The US$600M hydro project is to be developed by Swiss mining company Xstrata. In January, the company – working through its local affiliate EnergĂ­a Austral – submitted the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for the project to CONAMA.

CONAMA’s review process welcomes input from independent sources including the general public. Opponents of the Cuervo River project took full advantage of the opportunity and submitted approximately 500 comments they hope will influence CONAMA to reject Xstrata’s application.