Thread by @Lidsville

More intel from #SiteC that you won't hear in the media because no one will go on the record (& if I worked at the dam I wouldn't risk facing BC Hydro's $1500/hr lawyers either): the huge concrete buttress they've poured is moving at the rate of ~1mm per day.. #bcpoli #BCelxn2020

If @bchydro disagrees, perhaps it can rebut this intel by providing the public with detailed info including any LIDAR measurements they have taken at #SiteC? Their tardy reports of July 31 which admit to serious foundation problems seem deliberately vague. So please, correct me.

@bchydro ..The overwhelming secrecy around #SiteC - which has been remarked on by international dam experts - starts to look quite suspicious in itself & doesn't breed public confidence. This is OUR project after all; the billions being spent are ours. #bcpoli

@bchydro I ran this intel past my engineer friend: "If anything is moving at this stage of construction, serious problems are likely developing from water pressure building up behind the buttresses & seeping underneath toward the river, weakening the shale foundation.." #siteC

@bchydro .."As we know, water causes the shale to revert to its original structure, which is soft clay, and not a foundation material for a dam. If it's moving over the shale, the foundation is already failing."

The reports of "cracks everywhere" at #SiteC are thus unsurprising. #bcpoli

@bchydro ..So I throw it back to you, @BCHydro. If the intel from the #SiteC site is unfounded, please go on the record and deny it. And British Columbians might want to push Hydro, the BC govt & Energy Ministry to start practicing transparency more generally. This is our money. #bcpoli

@bchydro PS another tidbit from #SiteC: when the concrete batch plant (produces concrete for the site) was built they needed to excavate a basement for it, right into the shale "bedrock"; the backhoe got stuck down there in shale mud. Perhaps @BCHydro would like to comment on this too?

@bchydro .. If 1mm/per day doesn't seem like a lot of movement in the #SiteC structures to you, add it up. Remember, this is the buttress supporting a generating station & turbines - turbines that are finely calibrated & can't tolerate any significant movement at all. #BCelxn2020 #bcpoli

@bchydro ..What say you about these alarming accounts of #SiteC slipping, @BCHydro? What about you, Energy Minister @BruceRalson? Comments, @jjhorgan? Why did you allow billions to be poured into the mud since you found out about this in December 2019 but said nothing? #bcpoli #BCelxn2020

@bchydro @jjhorgan .Final Q: if many of us knew in 2017 that #SiteC was unbuildable - the most experienced living BC dam engineer Vern Ruskin knew, the eng. reports themselves were full of red flags & alarm bells & even civilians like me knew - why did lead engineer John Nunn sign off on this?

@bchydro .How about you, @siteCproject and @DavidConway3? Would you please give us exact details on the foundation problems at #SiteC? Tell us how much the foundation of the buttress has moved (or deny that it has). It's our project, our money. #bcpoli @bruceralston #bcelxn2020

@bchydro @jjhorgan Here are some of the numbers for the weight of #SiteC structures & the forces on them:
There at least 1.2 million cubic metres (m3) of concrete in the south bank buttress, all sitting on shale whose shear & compression strength goes to zero when saturated with water. No bedrock..

@bchydro @jjhorgan 1 m3 of concrete weighs 3 tons. (That's more than 2x the weight of my old VW Beetle.) Multiply that by 1.2 million (or much more as there's more concrete to come at Site C). This sits on shale whose shear & compression strength goes to zero when saturated with water. No bedrock.

@bchydro @jjhorgan This weak shale is in a state of rebound already; heavy concrete will compress it down & cause settling, but worse than that, the more serious problem is water pressure in the shale bank the buttress is resting on, likely swelling the shale & pushing the buttress toward the river

@bchydro @jjhorgan This is before reservoir is filled. Behind this buttress will be a 26m deep "approach channel" whose pressure at the bottom metre alone will be ~216,000 tons. Engineer: ""Where in the world do you find a dam with 1/2 its reservoir height sitting on a terrace above the river bed?"

@bchydro @jjhorgan Engineer: "If we can get the #SiteC approach channel size, the water weight on top of that shale terrace will shock everybody."

So come on, @bchydro, if you argue with our numbers, please give us yours.

#bcpoli #bcelxn @jjhorgan @bruceralston