*updated:More questions raised about Site C construction compliance with provincial and federal fisheries/water regulations

Posted on by Laila

***** Updated April 4th, 2016. Alaska Highway reporter Johnny Wakefield is reporting this today: http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/regional-news/site-c/site-c-breaches-environmental-conditions-failed-to-control-sediment-in-river-1.2227512

Of course, we were on that story two months ago when I first reported these incidents to DFO and emailed them this link – DFO’s response at that time, is  at the bottom of the post.

RossK, has his take on this here: http://pacificgazette.blogspot.ca/2016/04/site-c-environmental-breachwhen-in.html

**********************************************************************

Despite a number of unresolved and ongoing court cases challenging Site C, preliminary construction is underway and moving at a rapid pace. ( Remember Clarks vow to get it past the point of no return)

New questions are again being raised by several visitors to the area,on whether contractors are in compliance with provincial and federal regulations with respect to that ongoing construction.

BC Hydro is in possession of a number of provincial and federal authorizations with respect to working around the waterways in the area,including not only the Peace River but the Moberly and other side tributaries. https://www.sitecproject.com/document-library/permits-and-authorizations

Those authorizations are very specific to what can and can’t occur when working around waterways and BC Hydro’s contractors actions have already been called into question once last year by Ken and Arlene Boon – both named in the suit initiated by BC Hydro  against campers at Rocky Mountain Fort site. You can read about those violations and how that was handled – or not- by BC Hydro. http://theecoreport.com/environmental-degradation-at-site-c/

These photos show what appear to be a number of potential violations. Buoys without a light on top or signage – these same buoys were also recently photographed and posted to social media, as free floating down the river.

The photos taken also show dirt being dumped and placed into the river, sediment flowing clearly in the water stream and no visible mitigation efforts in place to prevent it-visitors to the area were concerned these could be potential violations of the conditions of the federal DFO guidelines that are designed to protect and mitigate harm to fish and fish habitat.

These guidelines are cited in both provincial and federal authorizations as a condition of approval. ( see Erosion & Sediment Control, Operation of Machinery ) http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/pnw-ppe/measures-mesures/index-eng.html

This is the Federal authorization: https://www.sitecproject.com/sites/default/files/Fisheries%20Act%20Authorization.pdf

Page 32 of BC Hydro’s own Construction Management Plan also indicates sediment mitigation efforts that must be in place, including a condition that in stream work must be isolated from flowing water,except where allowed by the Environmental monitor. https://www.sitecproject.com/sites/default/files/Construction%20Environmental%20Management%20Plan.pdf

It is also worthy to note their own construction management plan was just recently revised on February 4th, 2016.

Calls to DFO and the provincial Habitat officer had not been returned at the time of this posting. Click on any photo to see full size and scroll through.

Taken after DFO permit was issued.
View from the air showing sediment flowing in the river
Buoys floating free,no signage,no lights
Mitigation?
Sediment flowing alongside machines

Part two of this post, will be out shortly,pending completion of research. I have created a new page accessible at the top of this blog, that I will be posting all Site C posts and link to in chronological order, for easy reference.

And if you haven’t, check out my most recent post on why Premier Clark should act now to prevent another fiasco like Newfoundlands Muskrat Falls dam project

 https://lailayuile.com/2016/02/08/muskrat-falls-fiasco-provides-example-for-british-columbians-of-potential-future-of-site-c-why-premier-clark-must-send-project-to-bc-utilities-commission-independent-review/

*** UPDATE February 17,2016

After a week, I received a response from Department of Fisheries Communications Advisor, Carrie Mishima:

dfo response

Clearly, BC Hydro started work without implementing sediment mitigation and clearly more scrutiny is needed. The authorizations are very clear that the conditions above need to be adhered to and even in this early stage, they have not been. Does this bode well that accountability is important to BC Hydro or the government? No. It means they are trying to get whatever they can get done as fast as possible, before any court cases can shut it down. There are still several outstanding cases challenging #SiteC.

46 thoughts on “*updated:More questions raised about Site C construction compliance with provincial and federal fisheries/water regulations”

  2. The bastards only understand, one thing – implacable resistance backed up by major, ongoing Civil Disobedience. Until then,, Christy and Gumshoe plough ahead uncaring about people and values. Anyone who saw Christy ‘s appalling performance at Bill Bennett’s Memorial Service must know that she is unacquainted with the normal values we usually associate with human decency. It’s a waste of time to talk to her about agricultural laand, wildlife, river values, beauty, much less the rights and desires of all people including the sacred rights of First Nations. She simply doesn’t give a damn and to stop her, this must be clearly understood by all.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sorry Rafe. Remember what those people were called that dared to walk off the job and protest Bennett’s “restraint” legislation? He was on the ropes until Jack Munro sold us all out. That was just the beginning of what we now have today. You were a part of that.

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    1. And there’s the rub.
      SHE DOESN’T CARE.
      She doesn’t care about normal issues real people are concerned about. The only thing she understands about the province is her own power is the most important thing in her world. verything else is something to be xploited and used against her critics or enemies.

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  4. Slightly off topic…shouldn’t you be adding a zero to the number of reasons why the Liberals must go? At least change the one to a five?
    As for this piece, (and you know my sentiments), into every river a little sediment will fall….they may be in violation of a lot of things but spilling dirt and floating buoys is contrary to guidelines only. If they don’t adhere to laws or even ethics, guidelines won’t inhibit them. Hell, guidelines don’t inhibit Me!

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      1. Now y’r talkin’! Probably a coffee table book in small print and you’ll still have to edit it so that it can be lifted by two adults. Include everything bad and War and Peace becomes a comic book. Seriously…there is so much muck to be raked, you may wish to enlist co-authors. Norm? Scotty? Rafe? Berner? NOT me….unless scathing vitriol is the theme. Even then, I’d show too much bias.

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        2. Come o Dave. It’d give you a break from Vol II OTG. Perhaps Sal could put her quilting skills on hold….wait a minute! How about a quilting project that highlights Ms. Clark’s most egregious transgressions? Heck, it might get a Guinness record of some kind. Chrispy could be enticed to show up for a secret unveiling c/w hardhat! Oh the possibilities! And we hav16 month to prepare.
          Go for it!

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  5. Unless the Federal Government steps in to shut things down because Site C is in violation of some federal rules, nothing is going to slow this down. there are no provincial rules which they are going to obey, because really, who is going to make them obey them?

    A private lawsuit against the contractors of Site C would be expensive and take so long, the dam would be finished.

    The only thing the photo op queen forgot is that, its never to late to stop something, even if it has been built, It can be dismantled and the environment restored. Perhaps she hasn’t seen the City of Detroit being turned into farmland. its never too late to make things right.

    We also need to remember Christy has to reward all her “friends and supporters” with Site C contracts, so of course things aren’t going to stop.

    Rest assured Christy Clark and her cabal don’t care about the environment. don’t care about the people who live in the area, don’t care if we need the electricity or not. its all about Christy and the people of this province have only themselves to blame.

    If she spent the $8 Billion on health care we might get some of the MRIs we need, but that is another story over on Blog Borg collective.

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    1. Amazing what happened after the newspaper called…. http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/regional-news/site-c/temporary-foreign-worker-program-scrubbed-from-site-c-job-post-1.2171211

      Also apparently Hydro planned to hide the fact that long term energy use forecast is declining.. which is why Clark is suddenly using the excuse of selling energy to Alberta. http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/02/11/BC-Hydro-Forecast-Change/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=021116-1&utm_campaign=editorial-0216

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      1. Laila, with all due respect, I believe the REPORTING of the TFW program has been scrubbed, but not the program itself. They have already used up the local labour (75% of the 600 person workforce is local). What are the Spaniard and Korean contractors – yes, that’s right – 80% of the project has been awarded to foreign contractors, Acciones and Samsung, going to get the massive workforce to build the $1.5 Billion already awarded?
        Is there any hope of getting hold of the Contract Documents for this work? Who were the other bidders for this work? What were the bid results? All of this information was common knowledge in the Good ol’ Days. Why not now?

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        1. The contracts have been awarded to foreign contractors, because in many of the “not so free trade agreements” there are clauses which provide for the hiring of the workers who work for the company. All these companies have to say is, they need these workers because they have “specialized training” whether they have it or not. In they come and no Canadian workers will get the jobs. That way the contractors make more money. If there are any on site worker accidents, the corporations can ship the wokers out and the WCB doesn’t have to pay out any money.

          With the TPP, all those workers can come from the other countries. Just like they brought in miners because only they could speak Mandarin, well this time it will be because the workers only can speak what ever language the company says they need.

          These companies can bring in workers not only from the country they are from, but they can transfer workers say from Greece, to the Spanish companies list, and then move them straight into Canada. If anyone thought Site C was about jobs for B.C.ers or Canadians, think again. Its all about Christy, her photo ops and “rewarding” her financial supporters.

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        2. With respect,
          The ‘awarding” of the contracts to foreign companies doesnt automatically result in an invasion of foreign workers. The contractor would attempt to hire qualified Canadian workers first.
          As an example: an aquaintance of mine from the East coast of Canada was living in Kitimat for over 2 years while working on the blast furnace upgrades for the Aluminum plant ( Alcan?).

          The key word here being “qualified” workers. Ironically, the BC Socreds(rebranded as Liberals in todayspeak) cut trades education/ qualifications to the bone years ago and we now see the ramifications. Possibly in a misguided attempt to intimidate/silence unions and their thousands of workers?
          Crocodile tears from the BC govt and industry whining that they cant find enough “qualified” workers in BC or Canada.
          They created the mess and are trying any “cheaper” alternative they can weasel their way into.

          With results such as this?

          .
          http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiz8KjQlfXKAhUK9WMKHYaMAp8QFgghMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fcanada%2Fedmonton%2Ftemporary-foreign-workers-called-a-risk-at-oilsands-site-1.2756817&usg=AFQjCNEV6SdrHaVoJe6FaagFMmLEiHVxyw&sig2=qyJg60OTvHtCFUUz6PiymA&bvm=bv.114195076,d.cGc

          While serving coffee at a Tim Hortons may not be a “game changer”.
          Substandard welding, electrical, plumbing, etc. just might be the next leaking crack in the dam?
          Literally?

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      2. After the “crack” Christy made in the thrown speech, Alberta may not be interested in buying anything from her. Then of course if she brings in TFWers while Alberta has thousands of unemployed, they may tell Christy to keep you electricity or do something else with it.

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    1. its not about providing “clean power”[ anywhere because if you destroy the environment it isn’t clean at all. this power if the dam is completed will be dirty, dirty in how it destroyed lives, the land, the animals, the farms, etc.

      the dam isn’t about electrical power. Its about water and its export straight to the U.S.A. If they can build pipelines for oil and natural gas, you bet they can put water into those pipelines also and what the U.S.A. and Mexico are willing to pay for is WATER.

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      1. I hear this water-piping theory occasionally and in the case of Site C, I don’t buy it. It’s too far away from the target. Why not just draw water from the Columbia for use in California? If drawn from the river near Astoria, it would be minutes from entering the ocean so no real loss to anyone else.

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  9. This sounds not good at all:

    “Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a draft agreement Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions while increasing their energy interdependence.

    The deal will see the three nations working together to better coordinate their energy resources as they move “towards a continental approach to energy,” Canadian Resources Minister Jim Carr told a joint news conference with his US and Mexican counterparts in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    The memorandum of understanding commits the North American Free Trade Agreement partners to share data on energy supplies and distribution, as well as new clean energy initiatives, accelerate development of technologies such as carbon capture and storage, and improve energy efficiency across the continent.”

    http://phys.org/news/2016-02-canada-mexico-energy-pact.html

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  12. Absolutely! Time to stop all this bullshit! I think we can all agree to that, but how to accomplish that end? Can we continue to expect the First Nations and the Peace farmers to carry the ball? It seems they are doing all they can. Its a given that Chrispy and the BC government won’t help. Can and will Trudeau step in? Remains to be seen.
    In the meantime, we continue to bitch and moan on this site, and a few others, apparently to no end. We have accomplished zip, nada, nothing in the three years I’ve been moaning. The fact that Chrispy put shovels in the ground and has awarded in excess of $1.5 Billion (US$?) of contracts hasn’t provided the impetus to goad us in to action. If that won’t, what will?
    We need someone with bigger balls than I’ve got to start something! Any volunteers?
    You’re doing a great job Laila, but you’re in a similar situation to mine.

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    1. Agree with you 100%. Talkin’ sure ain’t doing it. FNs go out and set their hair on fire and get away with it but they seem to have some kind of legal force field that makes the RCMP flaccid. If I was there, they’d taser me, arrest me, maybe kill me accidentally in jail. I would be charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer and that is AFTER I was tasered into unconsciousness. So, Rafe’s idea of civil disobedience is a pretty dangerous proposition for guys. I hate to say it again……………….but what is the point of Horgan and the limp-Dix if THEY don’t earn their keep at least ONCE. Seriously, shouldn’t MLAs do more than collect salaries and pensions? If the Dix Horgan particles cannot collide on our behalf, then get out of the Haldron and put the chiefs in their place (that was a messed up allusion to Boson Higgs….sorry….can’t help myself at times)

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      1. Horgan and company may not be speaking up on Site C because there are no NDP MLAs representing the area. (I don’t know who represents them) Right now Horgan and company are speaking up about the poisoned water at Shawnigan Lake. This evenings news reported the province now owned the land next to the toxic dump because the company didn’t pay their property taxes. If they’re dumb enough to not pay their property taxes how can they be relied upon to look after a toxic waste dump.

        There is nothing anyone can do to stop Site C except the federal government. Civil disobiedance isn’t going to work and right now its too cold to go protest, for many of us. Court cases take years. By that time the dam will have been built and the best outcome would be the Supreme court of Canada awards the dam to the First Nations because it was built on their land.

        Unless the b.c. lieberals are un elected, that dam will be finished, over budget and with supplies not up to standard and sub standard work. Then the taxpayers get to spend 25 yrs pay for it. if there is an earthquake before its paid for, we will be paying for something that is no longer there and a whole lot of flooded land. should be just lovely. Christy of course will have a final photo op, saying it was all the fault of some one else.

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        1. Hey e.a.f. Those Shawnigan Lake toxic dump operators are dumb like a fox. They made all their money off of toxic waste dump fees, and then took off! Guess who gets saddled with the cleanup fees? Yup, the current owners – you and me! Government would have been better to waive their taxes and get them to clean up the place. When will they ever learn!

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    1. The letter writer fails to note the guidelines referenced were superseded by the Clean Energy Act in 2010. Section 7 of that act exempts Site C from review by the BCUC. That was Gordon Campbell’s baby, although the Clark government could and should still arrange a review.

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    2. perhaps some one ought to notify the premiers of Alberta, Sask, and NFLD that Christy is planning to hire TFWers and not the unemployed oil field workers in their provinces.

      it really has never been Christy’s intent to hire Canadians to build Site C. Its cheaper to hire TFWers.

      Those job training ads she is wasting our money on these days sure remind me of harper’s old ads.

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  15. if you want to see what damage has been to the athabasca delta read my report The death of the Athabasca by EarlGordon who worked in w b n park for nine years,Do these half tamed apes know what they are doing to our environment. Now the notley ndp govt wants to build another dam in the peace country, In Alberta we do not murder peaceful protestors like what happened at Dawson Creek

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  17. So when DFO says BC Hydro corrected the issue of the causeway being where it was not allowed to be, did BC Hydro actually alter course or did BC Hydro apply for and receive a variance to continue?

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    1. Waiting for clarification on this and another item -I’ll post back when I hear. Seems to take them a very long time to come up with answers for this. I’m appalled that this kind of work could even get that far – had it not been for locals keeping an eye on things, nothing would have been done at all, which shows the contractor and Hydro are running as they please.

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      1. Of course they are.
        I hope “the locals” continue to not only watch, but tell.
        To the rest of the world it’s out of sight out of mind and just what Christy Coleman wants.

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  24. […] So concerned by the lack of attention given locals complaints, I phoned both DFO (response in post) and the EAO officer ( Chris Parks, who did not return my call) at one point to talk about the photos I posted here showing the silt flow clearly down the river. https://lailayuile.com/2016/02/10/more-questions-raised-about-site-c-construction-compliance-with-pr… […]

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