A complex multi-dam hydroelectric scheme that environmentalists say threatens a pristine area of fjords and valleys in Chile's remote Patagonia country was approved May 9 by an 11-to-1 vote of the Aysén Environmental Review Commission, a body appointed by the central government to oversee the project, after a three-year assessment. The 2,750-megawatt HidroAysén project includes five dams—three on the Río Pascua, and two on the Río Baker, Chile's largest river by volume of water. The dams would flood at least 5,700 hectares (22 square miles) of forest and farmlands in southern Chile's Aysén region, including part of Laguna San Rafael National Park.

Two oil line ruptures in as many weeks may jeopardize a planned Alberta-to-Texas tar-sands pipeline that Calgary-based TransCanada is currently seeking approval for. The 1,702-mile, $12 billion Keystone XL line could get the go-ahead from the US State Department by year's end. But on May 7, a valve broke at a pumping station near near Cogswell, North Dakota, along the first leg of the Keystone pipeline system. The breach released some 500 barrels of Canadian heavy crude inside the facility and set off a geyser of oil that reached above the treetops in a nearby field. Just ten months ago the pipeline began transporting bitumen from Alberta's oil sands mines to refineries in Patoka, Illinois. A recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups said that because tar-sands pipelines carry a highly corrosive and acidic mix of diluted bitumen and volatile natural gas liquid condensate, they raise the risk of spills. The study found that internal corrosion has caused more than 16 times as many spills in the Alberta pipeline system than the US system because of bitumen.

The US on May 11 approved a Royal Dutch Shell plan to drill for oil in five locations deep under the Gulf of Mexico. The proposal, for drilling in the so-called Appomattox discovery, was the second exploration plan submitted by Shell to win approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) since the agency introduced stricter criteria for new drilling following last year’s Macondo disaster. The company’s Cardamom discovery in the Garden Banks area of the Gulf was approved in March. At least six other deep-water plans are now pending for the Gulf. Companies apply for permits to actually exploit oil after receiving approval for an exploration plan. The government lifted a moratorium on deep-water Gulf drilling in October. Shell runs the Appomattox venture and holds an 80% stake, with Nexen Inc. holding the remaining 20%. (WSJ, Upstream Online, May 11)

A group of 150 "self-styled" (sic) anarchists stormed into an Athens hospital where a protester who was severely injured in a protest march on May 11 is being treated and attacked three police officers guarding him there, a police official said. Thousands of workers walked off the job, pouring onto the streets of Athens and other Greek cities to protest a package of proposed "reforms" and cost-cutting measures designed to save the crisis-hit country $33 billion through 2015. In Athens, some 30,000 marched on the nation's parliament building, jeering lawmakers and calling them "thieves" and "robbers." Police used tear gas and pepper spray in running street battles with black-clad youth. (Reuters, LAT, May 11)

The US took a step closer to providing financial assistance to the Libyan rebels May 11, as Sen. John Kerry announced he is drafting legislation to free up some of the $34 billion in the Tripoli regime's assets frozen by the White House. Rebel leaders arrived in Washington to press the Obama administration on the plan, saying they are down to less than two weeks of cash reserves and are hard-pressed to pay for food, fuel, and medicine. "I needed something yesterday," Ali Tarhouni, finance minister for Libya's Transitional National Council, said in an interview. "The issue for me is running a war economy with no resources."

Afghan police and army troops are to replace foreign forces in at least five locations in the country in July and a transition process, agreed by the Afghan government and NATO, is slated to be complete in December 2014. But aid groups fear a power vacuum that will make their work in the country untenable. "If the national security forces that are left behind in 2014 are unable to provide for the security of the population, and the indications at the moment are that this will indeed be the case, then we can expect that they'll also be unable to provide the security conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance," said Rebecca Barber, a humanitarian policy and advocacy adviser with Oxfam. "This will have serious implications for the Afghan people—millions of whom are reliant upon humanitarian aid." (IRIN, May 10)

Japan will abandon plans to expand its nuclear power industry and instead focus on renewable energy, Prime Minister, Naoto Kan announced May 11 as Japan marked two months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami. As workers continued efforts to bring the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant under control, Kan said he would "start from scratch" on an energy policy that initially foresaw nuclear meeting more than 50% of Japan's energy needs by 2030. Japan, whose 54 reactors now provide 30% of its electricity, had planned to build at least 14 new reactors over the next 20 years. "I think it is necessary to move in the direction of promoting natural energy and renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass," Kan said. Renewables now make up 20% of Japan's overall supply.

In Syria, army tanks shelled the country's third biggest city, Homs, as security forces continue their nationwide crackdown on weeks of anti-government protests May 11. At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in Homs and surrounding villages, activists said. Amateur video footage posted to the Web also appears to show men in plain clothes shooting on the streets of Hama, in central Syria. (BBC News, May 11) In Yemen, security forces also opened fire on protesters in three cities, killing at least nine and wounding scores. In the capital Sanaa, forces fired on a crowd of tens of thousands marching to the cabinet building, killing at least six. In the industrial center Taiz, snipers killed two protesters, while in the Red Sea port of Hudaida, one protester was killed when security forces opened fire on marchers. (Reuters, May 11)