In Patagonia

A European energy company is scheming to build massive hydro-electric dams on every major river in Chilean Patagonia. We need your immediate action to stop this proposed "electrocution" of one of the wildest regions on earth.

Please go to www.savebiogems.org/patagonia/takeaction right now and urge Chile's President Bachelet to consider the full range of alternatives before sacrificing this world-renowned wilderness to destructive hydro-development.

Endesa-Spain's disastrous proposal would flood thousands of acres of irreplaceable habitat for a vast array of rare wildlife including South American deer, southern river otters and many
birds found only in Patagonia.

For the sake of its own profits, the company is claiming that stopping up Patagonia's mighty rivers to produce electricity -- which would then be transmitted thousands of miles -- is the
only way to fuel Chile's economic growth. As part of the same plan, Brookfield Consortium, a Canadian company, would clearcut a 1,200-mile swath through five national parks and two
wilderness reserves to make way for the world's largest transmission line.

But smarter alternatives to strengthening Chile's economy -- such as stricter energy efficiency standards and the use of localized, clean and renewable energy sources -- are readily
available. Chile's new president, Michelle Bachelet, has pledged to make environmental protection a priority in her administration. To fulfill that promise, she should take a hard a look at every possible alternative before sentencing wild Patagonia to electrocution.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/patagonia/takeaction and tell President Bachelet to spare the life of this untouched expanse of breathtaking rainforests, glaciers, fjords and
rivers.

Thank you for helping to save Chile's last wilderness frontier.

Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council