Transcript Is That Dolphin Supposed to Be Pink?: Energy Independence and

Is That Dolphin Supposed to Be Pink?: Energy
Independence and Its Impact on the
Biodiversity of the Brazilian Amazon.
Daniel Billings
[email protected]
Where are we going?
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What is biodiversity and why is it
important?
The Amazonian Rainforest and Brazil
Energy Shortage and Independence
The Future
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Pipelines
Biodiversity is…
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Complicated.
“…The key to the
maintenance of the
world as we know it.”
Defined as the full
variety of life, from
genes to species to
ecosystems.
Estimations Worldwide
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Low estimates: 10 million
species
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Driving to extinction rate: 50-150
per day
10,000 times greater than the
“background” extinction rate
Rate increasing yearly
SO WHAT?!?
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Future Economical benefits
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Food stuffs
Latin American produce: $200 million/year
 3000 Different Types of Fruit
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Medicine
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Only 1% of Earth’s plant species known
SO WHAT?!?
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Environmental Services
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Protecting and Generating soil
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Cost of soil erosion worldwide: $400 billion
Converting solar energy into plants
Movement of water
Detoxification
SO WHAT?!?
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Nature Related Tourism
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Contributes $500 billion to nations
The Amazon
Brazilian Amazon
Biodiversity of the Amazon
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Estimation 1 million different
species of plants and animals in
Amazon
Unique
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Plants and animals no where else
Biodiversity of the Amazon…Plants
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Half of the remaining
rain forest on earth
One hectare of forest
near Manaus
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300 different types of
trees
Catalogued 50,000
plants
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20% of the world’s total
Biodiversity of the Amazon…Animals
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One tree
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163 species of beetles
Thus far catalogued
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2500 snakes species
2000 fish
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Comparison: Mississippi River has 250
1500 birds
Biodiversity of the Amazon…People
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Indigenous peoples
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Historically considered sparse
However, evidence shows
migrants in area from 10,00014,000 years ago
By 1500s, populations denser
than today
Then the Iberians came…
Importance in the Sustainable
Development argument
Brazil and the Environment
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Constitution (Title VIII)
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Dedicated to Environmental Protection
Right belongs to all
 Does not belong to government
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National Environmental Policy Act of
1981
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Not first, but set the ball rolling
Established principles, goals
Brazilian Environmental Orgs.
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Brazilian Institute of
Environment and Renewable
Natural Resources (IBAMA)
created in 1989
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The national Brazilian Ministry of the
Environment’s enforcement agency
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Instituto de Protección Ambiental
de Amazonas (IPAAM)
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Executes the State Politics of
Environment of the State of
Amazonas
Manaus
Though the numbers were
large, no indigenous
civilization had sizable
villages in Amazonia.
Today, Manaus has 2 million
people, a population that
tripled in size in the last
twenty-five years.
Approximately the size of
Houston, the fourth largest
city in the United States.
Manaus History
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Became a major player
in the world due to
rubber exports as the
Amazon was the main
supplier.
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“Paris of the tropics”
However, with synthetic
rubber, their power
waned.
Teatro Amazonas
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“Grand ideas
gone awry”
Completed in
1896
As rubber fell, so
did condition.
Recently
remodeled
Splendid Isolation?
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Two roads
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N. to state of Roraima and
Venezuela
S. road washed away in ’80s,
in disrepair. Rebuilt?
Most born in Manaus never
venture far, if at all.
Amazonia as a Whole
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Manaus is important…we’ll return.
But overall, the Amazon region has
experienced the highest urban growth
rates in Brazil.
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1970, urban population comprised 35.5% of
the total population.
44.6%: 1980
58%: 1991
61%: 1996
68%: 2000
Population growth and Urbanization =
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MORE ENERGY!
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Pipelines
Hydroplants
Deforestation
Roads
Progress?
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Go West, Young Man
Energy Shortage of 2001
• Since 1993,
increases in:
•Energy generating
capacity
•3%
•Consumption
•5%
But… there was a lack of planning and lower investments in
energy… And a drought which effected the hydropower which
supplied Brazil with 87% of its electric energy.
Energy Shortage of 2001
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Rationing and Rainfall
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Still risk of deficit
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Projected Shortfall of 20K to 44K MW
Policy directives that emerged:
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Increased hydropower generation
Expansion of use of natural gas
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Which includes the creation of two
pipelines
Energy Independence. Automobile edition
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A short segue… Ethanol/Gasoline
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However, oil still 85% of gas usage
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Oil shocks of ’70s began move
Most efforts to improve efficency
Increase production
Oil production has most significant
contribution to energy independence.
Manaus and Energy Independence
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Rolling blackouts
Holding back employment expansion
Slowed factory construction
“If people want development that
preserves the environment, we have to
have energy. It’s no good people saying
the Amazon has to be the sanctuary of
humanity and forget there are twenty
million people living there.”
President Lula da Silva
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Development agenda
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Social Participation
Sustainable development
National Environmental System
Integrated Environmental Policy
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Coordinating actions
Progress?
Exploration in the Amazon?
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Most of the oil comes from off of the
shores of Rio de Janeiro
Solimões Basin
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Jurua gas province
Urucu oil province
In December 2000, proved reserves
and total reserves, for the state of
Amazonas, corresponded to
approximately 129 million and 157
million barrels of oil and 44 billion
and 88 billion m3 of natural gas.
Where is this basin?
And here is why we return to Manaus…
The Urucu Gas Reserve
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Small scale since its discovery in
1986
Solved solution of supplying energy
to Manaus and the Western Amazon
Now We Need Pipelines!
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North from Coari to
Manaus
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South from Urucu to
Porto Velho
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417 km (259 miles)
538 km (334 miles)
Cost: $875 million
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Decreases generation
costs in Manaus to
$30/MW/hr
Current costs:
$100/MW/hr
IL: 6.69¢/MW/hr
The Producers
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Petrobras, the semipublic Brazilian oil
company rallied
support in
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The Government
Funders in the private
sector
Petrobras avoided
public discussion of
alternatives, insisted
on pipelines
Fears of the opposers
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Building Roads = deforestation
Water pollution
Increased river traffic
Migration
Point out that the reserves
exhausted in 15 years, leaving
behind irreversible impacts
What they were afraid of:
The Completed Urucu-Coari Pipeline
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Completed in 1998
Blocked three streams used
for drinking water and bathing
Fish populations said to have
fallen dramatically
Animals will not cross
pipelines
Cut down fruit and nut trees
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Combined many food sources
eliminated
How the Urucu-Coari Pipeline works
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Pumped to Coari
Loaded onto tankers for a 16 hr.
journey to Manaus
2nd pipeline
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Moved cooking gas, also sent by boat
Output:
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16,000 barrels of oil per day
353 million ft3 of natural gas
The Calvary Arrives
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A media campaign in
1999 against the
project began
By 2001, the attorney
general of the State
of Amazonas and the
Amazonas state
government joined
the opposition.
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Lawsuit!
Lawsuits – 2001 (Coari-Manaus)
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Alleged that the preliminary
environmental license for pipelines did not
fulfill legal requirements
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Did not provide enough to describe impacts on
the environment
No alternatives presented
No cost/benefit analysis
NEPA? EIS?
Lawsuit led to public hearings (2002)
More Lawsuits – 2003 (both)
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Again Brought by Govt.
Suspension of the temp.
licenses
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Request accepted
Gave IPAAM Coari-Manaus
 Gave IBAMA Urucu-Porto
Velho
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Stopped construction
from Apr. 2003 to May
2004.
May 2004: An Agreement
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Governor agreed with Petrobras
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Gaspetro (branch of Petrobras) must establish a
fund of $3.3 million to:
 Mitigate impact of Urucu-Porto Velho
 “Sustainable development” program for CoariManaus
Agreement removed lawsuit
IPAAM gave go-ahead for Coari-Manaus
Why did the Government Give Up?
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Strong support for the project
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Jobs
Political powers like the idea
Governor wanted to lower energy
costs to increase support in private
sector
But the project is still slow going
with plans to start in 2007.
Urucu:
Progress in Harmony with Nature
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“We want to make the smallest
footprint we can.”
No roads into Urucu, must be
barged in
1800 workers come and go on
3-day flights
Resembles a military base
Wastewater treated
Trash recycled, sent to Manaus
Plant nursery
Plan for the Pipelines
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Built on same principles as Urucu
facility
A small slit of forest without an
access road
Helicopter pads
along the way
for maintenance.
Concerns still present
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Degradation of Rivers and Streams
Urban to Rural Migration
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Oil brings modern “civilization”
Purus/Madeira
Jurua Tropical Moist Forest
Highly biodiverse areas affected
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Abufari Biological Reserve
Aiapua Lake Environmental Protection
Area
Purus/Madeira
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Moist forest
between Purus and
Madeira Rivers
Very diverse
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160 species of
mammals
570 species of birds
Also threatened by deforestation and cattle
ranching
Jurua Tropical Moist Forest
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Evergreen tropical rain forest
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Super-high floristic diversity
High diversity of timber species
171 species of mammal (121 at mouth
of the Urucu River)
554 species of birds including toucans
Currently no roads
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But regular deforestation due to oil/NG
Jurua Tropical Moist Forest
Coari
Urucu Fields
Abufari Biological Reserve
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Established to
control
fisheries
Protect
endangered
species
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Manatees
Podocnemis
turtles
Model of
sustainable
development
Aiapua Lake Environmental Protection Area
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Flooded forest
681 birds
species
Over 200
mammal
species
Some species
restricted to
wetland areas
Fruit that
fruit-eating
fish consume
Long history
of human
occupation
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Lies on edge of this region
Of few restricted areas in region
In the end…
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Progress may run over these regions
Just how safe can any pipeline
construction be?
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No matter the pledges.
Sustainable Development
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“Gas will give us the energy to allow industry
to grow in Manaus. Gas will give us the energy
in small towns to improve their quality of life.
Gas will give us the money to do the other
things, to improve social services here and to
have programs to develop the rest of the state
in a way that protects the environment.”
- Governor Braga of Amazonas
And Yes, The Dolphin Should Be Pink
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A Boto
The color varies
from grey to
 In a traditional
pink
Amazon River myth, at
A vulnerable
species
night a Boto becomes
a handsome young
man who seduces
girls, impregnates
them, then returns to
the river in the
morning to become a
Boto again.