BC Hydro responds to panel questions on Site C dam’s impacts, costs
Posted Nov 21, 2013 04:00:09 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER – BC Hydro has submitted a long list of species at risk that will be affected by its proposed Site C hydroelectric dam after a request from a federal environmental review panel that found Hydro’s original list “incomplete and inconsistent.”
The environmental impact statement submitted by the provincial utility omitted several species, including the endangered short-eared owl, and in some cases provided mitigation measures that didn’t appear to have any link to the species in question.
The panel also found BC Hydro failed to provide information on the effect the project will have on loss of black bear dens and some traditional First Nations activities.
The panel asked the Crown agency to provide more information on its justification for the massive dam on the Peace River in northeastern B.C.
BC Hydro has provided hundreds of pages of additional information, including an estimate of how much habitat will be lost and the measures proposed to mitigate the loss.
Federal review hearings on the project will begin next month in several communities in the area near Fort St. John.
