The Business Journal-Minneapolis

Lemna International Inc. in Minneapolis has been selected to build a municipal wastewater treatment plant for the city of Maturin, Venezuela.

The company will also design the $12.5 million facility, which will use one of the company's proprietary wastewater treatment technologies.

Lemna is a worldwide developer of wastewater treatment transportation, water supply, irrigation, solid waste management and other infrastructure projects.

<a href=www.latintrade.com>LatinTrade.com

04/23/2003 - Source: Business News Americas (BNamericas.com) (BNamericas.com) - US-based Armentrout Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group (ARMCG) has submitted a finalized definitional mission to the US Trade & Development Agency (TDA) on water-related projects in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, a consultancy source told BNamericas.

The TDA will now review the report, and decide whether to fund grants that would move certain drinking-water and sewerage projects forward, the official said. The consultancy recommended a series of grants after analyzing projects presented by government agencies in the three countries.

COLOMBIA

Ranking the project a "high priority," the consultancy recommends TDA fund a US$482,000 grant to support Colombian water regulator CRA's water loss improvements program. The grant would finance labor and travel costs, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by BNamericas.

The project would implement water and wastewater sector improvements designed to reduce water loss (which reaches 40%), and introducing tariff increases to fund the changes.

ECUADOR

Contingent on project financing, ARMCG also recommends the TDA support an US$884,000 feasibility study (which includes a 35% cost-share) for the country's eastern rivers, designed to provide drinking water and electrical energy to Ecuador capital Quito.

The eastern rivers project carries a US$614mn price tag, and entails developing 67km of water piping, 42km of tunnels, three dams with storage volume of 115M cu. m, two drinking water plants and four hydroelectric generating facilities with 170MW of capacity.

"ARMCG's review indicates that this project is a major priority of the government and can be funded," reads the report.

VENEZUELA

The consultancy also recommends the TDA support a US$452,000 grant to study development of the Lake Maracaibo wastewater treatment plant project in western Venezuela's Zulia state.

This project calls for a US$103mn wastewater treatment plant and US$2mn in associated piping designed to treat waste that is currently dumped untreated in the lake.

In addition, the report recommends TDA move forward with studies on two projects managed by waterworks sector administrator Hidroven that were approved from an August 2000 definitional mission conducted by ARMCG. The first entails a US$7.71mn project to modify the Araya aqueduct, separating it from the Turimiquire pipeline system that supplies Nueva Esparta state.

The consultancy studied related plans for a new pipeline to the Cariaco Gulf and a 10km submarine pipeline across the gulf to the Araya peninsula in its 2000 report. Project sponsors are asking for US$93,000 to conduct studies for the revised work.

Separately, the consultancy recommends the TDA deliver a previously-approved US$173,000 grant for studies on a 600 l/s wastewater treatment plant. The US$22.1mn project, which also involves expanding collection and pumping stations, would diminish contamination along the Tuy, Aragua and Acuiferos rivers as well as the Valencia lagoon.

<a href=www.latintrade.com>LatinTrade.com

04/23/2003 - Source: Business News Americas (BNamericas.com) (BNamericas.com) - US-based Armentrout Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group (ARMCG) has submitted a finalized definitional mission to the US Trade & Development Agency (TDA) on water-related projects in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, a consultancy source told BNamericas.

The TDA will now review the report, and decide whether to fund grants that would move certain drinking-water and sewerage projects forward, the official said. The consultancy recommended a series of grants after analyzing projects presented by government agencies in the three countries.

COLOMBIA

Ranking the project a "high priority," the consultancy recommends TDA fund a US$482,000 grant to support Colombian water regulator CRA's water loss improvements program. The grant would finance labor and travel costs, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by BNamericas.

The project would implement water and wastewater sector improvements designed to reduce water loss (which reaches 40%), and introducing tariff increases to fund the changes.

ECUADOR

Contingent on project financing, ARMCG also recommends the TDA support an US$884,000 feasibility study (which includes a 35% cost-share) for the country's eastern rivers, designed to provide drinking water and electrical energy to Ecuador capital Quito.

The eastern rivers project carries a US$614mn price tag, and entails developing 67km of water piping, 42km of tunnels, three dams with storage volume of 115M cu. m, two drinking water plants and four hydroelectric generating facilities with 170MW of capacity.

"ARMCG's review indicates that this project is a major priority of the government and can be funded," reads the report.

VENEZUELA

The consultancy also recommends the TDA support a US$452,000 grant to study development of the Lake Maracaibo wastewater treatment plant project in western Venezuela's Zulia state.

This project calls for a US$103mn wastewater treatment plant and US$2mn in associated piping designed to treat waste that is currently dumped untreated in the lake.

In addition, the report recommends TDA move forward with studies on two projects managed by waterworks sector administrator Hidroven that were approved from an August 2000 definitional mission conducted by ARMCG. The first entails a US$7.71mn project to modify the Araya aqueduct, separating it from the Turimiquire pipeline system that supplies Nueva Esparta state.

The consultancy studied related plans for a new pipeline to the Cariaco Gulf and a 10km submarine pipeline across the gulf to the Araya peninsula in its 2000 report. Project sponsors are asking for US$93,000 to conduct studies for the revised work.

Separately, the consultancy recommends the TDA deliver a previously-approved US$173,000 grant for studies on a 600 l/s wastewater treatment plant. The US$22.1mn project, which also involves expanding collection and pumping stations, would diminish contamination along the Tuy, Aragua and Acuiferos rivers as well as the Valencia lagoon.

The Christian Science Monitor Commentary > Opinion from the April 21, 2003 edition By Paula Dobriansky

WASHINGTON – In recent decades, we've become increasingly aware of the dire global environmental consequences of destruction of the earth's tropical forests - shrunken habitat for animal species, lost biodiversity, more soil erosion, and fewer "carbon sinks" to absorb greenhouse gases.

There are a variety of ways one can assist in arresting tropical forest destruction, such as supporting forestry conservation or enhancing markets for "rain forest friendly" products such as shade-grown coffee. Recycling is also helpful. monitortalk

But if you want to do one thing for Earth Day - Tuesday, April 22 - to conserve forests and even reverse deforestation: stay away from cocaine and heroin.

The strong link between illegal drug use and tropical forest destruction became obvious to me when I visited Colombia last year for the inauguration of Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and discussed the drug trade with several members of his cabinet.

To cultivate coca and avoid being detected by law enforcement, farmers need to clear fields in fragile tropical forest areas, most often by slashing and burning. Colombia reports that, during the 1990s, more than 3 million acres of rain forest - an area larger than Yellowstone National Park - were cut for the cultivation of opium poppy and coca.

Similarly, Peru estimates that coca cultivation has caused the loss of 5.7 million acres of rainforest - a quarter of its total deforestation.

Deforestation is only one consequence of coca and poppy cultivation. Highly toxic insecticides and herbicides are used indiscriminately by coca and poppy growers in Colombia and Peru and can persist in the environment and harm a variety of wildlife. These products are used at rates that exceed the manufacturers' recommendations by individuals with no training or personal protection. They're often stored in or near the farmers' homes or food supplies, exposing them and their families to hazardous levels of these substances.

Once the coca and opium-poppy crops are harvested, coca leaves and poppy latex are mixed with more industrial chemicals, including sulfuric acid, acetone, potassium permanganate, and gasoline, to make cocaine base and heroin. The Colombian government estimates that in 2000, gasoline, in amounts equivalent to three days of gas consumption in California, were used for coca-leaf processing.

And in the middle of the forest where the processing pits and drug labs exist, you will not find toxic waste-management systems; those deadly chemicals are haphazardly dumped on the land and into the streams and rivers that supply drinking water for local populations.

In the case of Colombia, the drug trade has yet another devastating environmental consequence: It provides funding for the violent activities of three illegally armed groups, all of which are on the US list of known terrorist organizations: the National Liberation Army, the United Self-Defense Forces, and the Armed Revolutionary Front of Colombia.

Illegally armed groups also regularly bomb Colombia's oil pipelines. One pipeline built in 1986, for example, has suffered 700 attacks in which a total of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil were spilled along the Columbia-Venezuela border. That's roughly 10 times the amount of crude oil dumped into Prince William Sound in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

Unfortunately, the US remains the world's No. 1 consumer of the cocaine that originates in the Andes. And Americans consume virtually all of the heroin originating in that region.

A reduction in consumption of these illegal drugs in the US alone would cause a drastic decline in their production in the Andes, slowing deforestation and lessening pollution of the rainforest.

As concerned citizens have Earth Day discussions about how to stop global warming and save the earth's rainforests, they need to think about this linkage that may not be so obvious on the streets of the US. Truly concerned citizens also need to think about it the next time they are tempted to snort cocaine or use heroin, even if it's "just for fun." It's not just their own bodies they'll be polluting.

• Paula Dobriansky is the US undersecretary of State for global affairs.

CommonDreams.org Published on Friday, April 18, 2003 by OneWorld.net by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - A major environmental group has declared a ceasefire in its three-year campaign against Citigroup, the world's largest private financial institution, after new commitments by the giant lender to adopt more responsible social and environmental policies in deciding what projects to finance.

Citigroup's decision to more seriously engage one of its main critics, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), came one week after the San Francisco-based group launched a major ad campaign to persuade Citigroup credit card holders to destroy their cards to protest the company's support for projects and industries that environmentalists consider particularly harmful.

The campaign, which featured television ads by Hollywood celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Ed Asner, Ali MacGraw, and Darryl Hannah debuted last week in New York and was set to begin running in other U.S. markets this week, before RAN agreed to suspend its efforts and enter into talks with Citigroup.

In a letter to Citigroup's Shareholder Dialogue Group and RAN, the company's management stressed that its goal is "to facilitate sustainable and beneficial development and promised "to take additional measures in the short term to reduce degradation or destruction of endangered ecosystems in the conduct of our business."

In addition, the letter said Citi was "aware of growing concern about climate change" and promised to "report greenhouse-gas intensity of future power projects in our project finance business (and)...seek to identify investments in less carbon-intensive sources of energy."

As of the world's top funders of the fossil fuel and logging industries, Citi has been a major target of RAN and some other environmental groups. In the year 2000, it was the top lender to both the coal industry and fossil-fuel pipelines around the world, as well as the top underwriter of stocks and bonds across the energy sector.

Emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels are considered by most scientists to be the greatest contributor to global warming and associated changes in the world's climate and weather. Logging and deforestation also contribute to warming, both by releasing more carbon-based gases into the air and eliminating forests that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

RAN and other groups have attacked what they say is Citi's disproportionate support for extractive industries around the world, particularly fossil fuels and logging. Among other projects that Citi has helped finance are the controversial Camisea pipeline project that will ship natural gas from the Amazon region of Peru to the Pacific Coast; oil drilling in Papua New Guinea and Colombia; oil pipelines in Chad, Cameroon, Ecuador, and Venezuela; and giant power plants in Thailand and the Philippines.

Nany of the pipeline projects involve the construction of roads into remote forests. Those roads ordinarily make it easier for farmers in search of land to move into these areas and clear the forests.

RAN's campaign, which has featured a series of civil-disobedience protests, including office lock-outs at various Citi offices around the United States, has been aimed at persuading the company to reduc--and eventually eliminate--funding for fossil-fuel projects, beginning with an immediate ban on future investments in projects in endangered ecosystems--such as parts of the Andes--and terminate all projects that have a negative impact on endangered forests or traditional forest communities.

At the same time, RAN hopes Citi and other lenders will provide more funding to more ecologically and socially benign enterprises, such as renewable energy, tree-free paper, and certified wood alternatives, and work to integrate social and environmental criteria into all of its operations.

For its part, Citi has objected strongly to RAN's efforts, insisting that it shares RAN's concerns and has tried to improve its environmental record by, among other things, recently drafting the so-called "Equator Principles" with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) that commits signers to comply with certain social and environmental guidelines in deciding on loans.

It also objected strongly to RAN's now-suspended ad campaign as "highly misleading and inaccurate." The ad features celebrities reading the names of former Citibank cardholders who have destroyed their cards while depicting scenes of timber-cutting in jungles, forest fires, and oil pollution on various bodies of water.

"We think they've made a good-faith commitment to sit down and work with us," said RAN spokeswoman Sara Brown Riggs Wednesday after announcing the campaign's suspension.

"We are aware that many of our employees and customers care deeply about environmental and social issues and expect Citigroup to act in accordance with those values," Citi management wrote in its letter.

Copyright 2003 OneWorld.net

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