British Columbia’s auditor general says she expects to have details of her review into the contentious Site C dam within the next few months, but cautions opponents that she doesn’t have the authority to reverse government decisions.
Carol Bellringer issued her latest audit coverage plan this month, an 18-page document outlining the reviews her office will undertake through to 2018-19. The plan includes a review of BC Hydro’s rate-regulated accounting practices and the $8.8-billion Site C project, the scope of both being listed as “to be determined.”
While her review of the dam appears to have been scaled back from Bellringer’s 2015 report—when the review was listed to investigate “whether BC Hydro’s recommendation and government’s decision to build Site C was supported by sufficient information and analysis to demonstrate that it would meet government’s economic, social and environmental goals”– Bellringer says the audit is still in the planning stage.
“Last year was the first year that we put out the plan and we actually put in a description against all of the projects,” Bellringer said.
“This year, when we were updating it, we only put in the description in where we’ve actually completed our planning and we’ve issued what we call a notice of examination.
“With Site C, we’re still in the planning process, so we haven’t decided what we’re going to look at. What we described last year is still a possibility, but obviously with a project that large we can look at many different aspects of it and we’re still trying to decide which way it’s going to go.”
Bellringer expects the easy work, the planning, to be completed soon, with details to be released through her website.
“The tough part comes in with the level of spending we’re talking about, because we are certainly concerned about cost containment,” she said. “So while looking at the decision itself useful in the context of other decisions that could be made in the future, we have to make sure it has some benefit going forward.”
A number of legal challenges against the dam and various permits are working their way through the courts, with rulings that have so far been made in BC Hydro’s or government’s favour.
Bellringer cautioned she has no authority to overturn the decision to build the dam, but can find oversight errors, as well as gaps in reporting and the budgeting process.
“Site C is a very politically-charged topic. We’re not permitted to look into the areas of policy, so we can’t second guess a decision that government has made,” she said.
“There is certainly a lot of groups, people, opposition to the project who are basically looking to us and ... hoping we will stop the project. That’s not the kind of work we do.”
Bellringer doesn’t anticipate releasing any reports during next spring’s election campaign, and couldn’t provide a timeline on when her audit of the dam will be delivered.
“It’ll depend where we land,” she said. “This adds another dimension to that given it takes so long for the construction to take place. This very well may be something we’re watching over the life of the dam build.”
Bellringer will also audit rate-regulated accounting at BC Hydro, and the expenditures the utility has been putting into deferral accounts to be paid in the future.
“The question with that is whether the deferral accounts are at a level where the plans are feasible, that the kinds of amounts that are being brought into the future can indeed be brought into future rates without a significant unplanned hit to the rate,” she said.
“The accounts are quite large, the risk has gone up, so we do want to take a close look.”
