"Green Light for Mekong ‘Time Bomb’ Sparks Alarm", 6 Sept 2015

Environmental groups have expressed alarm at the Laotian National Assembly’s approval...of the concession for the Don Sahong Dam project, which has been described as an “ecological time bomb” about to be dropped on the Mekong River. The Laotian government and the project’s developer, Malaysia’s MegaFirst Corporation Berhad, must postpone construction until further impact assessments are conducted, the World Wildlife Fund’s Cambodia office said...“The dam will have negative impacts on the entire Mekong River ecosystem all the way to the Delta in Vietnam,” the WWF wrote. “The dam is moving forward despite the opposition of neighboring countries, some of the world’s leading scientists, local communities and hundreds of thousands of people who signed a petition opposing it."...[E]xperts say the 260-megawatt plant would disrupt fishing for the communities who live downriver and could wipe out the endangered Irrawaddy dolphis...International Rivers’ Southeast Asia program director Ame Trandem encouraged the Lao government to respect regional agreements and to consult with their neighbors before going ahead with the project...“Until the project developer can prove that [the dam] will not harm the Mekong River’s rich fisheries and the unique ecosystem services it provides to millions of people in the basin, it is in the best interest of Laos and the region to give the Mekong River a much needed reprieve.”