Flooding Chile's Media with Pro-Dam Ads

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With opposition mounting to the proposed US$3.2 billion HidroAysen hydropower scheme in southern Chile’s Patagonia, the project proponents have launched a "multi-million dollar public relations campaign to sell their project to Chile." The HidroAysen project, which involves five major dams, is being proposed by a consortium of the Chilean utility ColbUn and the and Italian-owned electricity utility Endesa. Steve Anderson and Benjamin Witte write that that there is "now an unending parade of pro-dam ads in all the nation’s major media. ... HidroAysén has contracted the services of image-maker Burson Marsteller, and Chilean firms Porlam Young & Rubicam and Tironi y Asociados to shape a nation-wide 'pro-dam' campaign."