The B.C. Utilities Commission is finally empowered to review the financial implications of the Site C Dam — great news for many reasons.
First and foremost, we don’t need it. Despite the previous government’s inflated predictions, B.C.’s need for power has been flat since 2005. Power generated would be sold off at bargain prices and our hydro rates would sky rocket. The final tally to build Site C will far exceed the $9 billion the B.C. Liberals projected. Their government stole billions from B.C. Hydro, which increased Hydro’s debt. In fact, Site C might bring Hydro to economic collapse.
What the BCUC won’t be looking at are broken treaty promises and the desecration of the sacred Peace River Valley. Site C would flood a vast swath of prime farmland, ever more valuable as the climate warms and California dries up. If the dam is built, the flooded vegetation will produce methylmercury, poisoning fish on which northerners depend, as well as releasing methane gas, a major source of global warming. We’d also lose irreplaceable wildlife corridors and habitat.
Hydro’s loose projection has been 2,200 jobs created, but no one seems able to confirm that figure. The money now slated for Site C could create fair-wage jobs in upgrading infrastructure: schools, hospitals, daycares; in creating renewable energy jobs and remediating the mess the early stages of dam building has already created.
Do we really need this white-elephant dam? Loudly and clearly, I’d say no.
Dorothy Field
Victoria
