The psychology underlying people's behaviour is as fascinating as the things they do. “Change blindness” is a case in point. Psychologists describe it as the inability of people to notice anomalies, differences and the unusual in their surroundings. The obvious, it seems, is not always obvious...For example, we seem to have an inherent inclination to overlook or rationalize as normal the weather abnormalities that arise from global warming. If this strategy doesn't serve to diminish the significance of an extreme weather event in our minds, we excuse it by extending the range of normality — a once-in-a-century event occurring once every ten years is deemed normal.
Read this story from Business in Vancouver reporting on the recently-announced 45-day public comment period on the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Site C Dam in Northeast BC. (April 11, 2012):
Six open houses will be held to provide information and garner feedback on the proposed Site C dam – but if you want to attend in person, you’ll have to travel to northern B.C. or Alberta.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and BC Environmental Assessment Office released Tuesday the draft environmental impact statement (http://www.eao.gov.bc.ca/pcp/forms/Site_C_form.html) for the proposed $8 billion, 1,100-megawatt hydroelectric dam on the Peace River.
A 45-day public comment period on the impact statement has been scheduled. Written comments will be submitted between April 17 and June 1. Comments can be mailed or submitted online.
A series of open houses has been scheduled for the first two weeks of May:
May 1, 3 to 8 p.m., North Peace Cultural Centre, Fort St. John;
May 2, 4 to 8 p.m., Hudson’s Hope Community Hall;
May 3, 4 to 8 p.m., Pomeroy Inn & Suites, Chetwynd;
May 8, 4 to 8 p.m., Sawridge Inn & ConferenceCentre, Peace River, Alberta;
May 9, 4 to 8 p.m., Best Western Dawson Creek, Dawson Creek;
May 10, 3 to 8 p.m., Ramada Inn, Prince George.
If approved, the Site C dam is expected to take a decade to build. It would be the third in a series of dams on the B.C. portion of the Peace River.
The project includes a 1,050-metre-long, 60-metre-high earthen dam, an 83-kilometre-long reservoir, a 1,100-MW generating station and two 77-kilometre transmission lines running along an existing right-of-way to connect to BC Hydro’s grid.
The biggest environmental drawback to the plan is that it would require the flooding of 5,340 hectares of prime agricultural land. (See “Damned if we do: Site C revisited” – issue 1142; September 13-20, 2012.)
In the first of a two-part interview, Rafe Mair grills BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix on private power, Site C Dam and BC's flawed environmental assessment process. What will the NDP do with existing and future private river power projects (a.k.a. IPPs) if they form the next government - and where do they stand on Site C Dam?
Written by Administrator
- Thursday, 16 February 2012
Listen to this highly informative 8 min radio interview from CBC's Daybreak North show - featuring Andrea Morison of the Peace Valley Environment Association discussing the proposed Site C Dam and its connection to the planned Liquid Natural Gas boom on BC's coast. (Feb. 14, 2012)
Written by Administrator
- Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Read this report from The Vancouver Sun on the announcement of the joint federal and provincial panel review of the proposed Site C Dam in Northeast BC. (Feb 14, 2012)
The federal and provincial environment ministers announced Monday that they intend to conduct a joint environmental assessment of BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam on the Peace River.
The joint assessment is aimed at eliminating duplication and speeding up the review process, B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said in an interview.
“We believe in the one project-one process approach. We don’t want to see a duplication by federal and provincial agencies on one project,” Lake said.
He said the joint approach will cost less and reduce the amount of time involved.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been critical of lengthy reviews for energy projects, specifically over Enbridge’s North Gateway pipeline proposal, which is currently before a review panel.
Lake said the joint assessment process will be conducted parallel to consultations with first nations. The joint assessment process is new but the Site C project is not the first one on which the two agencies have combined their review processes. Joint environmental assessments are already underway for two B.C. mining projects, the Ajax copper-gold mine proposal near Kamloops and the Raven coal mine proposal near Campbell River, Lake said.
Written by Administrator
- Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Read this story from Fort St. John's EnergeticCity.ca on BC Premier Christy Clark's recent comments that the controversial proposed Site C Dam is essential to building liquid natural gas plants on BC's west coast. (Feb 10, 2012)
Site C and B.C.'s proposed LNG development go hand in hand, according to Premier Christy Clark. In an interview with Moose FM/energeticcity.ca, Clark explained that the newly approved licence for Shell to export liquefied natural gas out of Kitimat will use 100 per cent of the power Site C would create.
"We cannot create this new industry in British Columbia, by adding value to natural gas, without the power that would come from Site C. It's an essential part of the plan in the long-term, to make sure that we're putting British Columbians to work."
She adds the province's power needs are going to grow substantially, so "we're going to need the power from Site C and we're also going to need the power from lots of independent power producers from across the province: wind energy, run of river, you name it." In saying so, she also criticized B.C.NDP leader Adrian Dix for supporting LNG development and not supporting Site C, saying he "can't have it both ways."
Clark says she is completely comfortable with the science behind fracking, and its possible associated health risks, and believes Northeast B.C. has the safest shale gas industry in the world. As she says, it can always get better, and the province has been pushing new practices, like publishing ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing on an online database.
"That will do two things: first, it will push companies to be even cleaner and greener all the time… I think it will drive innovation because we're open about it; but second, I think it builds confidence in what we do."
She points to instances where fracking has been done very badly elsewhere, like the U.S., and wants people to see what's been done in B.C. to set an example. The hope is that oil and gas companies will take it upon themselves to get the word out about how safe practices are in the province.
"We set the highest bar anywhere in the world for fracking, and people need to see what we're doing and need to understand it so they can too."
Read this article from the Georgia Straight on the concerns of environmental groups over the prohibitively small amount of funding made available to participate in the Joint Panel Review into the proposed Site C Dam.
"A prominent B.C. environmental leader is slamming the Conservative
government for achieving “a new low” by capping funding for interveners
in the Site C dam’s joint environmental assessment process. 'While $19,000 [per organization] may look like a fair amount of
money, when you’re talking about having to hire technical experts,
lawyers, and researchers, it does not go very far, especially when
stacked up against the kind of resources B.C. Hydro has at its
disposal,' George Heyman, executive director of Sierra Club B.C., told the Straight by phone. 'So it’s an extremely tipped playing field.'
The provincial and federal environmental-assessment offices
announced on September 30 that a harmonized environmental assessment
process, including a joint review panel, will be undertaken for the Site
C project. The proposed dam would be the third on the Peace River,
alongside the W. A. C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams." (Nov. 24, 2011)
Written by Administrator
- Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Read this vital new report from Ben Parfitt and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on the impacts of fracking technology and resource development in BC.
"A new study concludes that BC’s ballooning shale gas industry is the
natural gas equivalent of Alberta’s tar sands, placing the province’s
water and hydro resource at risk as well as jeopardizing climate change
policies.
Despite industry and government assertions that natural gas from
shale rock is a 'green' alternative to other fossil fuels, the study
released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and
Wilderness Committee finds the opposite, and lays much of the blame on
the controversial gas extraction technology known as hydraulic
fracturing, or 'fracking.'" (Nov. 9, 2011)
Written by Damien Gillis
- Thursday, 22 September 2011
I recently returned from Peace River Country, filming for a forthcoming short documentary on the Campbell/Clark Government's proposed Site C Dam. My family were early settlers in the Valley. Some fifty years ago we lost our ranch to the province's first big hydroelectric project, WAC Bennett Dam. Today, there are many good reasons why the final of three dams long planned for the Valley - Site C Dam, near Fort St. John - isn't in the public or environmental interest, despite what our government has been telling us to the contrary.
Written by Administrator
- Wednesday, 14 September 2011
In the past, Hydro ratepayers could – and did – use BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) hearings to hold Hydro and its government handlers to account for their claims. But last year, the Energy Act removed Site C and ten other projects from BCUC oversight. Now ratepayers are told they’ll pay the costs but are denied a forum to check the need for and suitability of those costs...Ratepayers have every right to call “Foul!” when they are taken for granted in the manner we are seeing. Every avenue they might use to protect their interests is blocked.
A "Command Economy" is invariably one that uses the public's assets to make very poor investments that are nowhere close to being in the public interest. That is the reality with Site C. It is not needed by any independent evidence and certainly not at the projected cost of production, nor the cost to the environment. We in BC desperately need to recover our democracy before our government signs us into debtor's prison.
30 year-old William Housty's powerhouse presentation to the National Energy Board's Enbridge hearings in his community of Bella Bella. William describes the history, language and culture of his people in fascinating detail - and how the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline and Tar Sands supertankers transiting the waters of his people's territory would destroy their traditional way of life.
Highlights from this week's National Energy Board hearings in Bella Bella on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and supertankers on BC's coast. Powerful testimony from three members of the Heiltsuk First Nation, sharing their experiences with the sea.rn
The Heiltsuk First Nation learned late Monday that scheduled National Energy Board hearings on the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline will resume Tuesday in Bella Bella, following their cancellation Monday in the wake of a peaceful demonstration to which the Joint Review Panel overreacted.
Close to 2,000 people turned out on a rainy Monday afternoon in Vancouver last week to speak out against Tar Sands oil tankers on BC's coast. The occasion marked the 23rd anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The crowd gathered at the Art Gallery to hear from guest speakers like 350.org's Bill McKibben and members of the Heiltsuk First Nation of Bella Bella, who coorganized the rally, along with ForestEthics and Greenpeace.
Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh (Burrard) First Nation and Ben West of the Wilderness Committee discuss Kinder Morgan's quiet plan to twin its existing Trans Mountain Pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to Vancouver - which would result in up to 300 supertankers a year plying the waters of the Burrard Inlet and South Coast.
Eleven year-old Ta'Kaiya Blaney of the Sliammon First Nation sings her hit song "Shallow Waters" to some 2,000 people outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. She tells the audience one year ago on this day she was chased from Enbridge's Vancouver office when she tried to present her song to company officials.
World renowned climate activist Bill McKibben of 350.org lent his voice to the "Our Coast, Our Decision" rally in Vancouver Monday. McKibben told the crowd of close to 2,000 outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, "This is one of these great moments in human history and you guys are absolutely at the white, hot centre of it."
Rafe Mair pulls no punches in this, the second of a two-part interview with BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix - grilling the potential future premier of BC on Liquid Natural Gas, fracking, the proposed Enbridge pipeline and salmon farms.
Marven Robinson, a spirit bear guide from the Gitga'at Nation of Hartley Bay, speaks to Damien Gillis in Prince Rupert the day after the big rally he helped organize against Enbridge on Feb. 4, 2012.
In the first of a two-part interview, Rafe Mair grills BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix on private power, Site C Dam and BC's flawed environmental assessment process. What will the NDP do with existing and future private river power projects (a.k.a. IPPs) if they form the next government - and where do they stand on Site C Dam?
The beating of drums echoed throughout the seaside community of Prince Rupert, BC, on February 4 as thousands of First Nations and BC citizens banded together to express their opposition to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway twin pipelines from the Alberta Tar Sands to nearby Kitimat on BC's central coast.
The various spokespeople for supposed "grassroots" pro-Tar Sands and pipeline organization EthicalOil.org have steadfastly maintained their campaign has no connection to the oil and gas industry or the Harper Government. But as the links between these groups continue to pile up, that contention becomes harder and harder to swallow.
In the wake of the bogus deal Enbridge attempted to foist on the Gitxsan people of Northwest BC last month to help pave the way for its controversial proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, the community has banded together in inspiring fashion - with camcorders and the Web as their weapons of choice.
Watch this series of clips by independent filmmaker Craig Delahunt from the Cohen Commission, including a key hour of testimony from the final day of ISAv hearings and interviews with experts outside the Commission.
See how the Gitxsan are banding together in a moment of crisis, following the unauthorized deal with Enbridge signed by rogue treaty negotiator Elmer Derrick.
