Is history
about to repeat itself? Sadly this appears to be the case as about 30 people
heard at the College of the Rockies last week when they attended a presentation
on BC Hydro’s plans for the Site C dam on the Peace River.
Come
hell or high water, Hydro appears totally determined to go ahead with the
controversial, $8 billion dam on the already heavily dammed river and the
provincial government appears eager to help them. So eager, in fact, that in
2010 Victoria removed the independent oversight that normally accompanies
billion dollar projects like this by taking the BC Utilities Commission out of
the picture. It’s the Commission’s job to determine whether projects like this
and the environmental impacts caused by them are in the public interest. But this won’t be the case with the Site C
even though the 280 ft. high dam will create a 50 mile long reservoir on the
Peace flooding almost 8,000 acres of Class 1 and 2 farm land that could feed
northerners and other British Columbians for untold decades to come.
Sound
familiar?
Well,
if you’re as old as I am – and this ill-advised project makes me feel very old
– and if you grew up in the Kootenays, you may remember the signing of the
Columbia River Treaty in 1964. In those days, environmental assessments and
regulatory bodies to give expert advice on the validity of projects were almost
unknown. Instead it was politicians talking to politicians with a few engineers
thrown in the mix. As for the people flooded out of their homes and land, it
was a case of “eminent domain,” the government, or a
Crown corporation like BC Hydro, had virtually a carte blanche right to seize
your home and property and offer you whatever compensation they felt fit. Like it or lump it. That’s the way it was. Now, fast
forward 50 years and things are done so much more civilized and fairly. Right?
Well,
if you believe that I’ve got a nickel for you from the Tooth Fairy and they
soon won’t be making nickels either.
Outside
the rolling, green hills of the Peace River country, few British Columbians
even know about the Site C project or care. No public hearings have been held
south of Prince George while most public concern in the province has been
focused on Enbridge, the Northern Gateway Pipeline and the specter of oil
tankers cruising down BC’s treacherous coast. And this is exactly the way BC Hydro
and the provincial government wants it. But in the Throne Speech this week, BC
Premier Christy Clark tipped her hand as to what Site C is really about,
fulfilling her dream – pipe dream many would say – of a $1 trillion “Prosperity
Fund” that will pull British Columbia out of the economic doldrums and usher in
a new golden era of wealth for the province that will put flat screen TV’s in
every household, pay off the province’s $56 billion debt – and the ultimate
stretch – pay for removal of the
provincial sales tax someday.
Even
Bill Vander Zalm in his wildest dreams never came out with anything as
fannnntastic as this!
But
let’s get back to reality. How’s Clark going to finance her unbelievable scheme? As she made clear in the Throne
Speech, BC is to become the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) capital of the world.
And how do you make LNG? With lots of electricity. Cheap electricity. And where
is a big chunk of this supposedly “cheap” electricity going to come from? (This
is too easy.) It’s going to come from the Site C dam, a project rejected by the
Utilities Commission and the government
more than 40 years ago as too costly and environmentally damaging. And where
does Shell plan to build its first LNG plant?
In Kitimat, of course, from where it will be shipped to Asia where all
those flat screen TV’s and trinkets come from. In other words, Clark’s grand
scheme is yet another giveaway to the oil and gas companies financed by a
publicly-owned utility that’s supposed to be working for us.
If
this ghastly scheme succeeds, say hello to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline
and remember to wave when you see those tankers cruise by.
Gerry Warner is a
retired journalist and Cranbrook City Councillor. His opinions are his own.
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