For Immediate Release -  December 5, 2008

Small BC Town Turns Out Big Crowd Questioning Controversial Power Project

Vancouver, BC – A public meeting held last night in Pemberton, BC turned out over 200 people to hear about a controversial private hydropower project slated for development on the Ryan River. The power development, proposed by Regional Power Inc, a subsidiary of the multibillion dollar corporation Manulife Financial, is a large 145 megawatt project that would be located in the middle of important grizzly bear habitat.

Last night over 200 people came out to the meeting because they are concerned about the serious lack of planning and accountability surrounding private power projects in BC, said Gwen Barlee, policy director with the Wilderness Committee. People are concerned about the area’s endangered grizzly population and that Ryan River is supposed to be off-limits to private power. They are also concerned that no one is looking at the overall impacts of the dozens and dozens of power projects that are slated for development in the Sea-to-Sky corridor.

The event was co-hosted by Regional Power Inc., and the BC Environmental Assessment Office. The meeting was slated to run from 4 to 9 PM, but ran an hour late because of critical questions from the audience.

The company rep who spoke to the crowd predicted that if they get government permission to divert the Ryan River into a 10 kilometre long tunnel, there’s going to be more fish, more grizzlies and more tourists. The public just wasn’t buying it though. I heard more than a few snickers at the company’s outlandish claims, said Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee National Campaign Director.

Public concern over private hydro projects has grown since 2002 when the BC government announced a new energy plan that forbade BC Hydro from producing new sources of hydroelectricity. This directive led to a gold rush by the private sector to stake rivers and creeks for power production. Since 2001, over 100 water licenses have been granted for private hydro projects, and 550 additional applications are pending.

Situated in the Pemberton Valley, the Ryan River is an important wildlife area with a threatened population of grizzly bears. Due to high wildlife values the Ryan River was one of 11 rivers in the area recommended to be off-limits to private power development through the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and stakeholder recommendations in the Sea-to-Sky land use plan.

Currently there are over 100 private hydro projects approved or proposed for the Sea-to-Sky corridor, each one assessed by the BC government as a one-off. Due to the passing of Bill 30 in 2006, which removed the right of local governments to zone for power projects, there is no regional planning process in place to evaluate the cumulative impacts of multiple projects within an area. Typically, private hydro developments come with new transmission lines, logging, roads, blasting, river diversion and large pipes to divert river flow.

The Wilderness Committee is calling for hydropower to be publicly owned, regionally planned, acceptable to First Nations and environmentally appropriate. Additional public meetings about the Ryan River private power project are scheduled for early 2009. Exact dates and times have not yet been confirmed.

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For more information please contact: Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee, 604-683-8220 (w) or 604-202-0322 (c) Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee, 604-683-8220 (w) or 604-880-2580 (c)