Delayed B.C. Site C dam cost rises to $16 billion
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Site C hydroelectric dam has risen in cost by over $5 billion and been delayed by a year, bringing the price tag of the megaproject to $16 billion and stretching the completion date to 2025.
Premier John Horgan said Friday the project is halfway complete and the skyrocketing expenses and construction setbacks are due to geotechnical issues, COVID-19 and other cost and schedule pressures.
He told a news conference that the project was beset with challenges when it was started by the previous provincial government, but it must be completed for the power needs of future generations and to keep B.C.’s rates among the lowest in North America.
Horgan also said that cancelling the project now would mean laying off 4,500 workers and a sunk cost of $10 billion. The province said that the average ratepayer would face a 26 per cent increase on their bills over the next 10 years if Site C was scrapped.
“I believe we’ve made the right decision,” Horgan said. “We will not put the jobs at risk. We will not shock people’s hydro bills.”
The province said continuing with the project means the costs will be recovered through rates over the 70-year lifespan of the dam. After the project is operational, the average ratepayer will face about a three per cent increase above previous forecasts based on a $10.7-billion project cost.
It said that COVID-19 and geotechnical issues represent about half of the more than $5 billion in additional costs, but did not elaborate on the other factors or provide a detailed breakdown, citing commercial interests.
Horgan’s announcement comes weeks after a former deputy finance minister completed his report on the status of the northeastern B.C. dam and submitted the study for cabinet consideration.
The review was ordered last July after Crown-owned BC Hydro reported concerns about risks and delays, and the province says it has accepted all 17 of Peter Milburn’s recommendations, including a strengthened project assurance board.
The government also released a report by two independent experts that found changes to the foundation to address geotechnical issues on the project’s right bank will ensure Site C meets safety standards.
Horgan also announced new leadership at BC Hydro as Doug Allen -- who has held top positions at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and TransLink. He replaces Ken Peterson as chairman of the board.
The premier said in December 2017 that the NDP government would reluctantly support completion of the dam across the Peace River just west of Fort St. John, but he would never have started the project commissioned by the previous B.C. Liberal government.
At that time, the sunk cost would have been $4 billion.
Horgan said he understands that there are a significant number of B.C. residents who have never been supportive of the project and they are not going to be any happier today than they were in 2017.
“I don’t have the luxury of fretting over the past. I have an obligation to focus on the future,” he said Friday. “I believe this is in the best interests of British Columbians.
“The costs going forward are going to be less than the costs behind us.”
Environmental and Indigenous groups opposed to the project swiftly voiced their disapproval on Friday.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said she was disappointed in the government’s decision, but not surprised. It is unfortunate that it didn’t cancel the project in 2017 and put resources into developing clean energy infrastructure in communities, she said.
“Instead we are now looking at this megadam that will cost $16 billion and potentially more,” she said. “It will be producing energy at five, six, eight times the cost that they’ll be able to sell it at. This is an astonishingly terrible business case in any circumstance.”
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said in a statement that the province’s continued commitment to the project violated its promise to uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“The Site C dam has never had the free, prior and informed consent of all impacted First Nations, and proceeding with the project is a clear infringement of the treaty rights of the West Moberly (First Nations),” said Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, secretary-treasurer.
The West Moberly First Nations, which holds traditional territories in the area of the dam, said the government’s decision was made without any attempt to consult First Nations, downstream residents or the general public.
“We are not at all convinced that this project is safe. 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,” said Chief Roland Willson.
Wilderness Committee campaigner Joe Foy said the “irresponsible” project has gone ahead with little regard for Indigenous rights, irreplaceable farmland, the environmental impact on the Peace River Valley, the economics of the project -- or any common sense whatsoever.
“Premier Horgan should put this dam out of its misery now. It’s time to walk away from Site C.”
HOUSTON — President Joe Biden’s public empathy is on display on his trip to a major disaster site since he took office a little over a month ago. The president and his wife, Jill, are in Texas to survey damage caused by severe winter weather and to encourage people to get their coronavirus shots.
The brutal winter weather across the South over Valentine’s Day weekend battered multiple states, with Texas bearing the brunt of unseasonably frigid conditions that caused widespread power outages and frozen pipes that burst and flooded homes. Millions of residents lost heat and running water.
At least 40 people in Texas died as a result of the storm and, although the weather has returned to more normal temperatures, more than 1 million residents are still under orders to boil water before drinking it.
“The president has made very clear to us that in crises like this, it is our duty to organize prompt and competent federal support to American citizens, and we have to ensure that bureaucracy and politics do not stand in the way,” said Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, who accompanied Biden to Houston
Biden planned to meet with local leaders to discuss the storm, relief efforts and progress toward recovery and to visit a food bank and meet volunteers. He was to be accompanied by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
While in Houston, the Democratic president also planned to visit a mass coronavirus vaccination centre at NRG Stadium that is run by the federal government. Biden on Thursday commemorated the 50 millionth COVID-19 vaccination since he took office, halfway toward his goal of 100 million shots by his 100th day in office. That celebration followed a moment of silence to mark the passage earlier this week of 500,000 U.S. deaths blamed on the disease.
The post-storm debate in Texas has centred on the state maintaining its own electrical grid and lack of storm preparation, including weatherization of key infrastructure. Some state officials initially blamed the blackouts on renewable energy even though Texas is a heavy user of fossil fuels like oil and gas.
Sherwood-Randall said it remains up to Texas on how to shore up its utilities.
“Fundamentally the first decision has to be made by the state of Texas about what kind of energy system it wants to maintain, what kind of energy market it wants to maintain,” she said.
The White House said Biden’s purpose in visiting would be to support, not scold.
“I expect that what he will do during this trip today is asking every single person he sees what do you need, how can I help you more,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “And what can we get more for you from the federal government. And it’s important to him that he does that on the ground in person, he has that direct engagement.”
Biden has declared a major disaster in Texas and asked federal agencies to identify additional resources to aid the recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent emergency generators, bottled water, ready-to-eat meals and blankets.
Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said in an interview that he didn’t know what more the federal government could do to help because the failures were at the state level. But Henry, a Republican who is the highest county official in the suburban Houston county, said that if Biden “thinks it’s important to visit, then come on down.”
Biden wanted to make the trip last week, but said at the time that he held back because he didn’t want his presence and entourage to detract from the recovery effort.
Biden, whose life has been marked by personal tragedy, is known for his ability to empathize with others and their suffering. His first wife and infant daughter were killed in a car collision in 1972. His son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, planned to join Biden, a spokesman said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, an ally of former President Donald Trump and one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who had objected to Congress certifying Biden’s victory, was in Florida addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Cruz was recently criticized for taking his family to Cancun, Mexico, while millions of Texans shivered in their unheated homes during the disaster. Cruz later said the trip was a mistake. Cruz made light of his misstep to the CPAC crowd.
“Orlando is awesome,” he said to laughs and hoots. “It’s not as nice as Cancun. But’s nice.”
Houston also was the destination for Trump’s first presidential visit to a disaster area in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding that August.
Trump, who is not known for displays of empathy, did not meet with storm victims on the visit. He returned four days later and urged people who had relocated to a shelter to “have a good time.”