Brazil’s decision to grant an operating license for a controversial dam has drawn sharp criticism from green groups, which call the move another example of development trumping environmental protection under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Ibama, Brazil’s environmental-enforcement agency, awarded the US$490 million, 708-megawatt Barra Grande dam an operating license July 4. It did so even though the dam’s 36-square-mile (94 sq-km) reservoir will inundate endangered species including the Paraná, or candelabra, pine (Araucaria angustifolia), and the bromeliad Dyckia distachya. The move follows a public admission by Ibama last year that the project’s environmental-impact statement, issued before the dam’s construction permit was approved, failed to report forests containing endangered species in the reservoir area. Environmental groups say... [Log in to read more]