FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2018
The National Authority of Environmental Licenses (ANLA) ordered Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) to suspend operations on the Hidroituango dam in northern Antioquia, Colombia, in early June. The order requires the company to hold all non-essential operations until they complete a series of requirements, including an expert review of the stability of the dam’s infrastructure, effectively suspending Hidroituango’s environmental license.
In spite of ongoing requests for access to information and participation in decision-making on the dam, communities were not informed of the suspension order until late last week.
The order comes after a construction error caused extensive flooding that forced thousands of people out of their homes in April. The suspension order does not apply to ongoing work to respond to the emergency caused by the dam’s flooding.
Carla García Zendejas, Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), issued the following statement:
The order to suspend operations on the Hidroituango dam is a positive step by ANLA that recognizes ongoing problems and concerns about the viability of this project. However, particularly in the context of severe human rights abuses and lack of consultation and access to information that human rights defenders have faced in relation to this project, it is unacceptable that ANLA and the company did not inform local communities sooner of the decision.
In order to prevent further human rights abuses and environmental harm, it is imperative that the government and the company sit down with local communities, joined within Movimiento Ríos Vivos, to hear and respond to their concerns. Communities in Antioquia have raised alarms about the environmental and social impacts of the dam for decades, and the failure to listen to these concerns became all the more relevant during the recent flooding that forced hundreds of people from their homes.
Importantly, ANLA should require that the technical study of the dam’s infrastructure take into account vital environmental and social considerations to assess whether this project should continue. Plus, ANLA should demand that this study be carried out by independent experts not chosen by the company, in order to fully ensure its accuracy and complete impartiality.
For more information, please review the list of demands by Movimiento Ríos Vivos: http://debatehidroituango.blogspot.com/2018/07/dos-meses-despues-de-la-tragedia.html