All over the world dams are being dismantled
Photo credit: DeSmog.ca
BUT NOT WHERE I LIVE!
The Site C dam is a proposed $9bn 1,100 megawatt hydro dam on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. It's called "Beautiful British Columbia" on tourist brochures. But look what's happening to the Peace River Valley.
This is an image of the mere preparation for the dam.
Futuristic graphic of the completed dam.
It does not show the utility lines and the roads through woodlands and farmland. (enough to feed 1mn people)
BC Hydro has come out swinging against the Royal Society of Canada and 250 of Canada’s top scientists and academics that recently called for a stop to construction of the Site C dam, saying the group is being one-sided.
Royal Society representatives and academics did not take part in the environmental assessment process and did not seek a balanced assessment of the hydroelectric mega-project, says an unusually critical statement released by BC Hydro.
The dam, which will cost taxpayers almost $9-billion, will flood farmland and First Nations traditional territory in the Peace Valley to create an 83-kilometre reservoir.
The British Columbia government has broken the law. The Minister in charge has announced that he will not run in next year's election citing the urgent need "to spend more time with my family."
BC Government Broke the Law to Expedite the Site-C Dam
The B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) granted BC Hydro several exemptions from the B.C. Wildlife Act to keep Site C dam construction from falling behind expected timelines, DeSmog Canada has learned.The exemptions have some local First Nations and legal experts concerned Premier Christy Clark’s promise to “push the project past the point of no return” is occurring at the cost of B.C.’s own permitting rules and wildlife management.
“BC Hydro has gone rogue,” Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nation told DeSmog Canada. “Worse yet, the province is aware of the situation and chooses to look the other way. What’s the point of having a regulator if it refuses to regulate?”
Where is the "1,100 megawatts of capacity and generate 5,100 gigawatt hours of energy per year" going? BC doesn't need it.
Since 2005, domestic demand for electricity in B.C. has been essentially flat, making it difficult to justify the dam which will flood 107 kilometres of the Peace River and destroy thousands of hectares of prime agricultural land.
“There is no need for Site C,” Swain says. “If there was a need, we could meet it with a variety of other renewable and smaller scale sources.”
It's going to electrify the tar sands of Alberta. The dam proponents can use the talking point "extracting the dirtiest oil on the planet will be powered by clean energy." But not exactly in those words and not exactly that market. Their real market is LNG, Liquid Natural Gas. BC natural gas is turned into a liquid for export to Asia. The massive LNG plants, where this conversion is to take place are proposed to be built on the coast of BC .
As DeSmog Canada recently reported, BC Hydro’s records show that without an expanded natural gas export sector, there is no demonstrable need for the Site C dam
.
Preparations for this dam is being rushed through, to quote the Premier of BC "to the point of no return" before next year's election. Forests are being clearcut, from dawn to dusk and the Peace River shoreline is being destroyed along with all its wildlife while opponents gather their resources to stop the dam. Wish us luck.
Comments
wishing you the best of luck!
Sounds like Honduras not Canada.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
If your title is too long, Facebook won't accept it
"All over the world, dams are being dismantled but not where I live"
When I tried to share this essay FB printed ACCESS DENIED for my title. I didn't know why it was ACCESS DENIED until I shortened the title. Just a tip in case you like to use long titles.
To thine own self be true.
faceborg
Dumbing down the populace. One "like" at a time.
Rec'd
for Faceborg!
Best term I've ever heard to describe it.
Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons - For thou art crunchy and good with ketchup
Seems pretty shitty
I mean, could be worse I guess, like a coal plant or something, but this is still one of the worst uses of clean energy I could think of.
What do the Yinke Dene say?
I'm sure if their land is going to be flooded, they're against the dam.
FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.
The First Nations are against the dam
among other developments. The Blueberry River First Nation sued BC Hydro a crown corporation last March and I can't find the results of that suit. At one time they had launched 5 law suits altogether because:
To thine own self be true.
Several years ago, scientists performed a study
in the Experimental Lakes Area of northwestern Ontario, and discovered that counterintuitively, hydroelectric projects can release as much carbon as they save, by flooding areas covered in plants (including trees) and plant debris which then decompose in water to release carbon dioxide.
The Experimental Lakes Area, located in the heart of "canoe country", was slated for defunding by the Harper government in 2012. It was part of Harper's big anti-environmental-science putsch, in which they did things like had staffers go into facilities in Quebec and Manitoba and toss irreplaceable research resources into the dumpsters -- literally, barbarians trashing the libraries of the civilization they had decided to vandalize. They said they were open to handing the site over for management by other funding organizations, but sent Fisheries staff out to start dismantling the cabins before they began, nevermind concluded, any such negotiations.
The move was protested by scientists and scientific societies across Canada. Eventually, the ELA was saved by a consortium headed up by the IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development).
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
WE are hoping that Trudeau will bring back
the lakes and rivers and harbours under Federal control. At present our harbours are under a harbour authority that is in league with the tourist industry and big business. For example Victoria Harbour Authority is in bed with the Cruise Ship Industry which is the biggest industry in the world. The city has no authority over its harbour.
To thine own self be true.
Alarm bells
go off in my head regarding the negative effects the dam will have on so many different aspects of river health. One aspect often overlooked is migratory fish species. I spent several years doing surveys of migratory fish species populations and spawning habitat in relation to dam construction on the Snake River in Eastern Oregon and the results were never good. Those fisheries were already suffering from longterm damage to stream/river health done by heavy logging,mining and cattle grazing done way back in the late 1800s, and new dams had added insult to injury in a watershed that was already suffering.
I don't know what the history is of the Peace river watershed, but I found this Peace River Fisheries Investigation
Damage done to one simple aspect of a river, like the health of fish species can create cascading problems with the overall ecosystem. The results of this linked report show the potential damage will happen, that existing "baseline" data on fish populations is not current or sufficient, that threatened species do exist and that, there generally isn't enough data available to even consider how to comply with existing environmental regulations. In other words, it's just a bad deal, period. With dams come restricted flows that limit fish migrations, cause increased sediment that reduce spawning habitat, cause higher water temperatures that damage fisheries, increased sediments accumulate toxins etc etc. etc....
A healthy fishery is a healthy river/watershed. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. It breaks my heart to hear that this project is being rushed through in such a beautiful place and I wish opponents of it the very best of luck.
"So it goes."
Kurt Vonnegut
What is the status of the salmon spawning grounds? Do you know?
I used to know a little bit about this. I worry about the Salmon runs. Salmon populations.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Thank you for your good wishes and for your reply
DeSmog.ca has most of the information on the Site C dam.
The plans to save the bull trout are insane. Drive them past the dam in trucks for years.
BC Hydro's Bizarre, Multi-Million Dollar Boondoggle to Save Fish from Site C Dam
To thine own self be true.
But it will be so Beneficial ‽
Just think of all the recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat enhancement, irrigation projects, flood control, and energy production . . . a veritable cornucopia of goodness with absolutely no detrimental effects to consider. [What do you think: should I apply for the copywriter's job?]
I stood on the banks of the Columbia River contemplating what it would look like when the John Day's slack-water would approach the base of McNary. A few years later as the slack-water approached, an astrophysicist gave me a key piece of information: A well regulated system is a dying system. Heart rate too steady, thump-thump, heart failure imminent. Suspension bridge sways smoothly in the wind, swish-swish, Tacoma Narrows all over again. Walk a steady pace through the desert, shish-shish, the sandworms of ‽‽‽
The Columbia is a dying river system, it just looks okay to the non-cognoscenti. I am of Oregon, I expect stupidity in the realm of the familiar, I had hoped the "leaders" of British Columbia would know better.
Lovely copy, PriceRip
it sounds so familiar...and a fine snark, btw. Now Bonneville Power gets to reap the benefits of their well regulated system on the Columbia and gets tons of tax write-offs by periodically funding riparian re-hab projects upriver that are like putting a band-aid on a sliced jugular. Am sure they're a model program for the Peace River folks, too. There's so much money to be made on top of all the benefits you mentioned!
Marilyn - bull trout were a species upriver on the Snake River (that flows into the Columbia) and we wrote the docs for their listing as an endangered species in our watershed. Believe me, trucking them is not the answer, as you and any reasonable person knows, though it's a visual display that they sell as "doing something" that's supposedly technologically sound. Unfortunately dumping stressed fish into degraded habitat still sucks. My heart goes out to you guys!
"So it goes."
Kurt Vonnegut
Bonneville Power Administration
The BPA is a real thorn in my side. When I get moved to Medford, and thus have standing, I plan to start being a real pain in the ass from their point of view.
Fortunately, my electrical supplier offers a "BlueSky" Option that by contract sources my power from the sustainable side of the ledger. That would be the wind and solar projects from which BPA would like to decouple.
As for the Snake, I grew up in the coulee just downstream of its confluence with the Columbia. Your observation about the fisheries is spot on. The dams on the Columbia and the Snake have got to be removed. The sad part is that there is no reason to keep the four lower dams at all. Even I know how to keep the ports open at least to Umatilla Landing (It's less than 100 meters above sea level for crying out loud.).
LNG
LNG is a continuation of the climate/environmental disaster occurring on this planet. Whoever proposed it as a bridge to clean energy is a fool.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
LNG, liquified Natural Gas correction:
The corrected wording would be: Whoever proposed it as a bridge to clean energy is a liar. As a professional I can support this in a court of law.
It's more like a bridge to the Asian markets
BC doesn't need this "clean energy" (clean according to Obama and other politicians) but they hunger for it overseas so it must be liquefied and put in huge tankers. The LNG plants are the size of small towns, horrific intrusions in the landscape. Malaysia was trying to have one built on the north coast of BC's wilderness but I think the deal fell through. With one corrupt government dealing with another corrupt government that's bound to happen.
To thine own self be true.