US Senator Calls to Cut Mekong River Fund

A US senator called Wednesday on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to withdraw US funding for the Mekong River Commission if a planned dam in Laos goes ahead without meeting international standards.  MRC members Cambodia, Vi¬etnam, Thailand and Laos have until March to reach consensus on whe¬ther or not to build the 1,260-megawatt Xayaboury Dam, after Laos on Sept 22 informed the MRC of its plan to build the first main¬stream dam on the Lower Mekong.

Senator Jim Webb, a Democrat of Virginia and the current chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, wrote in a letter to Ms Clinton, The US should be prepared to consider withdrawing [donor] contributions if the plans for this dam fail to meet internationally accepted environmental standards for hydropower dams." Senator Webb also wrote that Ms Clinton should urge China and the Lower Mekong countries to build only sustainable hydropower projects on the river, saying he was concerned about "devastating consequences" for the region due to dam development Ms Clinton will meet with her counterparts from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos on Saturday in Hanoi for a meeting of the US lined Lower Mekong Initiative pro¬gram, according to the US State Department She scheduled to arrive for a three day visit to Cambodia later the same day.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap welcomed Senator Web's interest in the Mekong river, adding however, that he feared halting Chinese dam construction would be impossible. "If [China] does not listen to the international community and the Lower Mekong countries, it will be difficult for Cambodia," he said Ame Trandem, Mekong Campaigner for International Rivers, said the Xayaboury Dam proposal did not meet international best practice standards. 'It has failed to gain public acceptance and guarantee the sustainability of the river and people's livelihoods," she said. The World Bank announced Friday it would not find any Mekong dams and endorsed an MRC report that recommended a 10-year deferral before building a Mekong dam.

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