BC Hydro’s decision to push forward with a $1.5-billion construction contract for the Site C dam megaproject has prompted an outpouring of opposition from First Nations and environmental and advocacy groups across British Columbia.
The Crown corporation’s president and chief executive officer, Jessica McDonald, announced on Wednesday that the utility is poised to sign the largest deal in its history with Peace River Hydro Partners as the preferred proponent.
Peace Valley Landowner Assoc. [mailto:pvla@xplornet.com]
From: Peace Valley Landowner Assoc. [mailto:pvla@xplornet.com] Sent: November 21, 2015 1:09 PM Subject: Honouring Treaty Promises and Restoring Confidence in Federal Site C Decisions
The B.C. government is proposing to increase moose-hunting for a Peace Region First Nation to compensate for impacts of the Site C dam.
For the First Nation and others concerned about the $8.8-billion hydroelectric project which this month marked 100 days of construction, the moose meat in question is one item on a list of Site C-related controversies disturbing the Peace.
Today in Victoria, lawyers representing two First Nations will be in B.C. Supreme Court arguing that the provincial government violated First Nation rights by rushing to approve the controversial $9 billion (and counting) Site C dam on the Peace River.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, which is one of three B.C. First Nations legal proceedings against Site C currently underway, First Nations opposition to Site C is understandable.
The Tsawwassen First Nation will proceed with a vote on plans to build an LNG export facility just north of the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, it announced on Monday.
"The preliminary concept looks at a plan somewhere between three million and five million metric tonnes per annum," said Tsawwassen First Nation spokesman Chris Hartman.
"In terms of tanker traffic associated with that, probably somewhere in the range of four to five LNG carriers a month, or about one a week."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a set of fossil fuel directives to his cabinet ministers Friday that included instructions to end oil tankers transits on B.C.’s northern coast — a move that observers say could finally kill the long embattled Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.
“This ban ends the dangerous Northern Gateway pipeline,” said ForestEthics campaigner Karen Mahon in Vancouver.
“Without tankers, crude oil has no place to go — and that means no pipelines, no oil trains moving tar sands to the northern BC coast.”
The collapse of major salmon runs in B.C. this fall and the controversial expansion of fish farming on the West Coast have prompted First Nations to request “an urgent meeting” with newly appointed federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo.
Chief Bob Chamberlin, chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, said the disappearance of millions of pink salmon headed for the Fraser and the collapse of the Adams River sockeye run underscore the need for immediate government action.
