It's time to heat up the campaign to stop the Site C dam

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

October 15, 2014

Yesterday afternoon our governments in Victoria and in Ottawa announced that the Site C dam would be granted environmental assessment approval.

When I first heard this terrible news, it hit me like a sledgehammer. Since 2010 so many people have written countless letters to our governments, participated in protests and rallies and gathered together to paddle down the beautiful Peace River Valley.

The environmental assessment process essentially said that the Site C dam is not needed, and that flooding the Peace River Valley would cause irreparable harm to First Nations and to fish and wildlife populations.

If you're like me, you're probably wondering – What does this mean? How did it happen? What do we do now?

It means that the province is now in a position to give the go-ahead for construction of the Site C dam.

How did it happen? Powerful interests who stand to benefit from the construction of the dam have greatly influenced decision-making.

What do we do now? We fight back. We stop the Site C dam!

At stake is the beautiful Peace River Valley, and the people who live there. They do not want their hopes and dreams for the future to be flooded out. The Wilderness Committee stands with them.

Make no mistake about it. BC does not need the electricity and could only attempt to sell it on the market at a massive loss. Site C's $8 billion price tag would be added to BC Hydro's other obligations, which in themselves are predicted to send electricity rates and provincial debt through the roof.

The loss of prime farmland would be staggering – representing the largest deletion of food lands since the Agricultural Land Reserve came into effect forty years ago. All this at a time when our access to food produced in California is in question due to a worsening water crisis. Why, at a time when food prices continue to rise, would we even consider drowning so much farmland?

The Treaty 8 group of First Nations have vowed to fight the Site C dam in the courts. In the coming days, the Wilderness Committee will work with First Nations, local farmers and allied environmental groups to stop this damaging waste of money.

We've been in tough fights before. Fish Lake, the Elaho Valley and Clayoquot Sound were all difficult battles where we stood our ground and eventually prevailed.

With your continued support and help, we will stop the Site C Dam.

For the wild,

Joe Foy | National Campaign Director
Wilderness Committee