Will Chile Give Land-Locked Bolivia Ocean Access Via Tunnel? I Hope Not

Technological innovations can solve some of the world’s biggest problems right? That’s what a firm of Chilean architects would like us to believe. They’ve come up with a creative idea for how land-locked Bolivia could regain access to the ocean. It was not too long ago, in 1883 to be exact, that Bolivia lost the little coastline it had in a war with Chile. Since it’s only be gone for a short time, now’s the perfect time to get it back!

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The Chilean architects’ plan involves building a long underground tunnel from Bolivia through desert lands in Chile and Peru. It would be big enough for a train, cars, and a natural gas pipeline (click here for illustration). Land removed from the tunnel excavation would be used to make an island in the ocean for Bolivia to build a port. Never mind that the ownership of this ocean area is currently disputed by Peru and Chile. Under the plan, those waters would be made international, jump-roping any messy politics.

The benefits for Bolivia? The possibility to export and import goods via a port (including it’s abundant and controversy-free natural gas and rare, precious electric car-necessary lithium), the possibility to develop a fishing industry (jobs, anybody?), and of course, a new tourism destination! Woohoo! Oh, wait. I forgot that Bolivia could also perhaps move their 170 ship navy from Lake Titicaca to the ocean! Hello military relevance!

And guess what? Chile’s Foreign Minister has said that Chile is open to the possibility of the “avant-garde proposal” and would like to hear more. Bolivia has yet to comment, saying Chile needs to agree first (but isn’t that kind of an endorsement?)

But Seriously…

By my tone, you can probably tell I’m not a huge fan of the idea. While I’m all for improving quality of life for the people of Bolivia through creative means, I don’t think this is the way to do it. If you like, call me a “goofy, shrieking, wild-eyed tree-hugger” as one reader did on another post I recently wrote about the almost-certain environmental impact of a crazy tunnel being built under a mountain in Peru. I’m not afraid to stand up for the environment when the cost is too high, even if it comes as an annoyance to those who would rather stimulate economies.

There are a myriad of reasons why the idea to build a tunnel to the ocean for Bolivia’s exploit is faulty (despite its creativity) and might lead to environmental disaster. I’m just going to focus on the basics:

• Added fishing pressure in the Pacific, right where the crucial Humboldt Current serves as a worldwide fish population incubator (20% of the fish caught in the world originate from the ecosystem it creates).
• Pollution: Exporting natural gas through a tunnel and then via ship– sounds fool-proof right? Plus, all of those additional boats and people on the ocean are sure to add some waste and carbon emissions.
• Habitat loss: This island’s going to have a port, right? I don’t think we’re talking something very small. Too bad for ocean creatures. Of course they could plant trees on the island, in effect, creating habitat! But would that be good necessarily? Who knows.

Those are plenty of reasons for me to protest the creative idea. What about you?

Photo Credit: Don Fulano on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

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