Rivers at Risk

Power to the People?

Rivers and creeks across BC are under threat because of the government's Energy Plan which forces BC Hydro to purchase new power from private power producers under the guise of promoting 'green' energy.  The majority of these developments are 'run-of-river' projects.  While some small hydro-electric projects make sense, most of the 435 projects planned for BC have enormous environmental impacts, erasing any claim to being a 'green' source of power.

These private power developments are being built through BC Hydro Energy Purchase Agreements that buy back the power at exorbitant rates.  These contracts guarantee an income stream that provides the 'collateral' for financing removing much of the risk to the developer and leaving British Columbians on the hook.  We pay the cost of building these projects but in the end we have given up access to our rivers and we do not own the power facilities our money has built.

The 125 MW Glacier/Howser river-diversion project in the West Kootenay will result in habitat destruction through old growth and endangered forests.

• the project will remove 80 percent of mean annual flow from Glacier, Howser, Birnam, Behrmand and Suck Creeks
• water will be diverted into a massive tunnel 16 kms in length drilled through the adjacent mountain to a power station at Duncan reservoir
• power generated will be transmitted along a 90-kilometer transmission line requiring a 30 to 100-meter wide clearcut across the Purcells to Invermere in the East Kootenay
• transmission lines will carve up Upper Howser Creek's rare old growth spruce, cedar and hemlock forests which are currently protected as an Old Growth Management area
• transmission lines will invade the Stockdale Creek area, currently identified as an Endangered Forest for it's high wilderness attributes, rare unroaded status, and very high values for grizzly bears.

Any project that will cause this much destruction of  our environment can hardly be called green.

Wind power - clean, renewable energy, right? Well, not if it requires roads and 100-meter-wide power transmission lines to be built into wilderness areas in habitat used by a endangered species.

For example, a current wind power project proposed near Cranbrook, British Columbia will have devastating effects on wildlife.

• Mount Baldy is a rugged peak at the heart of the little remaining intact habitat for the critically endangered South Purcell mountain caribou herd
• power development will increase access to motorized recreation, an identified threat to these endangered caribou

But, like the proposed hydro projects, under the BC Government Energy Plan the public will never have a chance to comment on the suitability of proposed wind farm sites until it is too late.  Recent legislation has removed the rights of local regional and municipal governments and the public to have a say in where and how these projects occur.  

So while a small-scale, well-designed project close to the power need may indeed be a wise use of our precious public resources, a large-scale river-diversion project in a wilderness area requiring hundreds of kilometers of access roads and power transmission lines is most definitely not.

BC's Energy Plan needs to change! It must promote energy developments that are truly green; projects must be environmentally sound, locally controlled and in the public interest.

Take action by attending a Rivers at Risk meeting in your area, or by arranging to have a meeting in your community.

Watch videos about proposed IPPS by clicking on the links below:

Rivers at Risk: Glacier and Howser Creeks video by Damien Gillis

Rivers at Risk: Koch Creek video by Damien Gillis

The Ruin of Glacier and Howser Creeks video by Gary Diers

Vanishing Rainbows video by Doug Pyper