The BC Government is set to make a major announcement on Monday. Most believe it will involve the infamous Site C Dam project.
Justine Hunter
Victoria — From Saturday's Globe and Mail
The B.C. government will make a major energy announcement at the Peace River on Monday, fuelling speculation that it will give a green light to the long-shelved plans to build the Site C hydroelectric dam.
BC Hydro is inviting officials to what is being billed as a "clean energy workshop" at the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on Monday, near the proposed location for Site C on the Peace River. In the town of Hudson’s Hope – the closest community – the airstrip is being prepared for the arrival of Premier Gordon Campbell the same day.
It’s a long way to go for a workshop when the legislature is in session, but Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom was coy on Friday.
“We are going to have an event on Monday,” he said. “We are going to be talking about some things.”
Mr. Lekstrom has promised to announce this spring whether the government will support the construction of the province’s first major hydroelectric dam in decades.
His government has set a target to regain self-sufficiency for electricity, and Site C would help fill the gap with 900 megawatts of capacity.
The proposal for a third dam on the Peace River has been around for at least three decades, and plans have been dusted off and then re-shelved several times.
Last fall, BC Hydro delivered an updated feasibility study to Mr. Lekstrom.
If the government proceeds to stage three, it would still have to pass an environmental assessment that could take two years. If it succeeds, that would be followed by a design phase and bidding process that could result in a $6-billion-plus construction project in the north just in time for the 2013 provincial election.
“Stage three still requires a great deal of consultation and accommodation with first nations,” Mr. Lekstrom noted Friday. “But stage three is saying you wish to go ahead with it.”
Mr. Lekstrom’s Peace River South riding is divided over the project, but the Energy Minister has touted the concept as a clean, renewable energy source. He is expected to bring in a new Clean Energy Act later this spring that aims to build an industry in green power exports.
However, the proposed megaproject faces opposition, particularly from residents of the Peace River, who say the massive dam, which would be 1,100 metres in length with a reservoir 83 kilometres long, would be far from environmentally friendly.
Critics note that the dam would flood a significant swath of Northern B.C.’s prime agricultural land, along with a wildlife migration corridor and numerous heritage sites with significance ranging from fossils to the gold rush.
Hudson’s Hope mayor Karen Anderson said she’ll attend the event at the dam, but she opposes the project. The district council passed a motion two years ago against Site C and, based on the phone calls to her office Friday morning, she said, her community has not had a change of heart.
“My position right now, as always, is that I do not want any negative impacts to our community,” she said. “If they say they are moving forward, our motion can’t stop it. So the bottom line is, we need to have compensation.”
Ms. Anderson fears that the few jobs in the community of 1,100 will dry up as a result of the project. “We will become the end-of-the-road community … that’s not acceptable.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1537772/