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Sunday, July 6, 2008

Photo: World's Largest Gas Pipeline Proposed to Run Through Amazon


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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (left) poses with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during Chavez's visit to Brazil on December 6, 2006.

In a December 7, 2006, meeting Chavez told da Silva that the Venezuelan leader's proposal to build the world's largest natural gas pipeline is "the most important project ever contemplated for the continent."

But environmental groups and industry analysts are calling the plan into question, warning that it is not economically sound and will endanger vulnerable ecosystems, including Brazil's Amazon rain forest.

Photograph courtesy AP Photo/Brazil's Presidency Office/HO