A mix of of issues, political, practical and provocative, peppered a run-of-river hydro proponent Wednesday in Chilliwack, and the federal and provincial agents whose job it is to approve or to deny the projects.

Not all run-of-river projects are approved, Kathy Eichenberger, a project assessment director at the BC Environmental Assessment Office, said in response to one cynic at the open house meeting.

"Sometimes they hit a wall, an environmental wall or a First Nations wall," she said, or they choose not to proceed for reasons not necessarily known to the EAO.

"A clear majority have not made it through (the process)," she said, contrary to a claim by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee that a "gold rush" of run-of-river power projects is underway as private companies have staked out hundreds on B.C. creeks and streams.

Cloudworks Energy is proposing four projects on creeks that drain into Harrison Lake - Statlu, Tretheway, Shovel and Big Silver - after successfully building six in the same general area, two in partnership with the Douglas and Chehalis First Nations.

WCWC policy director Gwen Barlee warned B.C. taxpayers at the Chilliwack meeting that they would be "on the hook" for higher hydro rates charged by private companies as B.C. Hydro has been "forbidden" by the provincial government from producing new public sources of hydroelectricity.

Barlee also said the WCWC made freedom of information searches of past projects by Cloudworks, and got back documents detailing "thousands of environmental transgressions ... poor construction, destruction of fish habitat, landslides, repeated (instances of) non-compliance and not complying with their own environmental management plan."

Cloudworks environmental vice-president, Matt Kennedy, admitted some mistakes had been made in the past.

But he said the company "tries to build these projects as responsibly and cleanly as possible" and spends $1 million a year on "operational monitoring" every year for the first five years of a project's life, in addition to annual reports.

"We don't want to make the same mistakes twice," he said.

Federal fisheries habitat engineer Vince Busto agreed there had been problems at earlier Cloudworks projects, but they were "largely due to sediment issues."

"It's not always Cloudwork's fault," he added. "They've got contractors working for them."

Eichenberger also admitted mistakes had been made in the past by the EAO, but assured the Chilliwack meeting that changes have been made to tighten up compliance and monitoring requirements.

"We need to do a better job in coordinating our environmental monitoring," she said.

But Peter Endisch, from the Tri-City Green Council, wasn't buying it.

"How can you stand there and tell me you're going to do a better job?," he said, given cuts made to ministry staff.

"How can you oversee them all," he said, about the run-of-river projects. "Without oversight, there's going to be no accountability."

Eichenberger agreed more oversight is needed, which she suggested could be accomplished by "better coordination" of government resources.

"We know we have to step up and increase our oversight, I agree with you on that," she said.

One participant suggested that environmental monitors, usually paid by the proponent, are not independent enough to report violations, and that a list of "approved" biologists should be drawn up to do the work instead.

Practical questions were also asked at the meeting, like how to coordinate logging activities with project construction, how contractors can apply for work, and how wildlife like mountain goats, grizzly bears and black tail deer will be managed.

Run-of-river proponents are required to make compensation for lost fish habitat, but Busto said fish ladders are not considered to introduce fish above existing natural barriers like waterfalls.

For more information on the Cloudworks projects, and access to EAO documents, including public comments, go to www.eao.gov.bc.ca

Information is also available at public libraries in Chilliwack and Agassiz.

If Cloudworks meets the EAO's draft application information requirements, a second public consultation meeting will be held.

Photo: Cloudworks Ltd. private hyrdo power plant under construction on Tipella Creek in 2008.