Landowners in court for Site C dam battle
MEGAPROJECT: Province has erred, lawyer declares
A group o f landowners in northeastern B.C., whose property is threatened by the planned Site C dam, says the provincial government is breaking the law by approving the controversial hydroelectric megaproject, a court heard Monday.
Maegen Giltrow, lawyer for the Peace Valley Landowner Association, told B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver that the province erred by failing to consider all the recommendations put forward by a joint review panel assessing the dam’s environmental impact.
The B.C. and federal governments granted environmental approval for the $8.8-billion project in October last year. But Giltrow said the panel actually made 50 recommendations, 20 of those were deemed to fall outside the scope of the review panel’s mandate.
“If the panel has recommendations that go to the questions that were put toward it, the panel must include those recommendations and the minister must consider those recommendations,” she said.
Responding to the court case Monday, Energy Minister Bill Bennett described the province’s assessment process for Site C as “very thorough” and that he remained confident shovels would be in the ground by the summer.
The B.C. cabinet gave final approval last December for the dam that would flood 5,500 hectares of land to create an 83-kilometrelong reservoir on the Peace River.
The courtroom was packed on Monday with more than 40 people in the public gallery. About half of those were landowners from the Peace Region who had travelled to Vancouver to observe proceedings.
Gwen Johansson, mayor of the District of Hudson’s Hope, said her community stands to be the most impacted by Site C, with the possibility of losing more than 1,800 hectares of surrounding land.
People have to have confidence that our decision-making processes are fair, just and transparent, said Johansson outside the courtroom.
“If people start to lose confidence in that, then our democratic processes are at risk,” she said, calling for the environmental assessment to be redone if the court finds it was lacking.
Lawyers for the provincial government are expected to present its case in court Tuesday.