Electronorte, a utility com- pany owned by the Brazilian government, has engaged US-based Aquatic Cellulose International to harvest the timber submerged by the impounding of the 4000MW Tucurui reservoir on the Tocantins river.
Tucurui, which contains forests that were submerged when the waters flooded the valleys, is estimated to contain somewhere in the region of US$600M of salvageable timber.
In addition to the anticipated revenue from the salvaged timber, the removal of the wood is also considered beneficial because it will reduce organic materials lying on the reservoir bed and therefore the production of methane.