Thread by @thenarwhalca

It’s on! @thenarwhalca has a👌panel talking RIGHT NOW about the future of the #SiteC dam, the most expensive public infrastructure project in BC's history.

Watch the convo live: facebook.com/thenarwhalca/v…

And follow along right here for highlights!

Need some background?

Look no further than @sarahcox_bc’s blockbuster investigation into #SiteC. Sarah has been following this for YEARS.

… she literally wrote the book on it: Breaching the Peace: the Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro.
thenarwhal.ca/site-c-dam-geo…

.@sarahcox_bc will be joined by @thenarwhalca’s managing editor, @carollinnitt, as well as:

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council president @kekinusuqs, West Moberly First Nations Chief @dunnezaman, and Marc Eliesen, former CEO of BC Hydro.

Stay tuned for the convo!
#bcpoli #SiteC

.@dunnezaman is on his fifth Zoom meeting for the day (hero!)

The West Moberly First Nations Chief says "We're opposed to the destruction of what we have left of the valley ... we still believe there's a better way to create that energy than destroy the valley."

#bcpoli #SiteC

Want to tune in and join us?

Watch here: thenarwhal.ca/site-c-dam-eve…

#bcpoli #SiteC

Site C has "unnecessary impacts," says @dunnezaman, who notes industrial development in the region has skyrocketed in recent decades.

"This is an infringement on treaty rights ... there has to be a reason to infringe and with Site C there is no reason."

#bcpoli #SiteC

"We believe Horgan failed the people of British Columbia by allowing this project to go ahead." - @dunnezaman

#bcpoli #SiteC

Next up: Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council president @kekinusuqs.

She says "Site C must be terminated. There are far too many risks" to complete this project.

#bcpoli #SiteC

.@kekinusuqs doesn't mince words on the BC gov's handling of #SiteC.

It has been a"huge disappointment" and "a slap in the face" to Indigenous people.

#bcpoli

.@kekinusuqs outlines the risks of #SiteC and projects the costs will go "way beyond" estimates.

"The fact is, this is a bad investment for British Columbia."

#bcpoli

Next up is Marc Eliesen:

"When I was president and CEO of BC Hydro, we rejected building Site C. Why?"

He says: violation of Indigenous rights, costs, environmental risks and more.

#SiteC #bcpoli

Marc is laying out some damning (pun!) concerns.

Here's one: "By appointing individuals to the board who are in a serious conflict of interest, Horgan violated principles of oversight."

#SiteC #bcpoli

"The cover-up continues. Site C should be cancelled." -- former president and CEO of BC Hydro, who was at the helm of the public utility when its board of directors rejected the project in the 1990s.

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@sarahcox_bc: "Let's not forget this was a project that was originally announced as $6.6-billion project. Right now it's at $10.7 billion." She expects it will go higher.

"Ordinary British Columbians are paying for a project that is uneconomical."

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@sarahcox_bc "There's been a great deal of secrecy and a lack of transparency."

"We can expect the geotechnical problems will continue ... there are troubles up and down the valley."

#SiteC #bcpoli

Hot dam! There's a lot happening over at The Narwhal's panel discussion. Join us live, if you're not already:

thenarwhal.ca/site-c-dam-eve……

Bonus: @sarahcox_bc brought the ACTUAL dirt on this project.

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@dunnezaman of West Moberly First Nations: "People are developing [PTSD]... we drive through there. It's heart-breaking. And there's absolutely no need for it."

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@kekinusuqs: "We have this huge, ballooned budget that is probably going to send the cost of the energy really high."

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@kekinusuqs: "Clean energy projects are something First Nations really want to get involved with" for environmental, climate and economic reasons.

#SiteC is not that project.

#bcpoli

.@kekinusuqs: "None of us like #SiteC because of the environmental impact; because of the destruction of sacred sites."

#bcpoli

former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen:

"I just want to emphasize what has taken place over the years on #SiteC. You've had costs that have gone up."

he's not kidding: ... from $3, to $6, to $7, to $8.9, to $10.7 billion. "Now we're looking at costs from $12-14 billion.

#bcpoli

"To continue is totally reckless," Eliesen says. "If he continues, this will be Horgan's folly."

"I'm hopeful that with the geotechnical problems there today, the #SiteC project will be cancelled."

#bcpoli

.@sarahcox_bc: "BC has much to learn from Muskrat Falls."

Want to learn about Muskrat Falls?

Start here:

thenarwhal.ca/a-reckoning-fo…

.@sarahcox_bc echoes former BC Hydro president and CEO Marc Eliesen: "Independent oversight in BC has not been restored."

"As we leaned in Muskrat Falls, it does not pay to remove independent oversight."

#bcpoli #SiteC

"We have in BC two white elephants being constructed. One is Trans Mountain and the other is #SiteC." - Marc Eliesen, former CEO of BC Hydro.

He says a grassroots movement "can have impact."

"This is, I believe, the route to go."

#bcpoli #SiteC

.@kekinusuqs: "People really need to rise up in the province and just say 'no.' "

"The whole issue has got to become a really hot potato that Horgan has to deal with in this new term he's got in front of him."

#bcpoli #SiteC

"The sunk costs [of Site C] are now about $5 or $6 billion," says former BC Hydro president and CEO Marc Eliesen.

He says these can be amortized over several years to prevent rate shocks, as have been seen with Muskrat Falls.

#bcpoli

The panel has been answering "Where do we go from here?"

Here's what Marc Eliesen has to say about that.

"Calamitous events can be avoided if [#SiteC] comes to a halt now."

#bcpoli

"There's no money at all for remediation costs at the end of the project." - @sarahcox_bc

.@dunnezaman outlines what has been lost so far in the valley: old-growth forests, farmland, wildlife. He says the valley can still be saved.

But ... "you can't reclaim a valley once it's been flooded forever."

#SiteC #bcpoli

..@dunnezaman sees an alternative future.

"They could quite easily start doing geothermal... at a fraction of the footprint and they could create way more jobs for people."

He suggests "a combination of wind and solar and geothermal."

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@sarahcox_bc "We need to look at Site C as a job-creation project, not an energy project ... we don't need the energy."

"We have to ask ourselves as ratepayers ... what if we actually spent that on job-creation projects that would keep jobs rather than just for a few years."

"Year after year after year, BC Hydro was forecasting huge increases [in electricity use] that never took place," former BC Hydro president and CEO Marc Eliesen says.

With the pandemic, "if Site C went ahead, we wouldn't need it until 2040 or 2050."

#SiteC #bcpoli

.@kekinusuqs "There is a chance that #SiteC or more energy could be needed," with more electrification (i.e. ferries).

"The kind of energy Site C would create could easily be created by clean energy projects across the province, at the cost of the producers, not the taxpayers."

.@dunnezaman: "Site C was a political decision. It had absolutely nothing to do with being need-based."

That's a wrap!

Do you give a ... dam ... about #SiteC, but missed our webinar? Check it out here!

thenarwhal.ca/site-c-dam-eve…

#bcpoli