Sierra Club BC believes that B.C. should make energy efficiencies and expansion of low-impact sustainable energy sources a top priority. The need for the controversial Site C dam remains unproven. Our top energy priority right now should be to develop a full provincial framework for future energy development, before any final decisions are made on Site C.  The first step should be to examine -- and plan to implement -- every single conservation opportunity available.

When new energy is required, Sierra Club BC supports low-impact, green, renewable energy projects on an individual basis. These projects can create clean, renewable energy (“green energy”) as long as they are properly sited, with attention paid to location and size, minimizing their ecological footprint. The April 2010 Clean Energy Act introduces significant and worrisome changes to the way BC makes decisions about energy projects. Among other changes, the act weakens our public energy watchdog, the B.C. Utilities Commission. Before its mandate was changed, the B.C. Utilities Commission looked at whether or not there was a need for a particular energy project through a province-wide planning lens. 

Sierra Club BC has many questions about the scale and impact of the Bute Inlet proposal, and the cumulative impact of all of the “run of river” projects in the vicinity. The Bute proposal would harness more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity—equivalent to the power generated by the proposed Site C dam--and march it over the Coast Mountains to the electrical grid. (Notably, the state of California has set a 30 megawatt limit for “green” hydro power projects--33 times smaller than Bute!). In addition to 17 stream diversions and 445 kilometres of transmission lines, the Bute Inlet project would involve 314 kilometres of roads, 142 bridges, 16 powerhouses, and a substation in a wilderness area that is the site of burgeoning ecotourism ventures. 

The proposed Bute project is located within a biologically diverse area that is home to eagles, bears and critical salmon bearing streams. Bute Inlet contains habitat for mountain goats, marbled murrelets, peregrine falcons, harlequin ducks and grizzly bears, as well as other at-risk animal and plant species. The Bute watershed is home to 23 varieties of fish, including all five major types of Pacific salmon. Displacement and mortality of these populations, along with other significant wildlife impacts related to reduced water flow and construction activities, are major concerns if this large project is allowed to proceed. 

Questions We Must Ask

How do we calculate the carbon footprint of producing and shipping turbines and penstock from Austria and China, ferrying work crews in and out by helicopters and airplanes and leaving a 100-metre-wide swathe of felled trees to release their carbon contents into the atmosphere beside transmission lines channelling “carbon-neutral” power?

If we are going to export so-called “green power”, should it be with the proviso that the recipients take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy conservation measures? In the name of green power, do we compromise or destroy burgeoning ecotourism ventures that create sustainable jobs and infuse money into the local economy?

Local Communities Must Have a Say

Sierra Club BC believes that local communities must have a say in the location of power projects. We do not support energy projects in parks or protected areas, with the exception of appropriately-sized and properly-sited run of river projects in Great Bear Rainforest conservancies, supplying energy for local uses. We do not support any alteration of any park boundaries to accommodate independent power projects.