Site C dam generates flood of friction
Flooding a valley of farmland for B.C. Hydro's Peace River Valley project is an environmental shame, critics say
The proposed Site C hydro dam on the Peace River in northern B.C. will flood top-notch farmland but increase the province's power reserves. Though it's in an area most Islanders will never visit, we'll all use its power. So what's more important? A region's food security, First Nations sacred sites and the rights of landowners, or a projected powerhouse?
The proposed dam -- the third on the river outside Hudson's Hope -- will provide B.C. Hydro customers across the province with power for more than 100 years. But flooding a valley full of farms in exchange for hydro electric power is too much of a sacrifice, some B.C. residents say.
Site C is in its environmental assessment phase. The dam is expected to be built by 2020, and its cost is projected at $6.6 billion.
The Peace River Valley has a unique microclimate and Class 1 and 2 soil, which allows for diverse crops, from corn to potatoes to cantaloupe, to be grown in an area of B.C. that is further north than Moscow.
If the Site C dam goes ahead, at least 2,600 hectares of arable land would be lost.
"I've heard people say 'It's already wrecked, there are two dams already,' " says Diane Culling, a biologist and spokeswoman for the Peace Valley Environment Association. "But you take a look at this valley, and I'm sure you'd agree it wasn't wrecked. I truly believe that if most people in the province could see, they would say 'Absolutely not.' Where in B.C. do you see a valley like this?"
The Peace River Valley is northern B.C.'s 100-Mile Diet, Culling says. Many farmers in the valley only farm hay because the threat of flooding is too great to invest in infrastructure needed for food production.
"We've seen over the last 35 years that Hydro has had ownership of this valley, they've just squelched any improvement and development," says Doug Summer, whose family came to farm the Peace Valley in 1919. "They've got a public to whom they can say 'Nobody's doing anything with that valley.' But back in the '60s, there was all kinds of commercial vegetable production, and there were big hopes for what the Peace Valley would produce."
In the 1960s, Larry Peterson owned a 735-hectare farm in the valley. Originally from Idaho, Larry and his wife farmed three varieties of potatoes on 40.5 hectares, producing 2,000 tonnes a year, 25 per cent of the local market, and had plans for expansion.
In the 1970s, he and several other landowners were approached by B.C. Hydro and asked to sell their land.
Peterson says they were threatened with expropriation, and told that if they didn't sell there would be blackouts and brownouts. After a long fight, most landowners sold to Hydro, with the proviso that they could buy the land back if the dam was cancelled.
Not everyone sold their land, and since 1983, there has been a passive acquisition process, through which Hydro buys property only if sellers approach the company. Provided the dam is approved for construction, the remaining land can be expropriated if a reasonable offer is refused by a landowner.
In the past, Site C has been rejected by the B.C. Utilities Commission, an independent agency of the provincial government that regulates electricity utilities. But the Clean Energy Act, passed in April, now excludes the agency from reviewing Site C, as well as a number of other B.C. Hydro projects. The new act leaves the final decision to build the dam with the government.
A utilities commission review would be professional, impartial and autonomous, says Tom Hackney, vice-president of policy at the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association.
"Failing that, we believe that government should provide an equivalent. They owe it to the people of B.C. to demonstrate that it really is a necessary project and is beneficial," he says.
