For immediate release - Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wilderness Committee wades into Private Power fight on the Sunshine Coast

Vancouver, BC As the fight to stop the exponential growth of private hydropower projects across the province grows, a number of hotspots around the province have emerged. High on that list is the Sunshine Coast-Powell River region, which is home to over 180 river diversion applications more than any other area in the province.

Wednesday December 10th is the first public hearing on an application by Stlixwim Hydro Corp for an environmental assessment certification for their "Stlixwim Renewable Energy Initiative" project.
The public meeting is being co-hosted by Stlixwim Hydro Corp., and the BC governments Environmental Assessment Office.

The open house is from 5-8:30 PM at the Seaside Center (5790 Teredo St.) in Sechelt with a Question and Answer session beginning at 7 PM. It is expected to draw scores of local citizens. Among points of contention are the lack of regional planning, the negative impact on fish and marbled murrelet habitat, and new transmission line corridors.

"People are concerned for a lot of reasons," commented Gwen Barlee policy director with the Wilderness Committee. "The Sunshine Coast has 186 private power projects applications slated for this areas streams and rivers. The BC government has prevented local governments from planning for these developments, there is no assessment of the cumulative impact of the projects, and the vast majority of the developments proceed with no environmental assessment. People are starting to realize that putting corporations in charge of hundreds of our rivers could be a huge problem."

Stlixwim Hydro Corp has applied to the BC government for permission to construct a large 62 megawatt private hydropower project that would divert water from the lakes and streams that flow into Narrows Inlet at 19 different points.

This development will involve clearing a right of way for an 8.5 km transmission line that crosses under the Sechelt Inlet, near the mouth of the Skookumchuck Narrows, then crosses over the Caren Range, finally connecting to BC Hydros transmission lines near the south end of Ruby Lake. It also involves building three dams.

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

The Wilderness Committee calls for hydropower to be publicly owned, regionally planned, acceptable to First Nations and environmentally appropriate.

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For more information please contact: Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee, 604-202-0322