As a result of recent news stories about the Upper Pitt River, everyone is talking about private power developments. Concerns are being raised by the application to build a river-diversion hydro-electric project on the Upper Pitt and to bisect Pinecone Burke Provincial Park with transmission lines.
While the government’s decision not to approve the park boundary change application has set up a temporary roadblock to this proposal, this project is still trying to move forward. So are hundreds of other river-diversion projects on BC’s rivers.
The Glacier/Howser hydro project in the Kootenays will rival the Upper Pitt river-diversion scheme both in scope and in impact and it looks likely that the BC Liberal government and the private power developer will have the same fight on their hands in trying to push the project through.
The 125 Mega Watt Glacier/Howser river-diversion project will divert up to 80 percent of the mean annual flow from Glacier, Howser, Birnam, Behrmand and Such Creeks into a massive tunnel drilled through the adjacent mountains.
That is 80 percent of the water being removed from these creeks. By any measure, fish and riparian habitats will be drastically affected by this development.
But that is not the only negative impact this project will have. In order to connect the Glacier/Howser power generating station with the transmission grid, the developer is proposing over 90 kms of new transmission lines that would be built across the Purcell Mountains from the West to the East Kootenays.
Despite these impacts, the development has been approved and the developer has signed an Energy Purchase Agreement with BC Hydro which will provide the guarantee of cash flow to be used as collateral to build this project.
Do the people of the Kootenays want Glacier/Howser to go ahead?
People in my constituency have become so concerned about this project, and the many others that are planned, that they are beginning to get organized. For example, the Council of Canadians will be holding a forum called Rivers at Risk on Saturday, April 26 between 6 and 9 p.m. at the Revelstoke Seniors Centre.
We all need to learn more about what is planned for our rivers and creeks. To find out more about this event go to www.riversatrisk.com.
Norm Macdonald is the BC New Democratic Party’s
MLA for Columbia River-
Revelstoke