News Release - May 8, 2014

Governments must abandon plans to build Site C, says Wilderness Committee

VANCOUVER – Today’s release of the joint federal-provincial environmental assessment report on the Site C dam states that there is no demonstrated need for the project, and that the project poses a "significant adverse effect" on traditional uses of the land by First Nations, some of which "cannot be mitigated."

In its 471-page report, the Joint Review Panel made 50 recommendations and many conclusions about the risks and impacts associated with the $8-billion megaproject. In regards to the overall need for the project, the Panel concluded that “the Proponent has not fully demonstrated the need for the Project on the timetable set forth.”

The Wilderness Committee has long stated that electricity from the Site C dam is not needed – in fact, the province is suffering through a glut of expensive electricity that is currently being sold at a loss.

“The construction of the Site C dam would only make the terrible financial situation at BC Hydro even worse,” said Wilderness Committee Campaign Director Joe Foy. “It appears that the Joint Review Panel understood that there is simply no demonstrated need for the Site C dam.”

The Panel’s other conclusions acknowledge “significant adverse effects on fish and fish habitat,” significant effects on at-risk and sensitive ecological communities and "a significant adverse effect on wetlands."

“In its report, the Panel lists quite a number of serious environmental, Aboriginal and cost impacts. It is because of these very issues that we have been saying all along the Site C dam should never be built,” said Foy.

The dam would flood a total of 107 kilometres of valley-bottom lands along the Peace River and its tributaries, including many hectares of agricultural land.
The provincial and federal governments will review the Panel’s findings in the coming months and announce their final decisions on the Site C dam. Foy hopes that in the face of the significant concerns raised in this environmental assessment report, both governments will announce that they have abandoned plans to build the dam on the Peace River much earlier than that.

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For more information, contact:

Joe Foy | National Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee
604-683-8220 (office), 604-880-2580 (cell)

Hi-res images and b-roll available upon request.

Top photo: Farmland lines the banks of the Peace River Valley, much of which would be flooded if the Site C dam goes ahead. (Don Hoffmann)