Brazil relaxes Belo Monte water rule amid El Niño-fueled Amazon drought risk

Brazilian authorities have temporarily relaxed an environmental rule for the Belo Monte hydropower plant on the Xingu River in the northeastern Amazon.

The change comes in anticipation of another potentially severe, El-Niño-fueled dry season.

Under the temporary measure, Belo Monte’s operator Norte Energia can cut the flow of the dam’s 119 square-kilometer (46 square-mile) intermediate […]