Victoria has given Kwoiek Creek Resources LP its environmental assessment certificate for a $150 million run-of-river project located 29 kilometres north of Boston Bar.
The Environmental Assessment Office concluded that the 50-megawatt project, located on Kwoiek Creek near Nanaka Bar, won't have any significant adverse effects on the local eco-system with the 74 mitigation measures required for the project.
Those measures include:
providing fish passage around the structure;
maintaining in-stream flows to protect fish and fish habitat; and
developing mitigation, access management and monitoring in consultation with regulatory agencies.
As part of the project, which is a joint venture between the Kanaka Bar Indian Band and Innergex II Power Trust, an 80-kilometre transmission line will also be built between the hydroelectric generator and the Highland Valley substation near Ashcroft.
The project's two-year construction period is expected to create up to 120 construction, service and support jobs in the community. The joint venture has committed to offering employment for workers from local First Nations communities. It will also pay the B.C. government $670,000 a year in water rental fees and another $600,000 a year in rural property taxes.
The project still needs to obtain provincial licences, leases and other approvals.