January 18, 2018

Shortly before 4 p.m. on November 26, 2017, a U.S. barge carrying 3.5 million litres of diesel to Alaska broke free from its tugboat, the Jake Shearer, off the rocky shore of British Columbia’s Goose Island. Westerly winds were blowing at 45 knots while rain all but sandblasted the side of the barge, now anchored precariously in rough waters. The Canadian Coast Guard vessel deployed from Prince Rupert, approximately 300 kilometres away, wasn’t expected to reach the stranded barge until 7:30 p.m. at the earliest.

                 ​ JANUARY 17, 2018

Part one of a series. Provincial lab played key role in denying existence of HSMI in BC.

10 Jan 2018

In 2002, Dr. Ian Keith, a senior DFO veterinarian, began noticing strange heart lesions when he examined Atlantic salmon from B.C.’s growing fish farm industry.

Keith was likely the first to detect signs of Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation. The disease, first found three years earlier in Norwegian farmed salmon, went on to plague the industry there, killing up to 20 per cent of salmon in some outbreaks.

Dam construction violates 1899 treaty and is unconstitutional, notice of civil claim says

Two First Nations in northeast B.C. have started legal action against the Site C dam, claiming its construction violates Treaty No. 8 signed 1899, as well as the Canadian Constitution.

In notices of civil claim filed Jan. 15, the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations say the mega-project will infringe on their treaty rights and "fails to uphold the Honour of the Crown."

JANUARY 17, 2018

Brazil has flooded large swaths of the Amazon for hydro dams, despite opposition from Indigenous Peoples, environmentalists and others. The country gets 70 per cent of its electricity from hydropower. Brazil’s government had plans to expand development, opening half the Amazon basin to hydro. But a surprising announcement could halt that.

Jan 16, 2018

There is no question that the new BC government’s decision to proceed with the Site C dam was a very difficult one. The previous government left them with a poison pill. With $2 billion already spent, the Horgan government faced a no-win choice, with substantial political and economic costs for either terminating or proceeding with what is one of the largest and most expensive capital projects in BC history. I don’t envy them.

But count me among those who believe the wrong decision was made.

(Fort St. John, B.C., Treaty 8 Territory, Jan 16, 2018) – The West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations have filed notices of civil action alleging that the Site C hydroelectric project, together with the two previous dams on the Peace River, unjustifiably infringes their constitutional rights under Treaty 8, stating:  

Every member of the B.C. Legislature should memorize the Iron Law of Megaprojects.  

The law applies to nine out of 10 megaprojects under construction in Canada or around the globe.

It’s pretty damn simple: “Megaprojects will be over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again.”

The unneeded Site C dam, the largest infrastructure project in the history of the province, proves the law and then some.

Jan. 10/18

It has been a month now since the BC government announced that Site C would continue. The accounting rationale used by Premier Horgan makes absolutely no sense in light of the findings from the recent BCUC review, and the much greater financial woes of continuing the project.