Premier Horgan says Site C will be completed

Feb 26, 2021 | 11:38 AM

B.C.’s premier has confirmed the Site C energy project in northern B.C. will be completed.

John Horgan told a news conference Friday the decision was made after independent experts confirmed the project can be built and operated safely.

The premier said it will help power the province well into the future with clean energy and will keep power rates among the lowest in North America.

“Cancelling it when it was half done would have meant laying off 4,500 workers just as we’re coming out of pandemic and left the province with $10 billion in debt and nothing to show for it. That would have led to rapid increase in rates, on average of $216 dollar a year, starting right away which we were not prepared to do,” Horgan explained.

Horgan said the decision will be difficult for many who have opposed the project for environmental reasons.

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“We came to the decision it was in best interest of British Columbians to complete it,” Horgan added.

Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, said the new, revised cost estimate is $16-billion, with completion now set for 2025.

“The cost of Site C will be spread in rates over 70 years and that begins only when the assets come into service,” the minster said.

The cost has gone up $5-billion since the last estimate in 2018.

Ralston said by the end of the decade, rates will be about three per cent higher, or $36 a year for the average residential customer, and rate increases are expected to remain below the rate of inflation over the next decade.

Ralston added Site C will supply B.C. with power for next 100 years, and allow the province to get off fossil fuels and to meet it climate targets.

“We are going to need significantly more renewable energy as we make the switch to electric vehicles and power our buildings and industries with clean energy instead of fossil fuels,” Ralston commented.

The province has released the Milburn review, with 17 recommendations aimed at improving oversight and governance. Government and BC Hydro have accepted all the recommendations.

The Sierra Club B.C. said it is deeply disappointed the government is proceeding with the project.

“Today is a dark day. Despite the mounting cost overruns and growing evidence of geotechnical instability, the BC NDP has once again passed up its chance to stop Site C,” Executive Director Hannah Askew, stated. “Sierra Club BC has long opposed the construction of the Site C dam due to the environmental dangers it poses, as well as the devastating impacts on the Aboriginal and Treaty rights of the Treaty 8 First Nations. Our concerns have intensified as we have learned more about increasing costs and risks posed by this project.”

“We are not at all convinced that this project is safe,” Chief Roland Willson of West Moberly First Nations, said. “The premier’s decision has grave consequences for West Moberly and other First Nations. His government had a constitutional duty to consult us. That’s the law. It’s been the law for over 20 years. Yet the premier hasn’t so much as acknowledged our existence on this issue. Is this what he thinks of Indigenous Peoples? Is this what he means by free, prior and informed consent?”

by Pete McIntyre

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