SITE C TIMELINE
• 1980 — B.C. Hydro applies to build the dam, following engineering studies that began in 1971. • 1981-1983 — B.C. Utilities Commission deems the project acceptable, but after a series of hearings, calls for more information on future energy demand and alternative ways to meet it. • 1993 — B.C. Hydro president and chief executive officer Marc Eliesen tells Vancouver Sun that Site C will not be built in the next 10 to 15 years due to financial and environmental concerns. • 2014 — Federal-provincial joint review panel finds Site C appears to be most economic solution to meet future power demand, but says true cost is unknown. • December 2014 — Then-premier Christy Clark gives green light to project. • Summer 2015 — Construction begins. • March 2016 — Court orders protesters who camped at the site for two months to leave. • May 2016 — Royal Society of Canada joins 250 academics calling on federal government to stop project. • May 2016 — Federal government says it won’t revisit a project that has already been approved. • July 2016 — Site C challenged in B.C. Supreme Court petition over frog and tadpole relocation. Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada authorize B.C. Hydro to move forward with Site C. • August 2016 — Amnesty International calls for work to stop. • September 2016 — Two First Nations from Treaty 8 territory — Prophet River and West Moberly — argue in federal court that the project violates constitutionally protected treaty rights. • September 2016 — B.C. Court of Appeal rules against Peace Valley Landowner Association in its fight against Site C. It rules ministries of Environment and Forestry don’t have to consider all 50 recommendations of an environmental assessment report in issuing an environmental assessment certificate. • December 2016 — Farmers Ken and Arlene Boon are told their home will be seized to make way for the project. • January 2017 — Federal court dismisses Prophet River and West Moberly legal challenge. • February — A 400-metre tension crack appears in ground near project, delaying work. • May — Second tension crack appears on left bank of river, delaying construction. • June — B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan and B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver agree to refer Site C for independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission, as part of power-sharing pact. • July — B.C. NDP sworn in as government. • August — Energy Minister Michelle Mungall commissions B.C. Utilities Commission to review project’s financial viability. • October — B.C. Hydro says it will miss a critical river-diversion milestone, adding about $610 million to the budget. • November — B.C. Utilities Commission report finds project is over budget and behind schedule. It doesn’t make a recommendation about whether the province should proceed or cancel the dam, but says terminating it would cost $1.8 billion, while completing it could cost $10 billion. It says wind or geothermal projects could provide energy at the same or lower cost. • November — Premier John Horgan says the project could face ongoing legal battles over Indigenous rights and may end up in Supreme Court of Canada.