I write to express my profound disappointment in the NDP’s recent decision to continue building the Site C dam, diverting a further $6 billion in public funds needed for social programs and a clean, green recovery from our current pandemic.
Site C is now the most expensive dam in B.C.’s history. The price for completion has skyrocketed from the previous estimate of $10.7 billion, but the government is still going ahead with completion.
Why? The answer is kinda smelly – LNG. About 40 per cent of the energy Site C will produce is set to prop up gas extraction in northern B.C. Fracked gas is a fossil fuel that creates harmful pollution when it’s extracted and burned, and fracked gas companies powered by Site C will destroy any chance we have at meeting our climate goals.
This mega-dam will flood forests, farms and homes and over 7,000 acres of rich farmland to generate energy that the province doesn’t’ need.
More, the dam will constrict one of the longest and most important wildlife corridors on the continent, and submerge valuable carbon sinks instead of promoting food security and the need to adapt to climate change.
Perhaps most compelling, the United Nations has condemned the Site C dam as a violation of Canada’s human rights obligations, and it flies in the face of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which British Columbia has enshrined into law.
What can we do, when faced with such willful blindness?
West Moberly First Nation, whose legal rights were guaranteed under Treaty 8 and whose traditional territory will be destroyed by Site C, now deserves our solidarity and support. These Indigenous peoples will have their case (violations of treaty rights) heard in court in 2022. The trial is expected to last six months.
Sandra Hartline
Nelson
