Last month’s worldwide protests against the Brazilian government’s Belo Monte Dam project may have ended, but concerns about deforestation and displacement of indigenous populations remain. Now, there may be something else to worry about.
Philip M. Fearnside, a researcher with the National Insitute for Amazon Research in Manaus, Brazil suggests that the hydroelectric dam, which will be the world’s third largest, may release significant quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.