Fort St. John – October may be power smart month for BC Hydro, but First Nations leaders say the province isn’t being smart about its next major energy project.
In a speech last week to a room full of oil and gas executives, Treaty 8 Tribal Chief Liz Logan said the proposed Site C hydroelectric project poses far more environmental risks to B.C. than the government is letting on.
Worse yet, she said the government’s new regulatory regime might overlook those risks during the project’s assessment phase.
“What we find to be very concerning in the context of hydroelectric energy development is the almost universal acceptance of these projects as green, clean and environmentally friendly,” Logan said.
Her comments came during the opening remarks of an energy conference in Fort St. John, a two-day event that hosted hundreds of business and government leaders from B.C. and Alberta.
For the business community, Site C represents long-term additional power capacity for the entire province, which would help keep electricity rates low.
The project would also provide stable system capacity that could support intermittent wind and solar projects in the northeast, many of which are backed by Vancouver-based companies.
Victoria announced plans to develop the project in April, saying it would produce 4,600 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, or enough to power 410,000 homes per year.
But the government’s new Clean Energy Act contains legislation that would exempt Site C from a British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) review.
The BCUC’s primary responsibility is to act as a watchdog for the province’s natural gas and electricity utilities.
Logan called on Victoria to reinstate the BCUC’s oversight capacity for Site C and asked the government to fund independent studies that would look at alternatives to Site C and fully address its impacts. She added that Site C would damage fish and animal habitats, First Nations graveyards and forests.
The dam would also flood and destroy 7,000 acres of farmland, Logan said.
Minutes after Logan left the stage, B.C. Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Bill Bennett hit back at her concerns.
“Energy is the lifeblood of our society and our economy … I think it’s fair to say I don’t see the world the same way as Chief Logan does on this point. I think British Columbia is leading in terms of developing renewable technologies and green energy.”
Dan Doyle, chairman of BC Hydro, said the utility is working hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the province.
He explained that B.C. currently imports 10% of its energy needs, and nearly three-quarters of the greenhouse gas emissions the energy sector creates stem from that 10%.
He said BC Hydro needs to fix that, but not at a cost to the environment.
“I take Chief Logan’s words very much to heart,” Doyle said. “We are very much interested in ensuring that we leave a legacy of energy in this province – one that’s not built on anything but sound environmental stewardship.”