The Issues
An overview
The Peace Valley Environment Association agrees with the issues that prompted the British Columbia Utilities Commission to not recommend issuing an energy certificate to BC Hydro for the proposed Site C. None has been resolved to date.
When BC Hydro created the largest manmade lake in the world, Williston Lake, as a reservoir for the WAC Bennett Dam, there were untold consequences to be paid. One of the many results was climate change. Due to the sheer size of the lake (300km long and up to 8km wide), climate changes were felt as far south as Prince George, and as far east as the Alberta Peace River area.
The proposed Site C reservoir and dam would alter climate again. Numerous communities, industries and ecosystems would suffer. How can such a phenomenon be measured, let alone understood by those who do not experience it?
Countless ecological and socioeconomic losses spring to mind. They include, but are not limited to:
We present here some of the major issues, both ecological and socioeconomic.
When BC Hydro created the largest manmade lake in the world, Williston Lake, as a reservoir for the WAC Bennett Dam, there were untold consequences to be paid. One of the many results was climate change. Due to the sheer size of the lake (300km long and up to 8km wide), climate changes were felt as far south as Prince George, and as far east as the Alberta Peace River area.
The proposed Site C reservoir and dam would alter climate again. Numerous communities, industries and ecosystems would suffer. How can such a phenomenon be measured, let alone understood by those who do not experience it?
Countless ecological and socioeconomic losses spring to mind. They include, but are not limited to:
- loss of agricultural land, including Class 1 lands
- loss of productive forestry lands
- loss of river-based recreation
- loss of wildlife and the potential to improve wildlife resources
- loss of river-based ecosystem, including fish habitat
- loss of heritage resources
- loss of family homes
We present here some of the major issues, both ecological and socioeconomic.