Site C dam

Site C
Location of Site C in British Columbia
Official name Site C Project
Location British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates 56°11′41″N 120°54′51″W / 56.19472°N 120.91417°W / 56.19472; -120.91417Coordinates: 56°11′41″N 120°54′51″W / 56.19472°N 120.91417°W / 56.19472; -120.91417
Opening date 2024 (planned)
Construction cost C$9 billion, est.
Owner(s) BC Hydro
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Earth fill[1]
Impounds Peace River
Height 60m[1]
Length 1,050m[1]
Reservoir
Surface area 9,330 ha[1]
Power station
Installed capacity 1,100 MW[1] (max); Average - 580 MW
Annual generation 5,100 GWh[1]

The Site C Dam is a project by BC Hydro for a large-scale earth fill hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in north-eastern British Columbia, Canada.[1] The site is downstream from the existing W.A.C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams. Designs call for an estimated peak capacity of approximately 1,100 MW , and average output of 680 MW, and an annual output of 5,100 GWh of electricity.[2] This will be the first large dam built in BC since 1984 and BC's fourth largest producer of electricity.

Treaty 8 First Nations, and local landowners have initiated legal challenges to the dam.[3] In addition, over 200 scientists, and the Royal Society of Canada, have expressed their concerns to the federal Liberal government, citing weaknesses in the regulatory review process and the environmental assessment for the project.[4][5] The federal government has declined to intervene to halt dam construction.[6]

History

If built, it would be the third of four major dams on the Peace River that were initially proposed in the mid-twentieth century. The first project is the flagship W. A. C. Bennett Dam 19 kilometres west of Hudson's Hope. The Bennett Dam was completed in 1967 and began operation in 1968. Construction of the Peace Canyon Dam was completed in 1980 at a point 23 km downstream of the W. A. C. Bennett dam. The third dam,"Site C," was also proposed at the time for a site 83 km downriver of the Peace Canyon dam, or approximately 7 km southwest of Fort St. John. Site C would flood 83 km of the Peace River, widening it by up to 3 times, as well as 10 km of the Moberly and 14 km of the Halfway Rivers. The fourth proposed dam on the BC segment of the Peace River, Site E, near the BC/Alberta border was taken off the planning process during hearings in 1982.

The Site C dam was turned down after BC Utilities Commission hearings in between 1981 and 1983.[7] The commission was critical of BC Hydro's forecasting methods, as it "neither explicitly [took] energy prices into account nor rely on statistically significant past patterns of behaviour".[7] In 2010, the Clean Energy Act exempted the project from further BC Utilities Commission Review.[8] It has since come under review as BC Hydro reconsiders expansion of its dam capacity on the Peace.[2]

In April 2010, the provincial government announced plans to advance planning for the facility, moving it to the regulatory review phase.[2] The review was mandated under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012) and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act (BCEAA). To avoid duplication, the governments of Canada and British Columbia, set up a joint review panel (JRP).[9]

In October 2014, Site C received environmental assessment approvals from the federal and provincial governments after a three-year environmental review, including a federal/provincial Joint Review Panel process. In December 2014, the provincial government announced a final investment decision, approving the construction of the hydroelectric project at a cost of $8.335 billion, as well as a project reserve of $440 million. A notice of Site C construction commencing in 2015 was issued in July 2015.[10]

By March 2016, construction of the dam was well under way. BC Premier Christy Clark's stated intention is to get dam construction “to the point of no return” before the provincial election in May, 2017. BC Hydro estimates that by then construction contracts worth at least $4-billion will be locked in.[11]

The project has sparked controversy for a number of reasons: First Nations treaty rights are at issue,[12] the dam is thought by many to be economically unviable, and there are concerns about the loss of agriculturally productive land and the overall environmental impact.[13] The federal/provincial Joint Review Panel found that the need for the electricity had not been clearly demonstrated, nor were alternatives to the project evaluated.[9]

Cost

A cost estimate produced during the 2007 feasibility study placed the financial cost at a maximum of C$6.6 billion based on the 1981 design, safety, and engineering standards.[14][15] An updated cost projection was released in May 2011 placing the estimated cost at $7.9 billion,[16] which was revised to $8.3 billion in 2014.[15] This does not include the cost of a transmission line to major population centres, estimated to be in the range of $743 million additional, bringing the total estimated cost to approximately $9 billion.[17] Some experts have stated that the costs may reach as high as $11 to 12 billion.[18]

Economic estimates in 2016 by Harry Swain, former chair of the Joint Review Panel and former BC deputy minister of Industry, projected that as little as $1.8 billion would be returned, and the rest ($7 billion) of the cost would be covered by taxpayers. Power consumption has not been increasing despite increasing population.[19]

Legal challenges

Members of the Treaty 8 First Nations boycotted the official Site C announcement ceremony at the Bennett Dam in April 2010,[12] and the West Moberly First Nation publicly stated that it was considering legal action to oppose the dam.[12] In April, 2016, a group of landowners and farmers from BC’s Peace River Valley launched a legal challenge to the project. The landowners' case states that the Provincial government ignored concerns about the project raised by the Joint Review Panel, including its cost, failure to demonstrate the need for the project, and lack of evaluation of alternatives.[3]

Also in April, 2016 BC Treaty 8 First Nations filed a legal challenge in the Supreme Court of BC. In addition to these two provincial challenges, both the Peace Valley Landowners’ Association and BC Treaty 8 First Nations have initiated actions against the project in the federal court of Canada. A request to expedite these cases by BC Hydro, so as to clear the way for summer construction, was dismissed by the court. Similar cases are being brought by Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations, along with a "sweeping challenge" by the Blueberry River First Nation citing "a century of broken treaty promises to be able to continue practicing their traditions on the land."[3]

Scientists' concerns

In May, 2016 a group of over 200 leading Canadian scholars signed a letter raising serious concerns about the process used to approve the Site C dam. The Royal Society of Canada took the "unusual step" of writing a separate supporting letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.[20] The letter from "Concerned Scientists" summarized their concerns in the following statement: "Our assessment is that this process did not accord with the commitments of both the provincial and federal governments to reconciliation with and legal obligations to First Nations, protection of the environment, and evidence-based decision-making with scientific integrity."[4] The scientists argued that the environment impacts of the dam and the lack of First Nations consent, make the dam a "'bellwether' of the Trudeau government's commitment to develop resources in a more science-based, sustainable and socially responsible way."[5] The federal government rejected the scientists' call to halt construction. Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna's office stated that the government had "no intention to revisit the Site C environmental assessment."[6]

Opposition party's position

BC's opposition New Democratic Party has promised that, if it wins the next election, it will have the B.C. Utilities Commission review the costs and the actual need for the project. Hydro critic Adrian Dix called the B.C. Liberal government “reckless” in pushing ahead without such a review, as had been recommended by the Joint Review Panel led by Harry Swain.[11]

Agrarian impacts

The Site C project will result in the largest exclusion of land in the 40-year history of BC's Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Of the land to be flooded, there are 2,601 hectares (6,430 acres) of Class 2 ALR land within the project activity zone. Permanent losses are estimated at 541 ha (1,340 acres) of currently cultivated land and 1,183 ha (2,920 acres) of land under grazing licence or lease areas. In all, 2,775 ha (6,860 acres) of land will be removed from the ALR for the project. The Joint Review Panel accepted BC Hydro’s assessment that "production from the Peace River bottomlands is small and is certainly not important in the context of B.C." The Panel’s assessment of earning potential in the next several decades led them to conclude that, "the highest and best use of the Peace River valley would appear to be as a reservoir."[9]

The panel's view is not shared by agrologist Wendy Holm, past president of the B.C. Institute of Agrologists, who provided expert testimony before the Joint Federal Provincial Panel on the agricultural impact of the project. According to Holm, the part of the Peace River Valley that would be flooded by the Site C dam could meet the nutritional requirements of over one million people a year. Holm stated that the Peace Valley, with its fertile alluvial soils and class one microclimate, is capable of producing the same range of crops that can be grown in the Fraser Valley, 1,200 km (750 mi) to the south. Higher yields are possible due to long summer days, making it "the only large tract of land for future horticultural expansion in the province." She noted the importance of the Valley for future food security of the province in that more than two thirds of B.C. vegetables are imported, mostly from drought-plagued California. The Peace Valley is closer (than California) to the Fraser Valley and is far closer to communities in northern B.C., the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.[21]

According to David Suzuki, flooding valuable farmland to build the dam will undermine Canada's international commitments under the Paris Agreement. Suzuki considers the farmland essential to reduce B.C.'s dependence on imported foods and minimize the carbon fuels needed to transport those foods: "It seems to me crazy to put farmland in the north underwater," Suzuki said. "We live in a food chain now in which food grows on average 3,000 kilometres from where it's consumed. The transport of all that food is dependent on fossil fuels. Food has got to be grown much closer to where it's going to be consumed."[22]

Alternatives

When BC Hydro buys power from Independent Power Producers they set a price as low as $76.20 per megawatt hour for intermittent power from wind farms, and as high as $133.80 for firm hydropower. The average price paid, as of 2010 was $100 per megawatt hour.[23] Site C is expected to cost $83 per megawatt hour for firm hydropower.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Backgrounder: About Site C" (PDF). BC Hydro. Retrieved 4 Feb 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Province announces Site C Clean Energy Project". BC Hydro. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Gillis, Damien (April 22, 2015). "Landowners launch Site C Dam court challenge, First Nations next". Common Sense Canadian. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Site C: Statement by Concerned Scholars, Program of Water Governance, University of British Columbia, Retrieved: 2016-06-22
  5. 1 2 Cheadle, Bruce (May 24, 2016). "Royal Society of Canada, academics, call Site C dam a test for Trudeau Liberals". The Canadian Press. CTV News. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  6. 1 2 McCarthy, Shawn (May 24, 2016). "Ottawa pushes ahead with Site C dam amid opposition from academics". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  7. 1 2 H, M. "BC Hydro Energy Project Certificate Application for Site C - British Columbia Utilities Commission". www.ordersdecisions.bcuc.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  8. ↑ "Clean Energy Act". www.bclaws.ca. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  9. 1 2 3 Swain, Harry; Beaudet, Jocelyne; Mattison, James (May 2014), Site C Clean Energy Project (PDF), Minister of the Environment, Government of Canada and Minister of Environment, Government of British Columbia, retrieved 2016-07-11
  10. ↑ "Notice of Site C Construction Activities" (PDF) (Press release). BC Hydro. July 8, 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  11. 1 2 "Site C not the best choice for B.C.’s energy needs, report author says"
  12. 1 2 3 Burrows, Matthew (22 April 2010). "Natives plan to fight Site C dam planned for Peace River". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  13. ↑ McElroy, Justin (December 16, 2014). "Everything you need to know about the Site C dam". Global News. British Columbia. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Tab for Site C dam could hit $6.6 billion". Vancouver Sun. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  15. 1 2 "Frequently Asked Questions". Site C Clean Energy Project. BC Hydro. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
  16. ↑ Garstin, Michaela (26 May 2011). "Total projected cost of Site C dam to be $7.9 billion". Northeast News. Fort St. John, British Columbia. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  17. ↑ https://www.biv.com/article/2015/12/editorial-cost-uncertainty-site-c-certainty/
  18. ↑ Gilchrist, Emma (August 5, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE: Site C Dam 'Devastating' for British Columbians, Says Former CEO of BC Hydro". DeSmogCanada. Victoria, British Columbia. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  19. ↑ "Opinion: Site C: Truly awful economics". 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
  20. ↑ Over 200 leading scholars call on government to suspend Site C dam
  21. ↑ Holm, Wendy (July 2, 2016). "Why all the fuss over the Site C dam?". The Georgia Straight. Vancouver, British Columbia. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  22. ↑ Suzuki, David (July 2, 2016). "Site C Is a Climate-Change Disaster, Says Suzuki". The Tyee. Vancouver, British Columbia. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  23. ↑ Simpson, Scott (August 4, 2010). "Hydro paying average $100 per megawatt hour for new IPP power". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  24. ↑ https://www.bchydro.com/news/press_centre/news_releases/2014/site-c-environmental-approval.html

External links

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