,000 square kilometres of forest will be cleared in the process.
鈥淭he pipeline would pass right through the entire Amazon, and would cause a great deal of environmental damage,鈥� says Roberto Smeraldi, director of FoE Brazil. 鈥淓ven if it鈥檚 not eventually built, the mere proposal could have a big impact.鈥� That was certainly the case with the proposal to pave Amazon highway BR163. Settlers moved near the planned roads and cleared the forest in expectation of supplying the builders.
The objections are not only environmental. 鈥淭he project fosters the idea of a brotherhood of South American countries, but I don鈥檛 think the numbers stack up,鈥� says Juan Tokatlian, professor of international relations at San Andres University in Buenos Aires. 鈥淚t would be cheaper to export the gas by ship.鈥�
A dispute between Bolivia and Brazil over gas has led to a one-year delay in the pipeline鈥檚 feasibility study, which was meant to be completed by August this year.
