Blog 11: Laos' Dam Issues

Years of neighboring countries with Laos have finally reached their end with the country pushing ahead with a controversial project to aim the lower regions of the Mekong River. The reason: to plan to triple hydroelectric production and sell power to neighbors by building 10 more plants on the river. Not only are they going against Mother Nature, they are going against their neighbors fears that the Xayburi project would destroy the waterway and damage the lives of 60 million people.

                Around the river, giant problems have shown to arise for the people. The start of this industrial and environmental disaster has been breaking the land around the river. With giant cement-making cylinders being prepared to replace temporary equipment, and the first stages of navigation on their way, the waterway seems more broken with each day. Wide dirt roads have now been created for transportation of different trucks and earth movers to the site for construction purposes, with more roads being constructed constantly. Not only this but they even build a gasoline station and houses for managers, engineers and support staff to set up the conveyor belts and crushing operations for the limestone inside of a cherished quarry. These heartbreaking destructive acts have already cost them 100 million dollars, and it’s getting worse. With this rate, they’ll start needing to borrow more from everyone, taking our entire economy down little by little.

                Though country seems like it’s trying to stake its future for the better, the new burst of hydroelectric power isn't going to do any good. There have been concerns expressed by Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia all stating that the dam will endanger fish species in the world’s largest inland fishery and disrupt the flow of rich silt downstream. “Everything will be destroyed”, commented Prasarn Marukkapitak, a member of the Thai Senate. Not only does he believe this, but he also believes that it will create conflict within the region as a whole, and it will destroy the lives of fishermen that have been working on the river of years.

                These concerns are no small issue, but people still keep rejecting them. Laos is rejecting many of the complains, saying that the impeding sediment problem won’t be affected with the new take on of the river, but scientists proved otherwise.

                Along with everything they are doing, they will add a 1,260 megawatt facility (the same size as an average U.S. plant) will be added to the site. This plant is said to provide electricity to about a million households in the underdeveloped county, and other countries around. Yes, power to countries in need is a good thing, but destroying our earth and endangering the food supply for over 60 million people isn’t quite worth it, neither is the soon to be 7 billion dollar deficit that will arise when the entire project is finished.

                Overall, their idea for this project is a nice start, but they are going about it the wrong way. When it comes down to environmental issues, we always have to go for the protection of Mother Nature because She is the one who doesn’t need to be harmed. When she is harmed, larger environmental disasters happen, like the food deprivation of 60 million people. That is something, we as a world, cannot afford. Sure, they are trying to do something bigger, but in this case, doing something bigger is only shocking them into something worse.