Five-dam proposal in West Kootenay riles residents
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Province
Diverse groups unite in concern over potential environmental impact
West Kootenay citizens are fighting a pending run-of-river power project as hard as the bull trout, a tenacious sport fish that the multi-dam proposal endangers, according to a new report.
Purcell Green Power Inc.'s proposal for five dams on two whitewater creeks, Glacier and Howser, is in the environmental-assessment process. The private company has already signed an energy-purchase agreement for about 90 megawatts with B.C. Hydro.
The dam plan has riled a wide cross-section of nature lovers and tourism-oriented business owners in the region, with more than 1,100 people flooding an Environmental Assessment Office town-hall meeting in Kaslo in June to voice opposition to the project, says Lee-Ann Unger of the West Kootenay Eco-Society.
More than 1,000 environmental-impact statements have been submitted and more than 90 per cent of those are negative, according to Unger's count. The Environmental Assessment Office is reviewing submissions.
Unger says one particular submission, from the Ktunaxa First Nation, Okanagan Nation Alliance and Department of Fisheries and Oceans, proves the Glacier/Howser project should be rejected "out of hand."
Project plans don't justify the potential impact to the fish and fish-habitat resources in Glacier and Howser Creeks, the joint report says.
The report says losing bull trout will have negative social and economic impact in the region.
Al Richardson, a fishing guide of First Nations heritage, says the report verifies his fears. The dams will make some of the "best bull-trout fishing on the planet," history, he says.
"Anything spawning in these two rivers is basically gone -- I won't be in business," Richardson told The Province. "It brings tears to my heart."
Unger said statements by Environment Minister Barry Penner in a letter to lawmakers in California, who were concerned about environmental standards for river power production in B.C., mean the Glacier/Howser project should be tossed.
A run-of-river project's owner must meet specific fish-centric conditions and must maintain adequate stream flows from a biological perspective, Penner wrote to California's renewable energy committee in March.
"Really, if Penner is going to stand on his word [Glacier/Howser] should be halted immediately," Unger said.
Penner declined a request for an interview, as the proposal is under environmental assessment.
West Kootenay citizens are fighting a pending run-of-river power project as hard as the bull trout, a tenacious sport fish that the multi-dam proposal endangers, according to a new report.
Purcell Green Power Inc.'s proposal for five dams on two whitewater creeks, Glacier and Howser, is in the environmental-assessment process. The private company has already signed an energy-purchase agreement for about 90 megawatts with B.C. Hydro.
The dam plan has riled a wide cross-section of nature lovers and tourism-oriented business owners in the region, with more than 1,100 people flooding an Environmental Assessment Office town-hall meeting in Kaslo in June to voice opposition to the project, says Lee-Ann Unger of the West Kootenay Eco-Society.
More than 1,000 environmental-impact statements have been submitted and more than 90 per cent of those are negative, according to Unger's count. The Environmental Assessment Office is reviewing submissions.
Unger says one particular submission, from the Ktunaxa First Nation, Okanagan Nation Alliance and Department of Fisheries and Oceans, proves the Glacier/Howser project should be rejected "out of hand."
Project plans don't justify the potential impact to the fish and fish-habitat resources in Glacier and Howser Creeks, the joint report says.
The report says losing bull trout will have negative social and economic impact in the region.
Al Richardson, a fishing guide of First Nations heritage, says the report verifies his fears. The dams will make some of the "best bull-trout fishing on the planet," history, he says.
"Anything spawning in these two rivers is basically gone -- I won't be in business," Richardson told The Province. "It brings tears to my heart."
Unger said statements by Environment Minister Barry Penner in a letter to lawmakers in California, who were concerned about environmental standards for river power production in B.C., mean the Glacier/Howser project should be tossed.
A run-of-river project's owner must meet specific fish-centric conditions and must maintain adequate stream flows from a biological perspective, Penner wrote to California's renewable energy committee in March.
"Really, if Penner is going to stand on his word [Glacier/Howser] should be halted immediately," Unger said.
Penner declined a request for an interview, as the proposal is under environmental assessment.
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Anti Kinder Morgan Pipeline Protest Rally and March, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Photo credit: Michael Wheatley
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