BC Liberals touting dam project, as both the Greens and New Democrats stand against it

FORT ST. JOHN (NEWS 1130) – The highly contentious Site C dam project is becoming one of the big dividing lines between Christy Clark’s BC Liberals and her provincial election rivals.

Clark is campaigning in Peace River North today, talking about how her party is the only one with a plan to get Site C built, securing “a hundred years of clean, reliable, affordable power while creating thousands of jobs.”

Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver and NDP Leader John Horgan both oppose the project. Horgan has pledged to have the matter independently reviewed, while the Greens describe the project as “environmentally, economically and socially reckless.”

“This is still early days, and it’s an open question as to whether or not we are past the point of no return,” says Canada Research Chair in Political Ecology Karen Bakker, whose UBC research team has been working to fill in the information gaps around Site C. “Unfortunately because Site C was exempt from review by the BC Utilities Commission, a lot of the basic data that would enable us to answer that question has not really been made public or analyzed.”

If completed, the $8.8 billion project is expected to produce enough energy to power roughly 450,000 homes per year. It would also flood over 5,000 hectares of land along the Peace River.

Bakker’s research has found that the greenhouse gas emissions produced by Site C would be higher than many people think. “Site C will have more significant negative environmental impacts than any project ever approved under the 25-year history of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act,” she says. “It’s really unprecedented.”

She say since Site C was approved, prices for competing energy sources like wind have dropped significantly, as have BC Hydro’s forecasted power needs.

An Insights West poll last year suggested 73 per cent of British Columbians, including 63 per cent of Liberal supporters, want the government to pause the project and look for alternatives. BC Hydro later pointed out several issues with how that poll was conducted.