THE Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has offered to pay $1 million to help compensate for the asphyxiation of thousands of fish in the Peñas Blancas and San Carlos rivers last year, La Nación reported.It is unclear if this will settle the case before the Environmental Tribunal in the Ministry of the Environment and Energy.The massive kill was caused by sediment- filled water released Oct. 30, 2003 from the recently built Peñas Blancas Hydroelectric Dam. ICE officials have accepted responsibility for the incident, which environmentalists say caused “irreparable” damage (TT, Feb. 20).The San Carlos River suffered a second massive fish kill last month, which authorities believe may have been caused by the inadvertent explosion of a huge tank of molasses at a sugar plant called Quebrada Azul (TT, April 30).
