BC Hydro officials and members of Premier Christy Clark and Energy Minister Bill Bennett’s offices were all involved in a coordinated attempt to discredit DeSmog Canada’s reporting on the $8.8 billion Site C hydroelectric dam, according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The documents detail a flurry of
Continue readingAuthor: Sarah Cox
BC Hydro Plans to Expropriate Farmers’ Home for Site C Before Christmas
BC Hydro plans to expropriate the home of Peace Valley farmers Ken and Arlene Boon before Christmas, following the couple’s refusal to sign over their top class farmland for the Site C dam, DeSmog Canada has learned. The Boons said that the $8.8 billion dam could still be stopped and they
Continue readingFirst Nations Chiefs Say Site C Highway Route Will Desecrate Graves, BC Hydro Disagrees
The route chosen by BC Hydro for a Site C dam highway relocation will “desecrate” a First Nations burial ground and destroy a culturally significant site used by the Dunne-za people for millennia, says West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson. “This is a very serious matter,” Willson wrote in a
Continue readingFirst Nations Chiefs Say Site C Highway Route Will Desecrate Graves, BC Hydro Disagrees
The route chosen by BC Hydro for a Site C dam highway relocation will “desecrate” a First Nations burial ground and destroy a culturally significant site used by the Dunne-za people for millennia, says West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson. “This is a very serious matter,” Willson wrote in a
Continue readingBC Hydro Missed Rare and Endangered Species During Site C Environmental Assessment, New Research Shows
Scientists have discovered rare and notable species in the Site C dam flood zone that were missed in BC Hydro’s environmental assessment of the $8.8 billion project, including spider and true bug species new to Canada and bumblebee and snail species vulnerable to extinction. The findings underscore the rich biodiversity of
Continue readingBC Hydro Applies to Demolish Rare, Ancient Wetland for Site C Construction
Talk about the government fox guarding the hen house. BC Hydro has applied to the provincial government for a new license that will allow it to demolish Peace Valley protected old-growth forest, migratory bird habitat and a rare wetland for the Site C dam. Next up on the Site C
Continue readingIs B.C.’s Tunnel Vision Forcing out Solar Power?
A cute graphic of white houses with rooftop solar panels is featured on the U.S. Department of Energy’s website. “Solar Homes Sell for More Money,” the government tells viewers, citing studies that show solar adds an average US$15,000 to the resell value of a home.
“Just like a renovated kitchen or a finished basement increases a home’s value, solar has been shown to boost home valuation and shorten a home’s time on the market.”
In contrast to the U.S. government’s cheery promotion of solar, BC Hydro’s webpage called “Solar Power & Heating for Your Home” has a blurry photograph of a man putting on a sweater, and technical information that begins with the somber news that it will take a B.C. homeowner at least 20 years to recoup the cost of a solar installation.
“Do your research on the practicality of going solar in B.C.,” advises the webpage.
Is B.C.’s Tunnel Vision Forcing out Solar Power?
A cute graphic of white houses with rooftop solar panels is featured on the U.S. Department of Energy’s website. “Solar Homes Sell for More Money,” the government tells viewers, citing studies that show solar adds an average US$15,000 to the rese…
Continue readingU.S. Hydropower Vision Exposes B.C.’s Short-Sighted Thinking on Site C Dam
It sounds like a renewable energy utopia of the distant future.
Twelve million houses with roofs covered in solar panels. Wind turbines whipping the equivalent energy of 170 Site C dams onto the grid. A popular type of hydro called pumped storage, which often leaves a pinky toe of an environmental footprint compared to the imprint of large dams and their reservoirs.
But this is no futuristic climate-friendly Shangri-La. It’s all part of the U.S. government’s national Hydropower Vision for the next 15 to 35 years, a report unveiled in late July at the world’s largest annual hydro event in Minneapolis.
Developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the report outlines a very different energy path than the “one dam fits all” approach of the B.C. government, whose single-minded focus on building the $8.8 billion Site C dam on the Peace River blew the Canadian Wind Energy Association right out of the province earlier this year.
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U.S. Hydropower Vision Exposes B.C.’s Short-Sighted Thinking on Site C Dam
It sounds like a renewable energy utopia of the distant future.
Twelve million houses with roofs covered in solar panels. Wind turbines whipping the equivalent energy of 170 Site C dams onto the grid. A popular type of hydro called pumped storage, wh…
Continue readingSite C Dam Already Cost $314 Million More than Expected, Behind Schedule, New Documents Show
In only its earliest phases of construction, the Site C dam project has already spent more money than projected and missed key benchmarks, threatening to undermine Premier Christy Clark’s commitment to taxpayers to keep the project on budget and on …
Continue reading‘Our Way of Existence is Being Wiped Out’: B.C. First Nation Besieged by Industry
The B.C. government has significantly accelerated the rate and scale of industrial development in the Blueberry River First Nations’ traditional territory over the past four years despite knowledge of alarming impacts, says a major science report rel…
Continue readingBC Hydro Tells Farmers Fighting Site C Dam to Vacate Property By Christmas
Peace Valley farmers and outspoken critics of the Site C dam Ken and Arlene Boon say BC Hydro intends to force them from their third-generation family farm by the end of this year even though the dam would not flood their land until 2024.
The Boons r…
Continue readingBC Hydro Tells Farmers Fighting Site C Dam to Vacate Property By Christmas
Peace Valley farmers and outspoken critics of the Site C dam Ken and Arlene Boon say BC Hydro intends to force them from their third-generation family farm by the end of this year even though the dam would not flood their land until 2024.
The Boons r…
Continue readingBC Hydro Apologizes for Bennett Dam’s “Profound and Painful” Impact on First Nations at Gallery Opening
BC Hydro deeply regrets the impacts of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on First Nations and will not repeat the “mistakes of the past,” Hydro’s Deputy CEO Chris O’Riley said Thursday at the unveiling of a new First Nations gallery at the dam’s visitor…
Continue readingBC Hydro Apologizes for Bennett Dam’s ‘Profound and Painful’ Impact on First Nations at Gallery Opening
BC Hydro deeply regrets the impacts of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on First Nations and will not repeat the “mistakes of the past,” Hydro’s Deputy CEO Chris O’Riley said Thursday at the unveiling of a new First Nations gallery at the dam’s visitor…
Continue readingBC Hydro Suing Opponents of Site C Dam in SLAPP-style Suit, Legal Experts Say
Nothing remains at the Rocky Mountain Fort site where Peace Valley farmers and First Nations camped for 60 days in the hopes of stopping clear-cut logging for the Site C dam. The camp was dismantled in March and the old-growth spruce and cottonwood for…
Continue readingBC Hydro Suing Opponents of Site C Dam in SLAPP-style Suit, Legal Experts Say
Nothing remains at the Rocky Mountain Fort site where Peace Valley farmers and First Nations camped for 60 days in the hopes of stopping clear-cut logging for the Site C dam. The camp was dismantled in March and the old-growth spruce and cottonwood for…
Continue readingBC Hydro’s Bizarre, Multi-Million Dollar Boondoggle to Save Fish from Site C Dam
In a scenario that sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, bull trout and other fish will travel in trucks past the Site C dam for 100 years as part of BC Hydro’s strategy to save the threatened fish species from disappearing from the Peace Ri…
Continue readingBC Hydro Injunction Against Site C Dam Encampment ‘Fundamentally Flawed’: Former CEO Marc Eliesen
Former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen says BC Hydro’s claim that a one-year delay in Site C dam construction will add $420 million to the project’s $8.8 billion cost is “effectively illusionary” and based on “fundamentally flawed” analysis.
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