Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Assocs. is handling PA duties for the controversial Transportadora de Gas del Peru gas pipeline project. Environmentalist and human rights groups have expressed concerns about the impact construction of the 400-mile pipeline will have on the Amazon rainforest and indigenous groups in the region.

TGP is owned by a consortium of energy groups based in the U.S. (Hunt Oil), Argentina, Peru, Algeria and South Korea.

The Inter-American Development Bank held hearings in Washington, D.C., earlier this month in which it fielded complaints about development of the gas field. It gave Peru a summary of feedback from more than 100 activist groups. The IADB also granted Peru a $5 million loan for "social and environmental monitoring" of the project.

Peter Schechter, a CLS&A partner, heads the TGP account. He is joined by managing director Maria Cristina Gonzalez Noguera, who formerly worked at Ted Turner's Better World Fund and Puerto Rico's Banco Popular, and senior VP Shannon Hunt.

CLS&A is a unit of Gavin Anderson & Co., which is owned by Omnicom.