Chile's salmon industry and environmentalists, who have been ardent arch-enemies, are partnering to oppose a major dam project in southern Chile's Patagonia region.
Their opposition? A Spanish energy company called Endesa that controls more than 80% of the water rights in the Aysen region and which wants to build a series of dams to generate electricity. The dams will change the river flows and flood thousands of acres of natural wilderness.

While Chile is enjoying Latin America's highest sustained level of growth, its achilles heel is its domestic energy sources. Chile imports 90% of its energy, and its needs are rising. Without it, the country's economic growth will be strangled.

The activist group International Rivers Network has pledged "This is going to be a long battle, in the trenches, using every political and legal tactic possible." They want to preserve the natural beauty of the area. But without continued economic growth, who will build and finance the roads, airports, hotels, and workers that would be needed for tourism in the Patagonia region to flourish? It would seem that both groups would benefit from a compromise.