Island News & Views
General · 8th September 2008
Judy Leicester
ACTION ALERT
You may have noticed an article in the DI a few weeks ago about just one of the run-of-river power projects slated for our coast. There are a huge number of applications for these ill-named green power projects. Most of these are proving to be anything but green because of the impact from logging for road building and transmission line corridors. The rivers themselves will be dammed or forced into tunnels changing natural seasonal flow and damaging banks. At each power collection site, there will be buildings constructed. Most of these projects are on Crown Land and applications must be made to the Integrated Land Management Bureau. The concept of allowing private companies to develop these projects - over 500 proposed in BC - and to charge BC Hydro higher than current rates I believe has not been discussed on the floor of the legislature.
One such project is at the head of Bute Inlet. This is such a large project that it's difficult to describe (website addresses are given below) and land applications are being made separately for the different components of the project. In all, Plutonic Power Inc. plans 18 individual power collection sites on Southgate and Homathko Rivers and their contributing creeks, each with its own generating station. This will mean hundreds of kilometers of roads and transmission lines. One of the transmission line corridors will run along the east shoreline halfway down the length of Bute and then running east to connect to the top of Toba Inlet. Two corridors will travel north and south east following the path of the rivers feeding into Bute and the main corridor will run from the top of Bute Inlet, along the shoreline, over to and down the coast of Loughborough Inlet, across Johnstone Strait and then south to Elk Falls Provincial Park.
Applications for Disposition of Crown Land are being made now for all the above transmission lines corridors, which together will cover over 45,000 hectares of land and will be appox. 430 km. in length. Just imagine that amount of forest logged! I understand that restrictions normally placed on logging companies may not apply. If mapping is accurate, it appears that both shorelines of the north end of Bute Inlet will carry lines and hence will be logged. Then there is the destruction caused by road building, construction sites for generating stations at the 18 water sites and the tunneling for water flow. There is no indication on the applications for the transmission lines about how many hectares these latter parts of the project will require.
The transmission lines will cut through old growth management areas, and wildlife habitat areas, some of which are the home of grizzly and black bear populations, in recent years a major tourist attraction. Bute and Toba Inlets with their proximity to Desolation Sound is used by large numbers of yachters and local eco-tourism companies. The cumulative affects of the environmental destruction required by this project may well permanently damage the watershed and threaten wildlife and aquatic species. Just to complicate things, the Nanaimo office of the Integrated Land Management is handling the main transmission line on the west side of Bute Inlet and the other transmission lines for this project are being handled by the Surrey Office.
Please take time in the next few days to write to the Bureau with your objections to these applications. - File # 1413160 covers the application for the line starting on the west side of Bute and ending up at Elk Falls. File# 2409528 covers the combination of corridors on the east side of Bute, those which follow the rivers and the one that runs along the shoreline and over to Toba. It is not clear if this line to the head of Toba will connect with the massive project by this same company in the Toba River Valley.
All lines in the current applications connect together at the head of Bute where the construction site surrounds a wildlife habitat area. Plutonic Hydro Inc is making these applications.
You can look at the mapping for these applications http://www.arfd.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=9928
and at http://www.arfd.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/getfile.jsp?PostID=9928&FileID=18705&action=view The first site covers the main transmission line and the best map of this is on the right hand pdf at this website, the last map of the collection.
Comments must be received by Sept. 12 and can be emailed to Sandra.Baangov.bc.ca with copies to Veronica.VillarSinghgov.bc.ca
It would be good to copy Claire Trevena, MLA North Island - claire.trevena.mlaleg.bc.ca and Jim Abram - abramfamoberon.ark.com as well. You may make comments on the entire project or on these particular applications for the transmission lines.
Thank you for your efforts on this and please feel free to forward this article to anyone you think may be interested.
Want more info? Go to the Gunboot's Main Pages, select Favourite Links, and look for Save Our Rivers in the Environment - General category.
Postscript: We were unable to upload the map of affected areas. We'll try to post the map in a central location on Quadra.
You may have noticed an article in the DI a few weeks ago about just one of the run-of-river power projects slated for our coast. There are a huge number of applications for these ill-named green power projects. Most of these are proving to be anything but green because of the impact from logging for road building and transmission line corridors. The rivers themselves will be dammed or forced into tunnels changing natural seasonal flow and damaging banks. At each power collection site, there will be buildings constructed. Most of these projects are on Crown Land and applications must be made to the Integrated Land Management Bureau. The concept of allowing private companies to develop these projects - over 500 proposed in BC - and to charge BC Hydro higher than current rates I believe has not been discussed on the floor of the legislature.
One such project is at the head of Bute Inlet. This is such a large project that it's difficult to describe (website addresses are given below) and land applications are being made separately for the different components of the project. In all, Plutonic Power Inc. plans 18 individual power collection sites on Southgate and Homathko Rivers and their contributing creeks, each with its own generating station. This will mean hundreds of kilometers of roads and transmission lines. One of the transmission line corridors will run along the east shoreline halfway down the length of Bute and then running east to connect to the top of Toba Inlet. Two corridors will travel north and south east following the path of the rivers feeding into Bute and the main corridor will run from the top of Bute Inlet, along the shoreline, over to and down the coast of Loughborough Inlet, across Johnstone Strait and then south to Elk Falls Provincial Park.
Applications for Disposition of Crown Land are being made now for all the above transmission lines corridors, which together will cover over 45,000 hectares of land and will be appox. 430 km. in length. Just imagine that amount of forest logged! I understand that restrictions normally placed on logging companies may not apply. If mapping is accurate, it appears that both shorelines of the north end of Bute Inlet will carry lines and hence will be logged. Then there is the destruction caused by road building, construction sites for generating stations at the 18 water sites and the tunneling for water flow. There is no indication on the applications for the transmission lines about how many hectares these latter parts of the project will require.
The transmission lines will cut through old growth management areas, and wildlife habitat areas, some of which are the home of grizzly and black bear populations, in recent years a major tourist attraction. Bute and Toba Inlets with their proximity to Desolation Sound is used by large numbers of yachters and local eco-tourism companies. The cumulative affects of the environmental destruction required by this project may well permanently damage the watershed and threaten wildlife and aquatic species. Just to complicate things, the Nanaimo office of the Integrated Land Management is handling the main transmission line on the west side of Bute Inlet and the other transmission lines for this project are being handled by the Surrey Office.
Please take time in the next few days to write to the Bureau with your objections to these applications. - File # 1413160 covers the application for the line starting on the west side of Bute and ending up at Elk Falls. File# 2409528 covers the combination of corridors on the east side of Bute, those which follow the rivers and the one that runs along the shoreline and over to Toba. It is not clear if this line to the head of Toba will connect with the massive project by this same company in the Toba River Valley.
All lines in the current applications connect together at the head of Bute where the construction site surrounds a wildlife habitat area. Plutonic Hydro Inc is making these applications.
You can look at the mapping for these applications http://www.arfd.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=9928
and at http://www.arfd.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/getfile.jsp?PostID=9928&FileID=18705&action=view The first site covers the main transmission line and the best map of this is on the right hand pdf at this website, the last map of the collection.
Comments must be received by Sept. 12 and can be emailed to Sandra.Baangov.bc.ca with copies to Veronica.VillarSinghgov.bc.ca
It would be good to copy Claire Trevena, MLA North Island - claire.trevena.mlaleg.bc.ca and Jim Abram - abramfamoberon.ark.com as well. You may make comments on the entire project or on these particular applications for the transmission lines.
Thank you for your efforts on this and please feel free to forward this article to anyone you think may be interested.
Want more info? Go to the Gunboot's Main Pages, select Favourite Links, and look for Save Our Rivers in the Environment - General category.
Postscript: We were unable to upload the map of affected areas. We'll try to post the map in a central location on Quadra.
Patrick Brown/Island Tides
Comment by Patrick Brown on 3rd January 2009
How do you calculate that the area covered by the powerline project is 45,000ha?
Does this include both land and water?
Do you have any indication that the area will all be logged? I cruised timber in this area (many years ago) and I suspect that much of the forest would not be marketable.
Do you have any figures on other areas covered by the RoR project?
Thank you
How do you calculate that the area covered by the powerline project is 45,000ha?
Does this include both land and water?
Do you have any indication that the area will all be logged? I cruised timber in this area (many years ago) and I suspect that much of the forest would not be marketable.
Do you have any figures on other areas covered by the RoR project?
Thank you
A positive direction for BC
Comment by Chuck Farrar on 18th December 2008
Run of River Projects represent an extremely positive step in the right direction. The numerous projects on the Coastal Mainland, Vancouver Island and Northern areas are essential, ground-breaking and ahead of the curve. The disruption to the enviornment is extremely small. Drastic measures are needed to counter the use of Fossil Fuels, and Run of River is about as good as it gets. I have been to more wilderness areas than most and up in Bute as an example, the Earth Quake impact, natural slide areas, glacial melt, severe slopes all point to a constantly changing wilderness enviornment. In the perfect world humans would have fur, no fire and certainly not have personal vehicles. On our quest to create the technology to eventually escape the Earth, the scientific experiments, our present applications, are all essential to the ultimate goal.... get the heck of this planet with its limited resources.
Run of River Projects represent an extremely positive step in the right direction. The numerous projects on the Coastal Mainland, Vancouver Island and Northern areas are essential, ground-breaking and ahead of the curve. The disruption to the enviornment is extremely small. Drastic measures are needed to counter the use of Fossil Fuels, and Run of River is about as good as it gets. I have been to more wilderness areas than most and up in Bute as an example, the Earth Quake impact, natural slide areas, glacial melt, severe slopes all point to a constantly changing wilderness enviornment. In the perfect world humans would have fur, no fire and certainly not have personal vehicles. On our quest to create the technology to eventually escape the Earth, the scientific experiments, our present applications, are all essential to the ultimate goal.... get the heck of this planet with its limited resources.