Reaction is coming in strong to Wednesday’s approval over the Site C dam.
The Sierra Club called it “A dark day for BC”.
However, their campaigner against Site C Ana Simeon says they saw the stamp of approval coming.
“We do know that some Ministers in the cabinet were really concerned about the financial picture, we were hoping that some financial common sense would prevail,” she says. “We were hoping against hope, but as we see, the decision is there and we think it is a dam-shame.”
Simeon says the dam will flood over 80km of the Peace River, impacting First Nations’ land and farmers who can feed one million people.
“The [Joint Review] Panel report had all this data in it, that’s mostly why we are so disappointed that all of the findings and recommendations have been completely ignored,” she says. “From the fact that the panel found that BC Hydro has no proof that we even need the power to destroying such valuable farm land.”
Simeon says the province is exposing people to high debt and lawsuits from local First Nations.
“What we hear from Treaty 8 First Nations and their lawyers is that they are really hopeful that there is a strong case, both based on the panel’s findings that the impacts would be un-mitigable ,” she says. “There is no way that the $20 million that Premier Clark offered back when the environmental approval was given, to mitigate the impacts … you can’t mitigate with the complete destruction of a valley.”
Other groups, such as the Peace Valley Environment Association, Treaty 8 Chiefs, and the Green Party issued statements calling the dam a “disastrous decision”.
However some are throwing their support behind the dam’s approval, such as BC’s Association for Mineral Exploration.
Their CEO and President Gavin Derome says “Low-cost energy has been a major competitive advantage in our sector for many many years now and that is due to the legacy infrastructure that was put in place, decades ago.”
He says it will keep hydro costs low in the province and ensure industrial development will have the energy to move ahead.
“The greater good what we need to keep in mind here, with the number of exploration projects in the north, for future generations and their future generations,” he says.
Although Derome acknowledges potential impacts, saying “They need to be properly addressed with respect to the environment and First Nations’ rights and title issues.”
(Photo courtesy BC Hydro)
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