An article in the New York Times highlights a whole new problem with supposedly clean energy sources like wind and solar: using them for power generation on a large scale will require the construction of massive new electrical transmission infrastructure. Before we get into it, let’s just note a few of the other problems with [...]

An in-depth analysis of the current legal situation faced by the effort to stop I-69 (a Corridor of the Future) has been posted on the web site of Roadblock EF! (read the whole thing here). Highlights include: • 15 activists arrested at a recent lockdown at a Gohmann Asphalt facility in Haubstadt, IN, are facing [...]

Brazil’s environment minister has granted a license for the San Antonio Dam along the Madeira River in the Amazon basin. San Antionio is one of two dams planned for the river. The rights to build it have already been auctioned off to a group led by Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht, and construction is expected to be [...]

On July 31, we posted: “Ten Ecuadorians were arrested while protesting plans for the private Hidrotambo hydroelectric dam along the Dulcepamba river in Chillanes canton, Bolivar province. The arrests came after a six-month land occupation in opposition to the dam. (Got any more info on this? Let us know!)” Happily, we got a response to [...]

Glenn Switkes, Latin America Program Director for International Rivers Network writes in his blog of two new ways that Brazil is flexing its muscle to force through big dam projects. First, the president’s chief-of-staff and presumed future presidential nominee Dilma Rousseff threatened that if the government does not receive favorable terms from companies planning to [...]

If we needed another reminder that the system cannot be reformed, but instead needs to be taken down…. In a post on his blog, Glenn Switkes, the Latin America Program Director for International Rivers Network, looks at Brazil’s current energy infrastructure boom and concludes that becoming part of the government inevitably corrupts even those with [...]

It’s not just Ecuador: communities across the continent are fighting the presence of large-scale mines, and in many cases even turning them back. Starting with a victory: on June 25, the Alexander Gold mining company announced its decision to abandon the $40 million Leon copper mine project in the province of Salta, Argentina, citing uncertainty [...]

As the clock ticks down toward the groundbreaking for the I-69 NAFTA Superhighway, protesters have once again taken direct action to shut down the Gohmann Asphalt facility in Haubstadt, IN! This is the same yard where a lockdown took place on June 25, leading the company to file a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) [...]

The Nicaraguan government has announced that it will open up the San Cristobal volcano for bidding for the construction of a geothermal plant. San Cristobal is the country’s largest volcano. According to statements made by President Daniel Ortega and Energy Minister Emilio Rappacioli, Nicaragua plans to build enough new geothermal and hydroelectric (read: big dams) [...]

In the first two weeks of June, the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held special hearings to examine the needs of the country’s surface transportations system. The committee’s investigations will be used to inform the new federal highway funding law due to be drafted in 2009. “Many of the nation’s surface transportation facilities are [...]