Editor - Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle aptly illustrated the problems inherent in large dam projects with its coverage of the planned Salween dams in Burma and the Xalalá Dam in Guatemala ("Villagers fear dams are bid to grab control of land," June 8).
The problems in Burma and Guatemala are sadly emblematic of most, if not all, of the large dam projects now being undertaken around the world.
While expanding their authority, government officials and dam builders invariably pay little heed to the future of the people to be displaced from their homelands. The benefits of leaving rivers undammed - such as preserving traditional livelihoods and cultures, aquatic ecosystems and maintaining free-flowing rivers - are rarely considered.
The real beneficiaries of these dams are not the displaced or even the general population of the nations involved. In Burma, the profits are likely to go to the military junta rather than to the local people. In Guatemala, the real beneficiaries of the Xalalá Dam will be the U.S. corporation AES (if it wins the project contract) and other foreign companies, as well as the banks whose loans generate revenue in interest payments.
The Chronicle is to be congratulated for pointing out the risks and dangers of rampant dam building. The United States has learned painful lessons from damming our own rivers and today far more dams are being decommissioned than built in this country. Perhaps the United States, for once, can set a good international example by encouraging dam decommissioning and discouraging the development of destructive large dam projects.
TIM KINGSTON, International Rivers, Berkeley
San Francisco Gate
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