*** updated new slide pics below post
Because I’m really not sure how much of this will be covered on major stations or papers in BC, here is a story you need to follow.
To make a long story short, on the road to Old Fort – just downstream of Site C access Gate B and about 2.5-3 km downstream of the dam construction zone – a large and ongoing slide began yesterday. Full details and ongoing updates are being posted at the link above with photos, but what began as a large buckle in the road has turned into 20 feet of soil and trees that are slow and unstoppable, sliding across the road. Catherine Ruddell has posted an excellent graphic on twitter here:
Even more alarming, is that directly above the slide is a gravel pit and sources indicate that they have been running a rock crusher on site- normal for any gravel pit- which of course, creates ground vibration. This has yet to be mentioned in media reports, nor has the large stockpile on site, which would create a large load on the slope below.
Some are blaming this directly on site C ( there are unconfirmed reports the gravel stockpiled here is for the dam but I will update this ), however there is a far bigger point to be made here *again*…( how many times have I written about this??)
This entire area is incredibly unstable and no amount of engineering can change that. This particular portion of the valley is extremely prone to slide risks and always has been. It pains me that people like Arthur Hadland lay awake at night so concerned, that he continues to write letters and make calls because of fears like this that become reality. At one time his concerns were retweeted and responded to by this government while in opposition… yet now his calls for action to those very same people fall on deaf ears.
In a post back in 2016 ( and included in several other posts over the years), I posted a letter Hadland had written, that referenced a report commissioned by the government of the day back in 1991- Weisgarber report. ( again making circulation on social media as a new item, yet to those of us those opposed for years, we have been banging this report on peoples heads for a long time)
I post this excerpt again today because this current government seems to have forgotten many of their MLA’s once liked or tweeted or shared these stories and letters because they too believed it and shared concerns. I have also put important points in bold.
” In a recent report by BC Hydro to BCUC ‘unexpected’ geotechnical problems are acknowledged by the proponent. These include unexpected slope failure on the projects north bank, larger than expected deterioration of shale bedrock exposed during construction and a phenomenon called rock exposed swell.
Local citizens know that the failure of the Peace River Bridge in October 1957 was caused by the failure of the shale bedrock base on the north side of the Peace River.
These factors and the professional opinions employed by BC Hydro need to be examined in detail regarding the safety of human activities surrounding and within the proposed reservoir. There has been no outside examination of these factors. It has not been addressed as of the writing of this commentary.
This outstanding safety concern is further reinforced by the report commissioned by the Honorable Jack Weisgerber, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in 1991. This report was prepared by the Geological Survey Branch of British Columbia (Quaternary Geology and Landforms of Eastern Peace River Region, British Columbia, *2 by N.R. Catto 1991). This report was made without reference to the proposed flooding of the Lower Peace River Valley; rather it was commissioned to examine aggregate exploitation within the lower Peace River region. This report is brought to the attention of the reader regarding reservoir safety concerns.
These six cautionary quotes were made researching the potential for exploration or exploitation of aggregate sites in the eastern Peace River area:
1.“Mass movements, including rotational and translation glacial slides and a variety of sediment gravity flows, commonly occur along all the major streams.”…..Page 2
2.“The high concentrations of montmorillonite and bentonite in the strata, however, together with their poorly consolidated nature, greatly increases susceptibility of these rocks to slope failure following fluvial ( or arthropogenic) undercutting or overloading.”…..Page 2
3.”The clays are generally plastic, susceptible to sediment gravity flow if disturbed, and contain a high proportion of material derived from the local Cretaceous bedrock.”…..Page 5
4.“Mass movements in the region can be induced by the fluvial undercutting, natural overloading of the slopes (e.g. by debris flow from above), loss of internal cohesion due to sudden saturation (as was common during June, 1990), or by human activity. Evidence of past colluviation in the region is extensive (Bobrowsky et al. 1991), and extreme caution is required in any effort to exploit or utilize river valley slopes.”…..Page 10
5.“Thus, all of the major terrain slopes present in the eastern Peace River Region are subject to slope failure. Extreme caution should therefore be observed in any effort to exploit or utilize river valley slopes.”…..Page 15
6.”Valley slopes throughout the region are subject to slope failure and colluviation, and the development of these sites should be minimized.”…..Page 17 summary excerpt
This message is intended for the politicians and the taxpayers of BC. We are the ‘owners’ of BC Hydro although the Government claims that there is only one share holder.
The taxpayers are unintentionally paying for the largest environmental and economic catastrophe of BC’s 21st Century.
The professional review of the failure of the Taylor Bridge *3, the 2009 statement by SNC Lavelin, the Attachie Slide and the many points made in the 1991 Weisgerber Report *2 are all damning.
Just ask the downstream residents of Old Fort and Taylor how they view their personal safety.
There is ample evidence that this dam poses a serious safety issue. It is incumbent on your respective jurisdictions to conduct an independent professional review to certify that this project would be safe.
This letter from Hadland was written in 2016, and he references the safety of the residents in Old Fort, and Taylor.
The same people in Old Fort who are now cut off by an the current ongoing massive slide who face evacuation by helicopter or boat if they need to go.
His stark warning two years ago leaves a lump in my throat today and this is why. It is time to put politics completely aside and do what is right.
Modern engineering techniques are incredible. This kind of engineering is about taming the untameable. How climbers look at new and daunting peaks, is how some engineers look at challenging geotechnical work that requires new solutions. To be sure, it is a professional feat if it can be achieved safely. You can mitigate by drilling holes reinforced with sophisticated rebar and concrete, you can install grids and spray concrete, you can install geotechnical earth movement measuring devices to monitor for movement…but no one can always anticipate or control the uncontrollable.
If in fact the vibrations of a rock crushing machine played into this current slide, please tell me how vibrations of say, a small quake would impact dam construction at Site C? Like perhaps… earthquakes from fracking? Because this is an issue even BC Hydro officials have worried about… and disagreed on. From 2016: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-hydro-officials-worry-about-risks-of-earthquakes-triggered-by-fracking/article31425804/
” The issue is raised in a 2009 letter from Hydro’s then-dam safety director, Ray Stewart, to a water rights comptroller in the provincial Environment Ministry. Referring to coal-methane fracturing in the area, Mr. Stewart wrote, “BC Hydro believes there are immediate and future potential risks to BC Hydro’s reservoir, dam and power-generation infrastructure as a result of this coal-bed methane project.”
Mr. Stewart wrote that possible consequences from coal-bed methane extraction include the “re-activation of existing geological faults in proximity of the BC Hydro facility,” and the earthquakes caused by human activity “may be greater than the original design criteria for the dam.”
BC Hydro’s deputy CEO, Chris O’Riley, responded on Monday by noting that the utility’s dams are built to withstand much larger ground motions associated with higher-magnitude earthquakes than those linked to fracking.
“Fracking by itself cannot generate large magnitude earthquakes,” he said in a statement issued in response to questions about the CCPA’s concerns.
Additional documents suggest earthquakes in the Peace River region linked to fracking for shale gas caused further debate at BC Hydro, with dam-safety engineering scientist Des Hartford responding in March, 2013, to a colleague’s concerns: “Fundamentally, hydraulic fracturing is one of these ‘new and emergent’ threats that require examination in the context of scientific and policy considerations in order that any meaningful management actions can be initiated if required.”
Scott Gillis, Hydro’s dam safety engineer in the Peace region, to whom Mr. Hartford was writing, said his concern was triggered by the 1963 failure of the Los Angeles-area Baldwin Hills Dam that killed five people and destroyed 277 homes. Oil and gas production has been linked to the dam’s failure.
While Mr. Gillis acknowledged that the Baldwin Hills disaster occurred after “very intense exploration and development” unlike anything in British Columbia, he added that there is a “similarity” in small faults in the vicinity of the dam.
“Reactivation of these small faults could be problematic.”
He wrote that the province should add buffer zones around extreme and high-consequence dams where hydraulic fracturing could not take place without a “prior full investigation” of risks and a risk-management plan.
Mr. O’Riley of BC Hydro said all earth-fill dams are designed to have some seepage, and fracking could increase natural seepage, “which only poses an issue of increased costs due to maintenance and operational requirements – not a dam safety issue.”
Well, look at that. Chris O’Riley, the current president of BC Hydro, was negating his own dam safety officers concerns even back when he was a deputy ceo. Interesting. And the Peace Canyon dam is in a much more stable part of the Peace than where Site C is located.
I’m not an engineer but I do know quite a few excellent and experienced ones. They shake their heads and agree, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Look at Mt. Polley where three engineers now face disciplinary hearings following the tailings pond dam collapse https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/three-engineers-to-face-disciplinary-hearings-in-mount-polley-disaster
That leaves me with the most recent Site C progress report to the BCUC:
https://www.sitecproject.com/sites/default/files/2018_09_28_BCH_Site_C_RPT_12_PUB.PDF
Of note:
- BC Hydro is now offering incentive payments to keep things on track,something I find alarming. In reporting on other major construction projects in BC where incentive payments are offered for meeting time deadlines, there is documented evidence of contractors cutting corners to meet those deadlines, because the payments are lucrative. They know even if they go back to do repairs on warranty work at their cost, they still come out ahead because the warrenty work costs less than their incentive payment…( see Sea to Sky retaining wall repairs,substandard rebar, Port Mann retaining wall failures, SFPR road buckles and off ramp built incorrectly) Everyone would like to believe this would never happen. But it does and this current government knows this very well as do several federal MP’s I have spoken with in the past about Site C concerns.
- The earthfill dam is not scheduled to begin construction until 2019 ( no, there is no dam yet) pg 12
- There are a significant number of non conformities ( does not comply with standards or code). To date there have been 930 non conformities reported in the civil works alone with 179 still outstanding, with earthworks having the highest amount pg 17 ( this new engineer will have his hands full https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alesalaris )
Join the call in requesting this government immediately seeks an independent, outside review of the stability of this entire work site and immediate region.Not chosen by BC Hydro, Mungall or her deputy minister because O’Riley has been seen advising Mungall right behind her in the legislature. It is the only prudent action at this point pending the injuction decision in the West Moberly case, of which the judge has stated he hopes to have his decision by the end of October. Sadly, I think the only thing capable of stopping Site C now is the injunction…or mother nature herself.
***new pics of slide October 3rd
*** here is a look at the diversion portals just below the north bank. The rust coloured stains are from hard water rich in iron oxide seeping from the gravel layer just above.
Read Part II HERE: https://lailayuile.com/2018/10/09/part-ii-if-the-land-falls-down-around-site-c-does-anyone-in-victoria-hear/
Read Part III HERE: https://lailayuile.com/2018/10/12/part-iii-old-fort-slide-as-evacuation-alerts-orders-continuemore-questions-for-site-c-geotechnical-concerns/
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Watched the report on the 11 p.m. news last evening and the first thing which went through my mind, was your name. Thought I’d check your blog this morning and yes, great article.
This dam, if they continue building it, will simply slide away one day and with it all the billions spent building it. Will B.C. Hydro, the NDP/Greens now possibility put a halt to this dam dam, under the guise of “a second look”. Horgan has announced several new/upgraded hospitals since coming to office. A few more hospital upgrades and some schools and all those workers at Site C can go home and work there. Right now we need schools, hospitals, oh, a few upgrades to some highways, The $10B for the dam will cover it and make us happier, healthier, safer, etc.
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Chris O’Reilly saying that fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes is an exercise in deception because it is the (fracking) waste water injection into the earth that has been determined as the cause of localized earthquakes. Without that information included in his statement, Mr. O’Reilly’s goal is to mislead, obfuscate and confound.
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Caffenefiend,
Mislead? Obfuscate? Confound? An NDP-annointed Hydro executive could do that?
No. Instead this may be an insoluble matter of mutally-annihilating matter-antimatter doctrines. Thus perhaps Mr O’Reilly has a strong aversion to reading anything that contradicts his deepest beliefs.
Industry theology? Fracking = GOOD!
Not accepting fracking as divinely inspired = HERESY!
See? Not a new problem, is it?
Can we agree that it’s doubtful Mr O’Reilly has read or assigned anyone to investigate the following?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/fracking-causes-earthquakes-studies-confirm-1.1209066
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/oklahoma-earthquakes-linked-fracking-study
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/09/07/the-connection-between-earthquakes-and-fracking/#26242a476d68
Pity, no? Long before our times Upton Sinclair described the limits of Bureaucratic Thought.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
For doctrinal reasons only Europeans understand until recently Europe experienced the very same problem we have. Then? Entire countries began to ban fracking. .
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/24/germany-bans-fracking-after-years-of-dispute
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/sep/29/fracking-shale-gas-europe-opposition-ban
https://www.dw.com/en/what-ever-happened-with-europes-fracking-boom/a-18589660
The above? No reason to imagine any of the links above are on Mr O’Reilly’s, “Must Read List”. Or Ms. Mungal’s or Mr. Horgan’s.
Or? Maybe they did read all this bad press but then forgot.
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Not to sidetrack but the ONLY reason lng is even happening is Clark gave up the farm to entice interest…then Horgan beat that and handed over the keys to the entire neighborhood….http://richardhughes.ca/horgans-ndp-continues-christy-clarks-lng-nightmare-increases-tax-breaks-and-incentives/
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“Engineering Properties of Shale Soils
Shales and the soils derived from them are some of the most troublesome materials to build upon. They are subject to changes in volume and competence that generally make them unreliable construction substrates.
Expansive Soils
The clay minerals in some shale-derived soils have the ability to absorb and release large amounts of water. This change in moisture content is usually accompanied by a change in volume which can be as much as several percent. These materials are called “expansive soils.” When these soils become wet they swell, and when they dry out they shrink. Buildings, roads, utility lines, or other structures placed upon or within these materials can be weakened or damaged by the forces and motion of volume change. Expansive soils are one of the most common causes of foundation damage to buildings in the United States.
Slope Stability
Shale is the rock most often associated with landslides. Weathering transforms the shale into a clay-rich soil which normally has a very low shear strength – especially when wet. When these low-strength materials are wet and on a steep hillside, they can slowly or rapidly move down slope. Overloading or excavation by humans will often trigger failure.”
https://geology.com/rocks/shale.shtml
Seems like a great place to build a dam. What could possibly go wrong?
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Right?!! Why do they continue to put faith in BC Hydro and ignore their own report? There are slides everywhere in the area and always have been. We know why Clark pushed it through. But I didn’t expect those certain ndp mla’s to cave so fast.
I’ll be adding some new pics of the dam worksite itself shortly, for viewing pleasure.
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Sure could build a lot of schools, roads ,hospitals, housing etc. with the financial and human resources here.
Oh well, the Big One will likely wipe them out anyway, so why bother.
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……………..and so the muscrat falls.
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The only thing more pathetic than Christy Clark building the Site C dam “beyond the point of no return” is…….. the NDP finishing it.
It should have stopped the day after the election for a full environmental and fiscal feasibility review.
This dam will bankrupt BC Hydro or punish taxpayers for decades to come…..if it doesnt collapse before its finished…..
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There you go! Mother Nature to the rescue. Let the slide continue on down to the river, cap it with roller compacted concrete and Presto! you have a new dam 2.5 km downstream from Site C and just saved $10.7 Billion
Relocate the $.5 Billion Site C Hilton to the reservoir shoreline and save another bundle.
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I feel really bad for these residents AND workers at site c. This area is just not stable. Period. https://www.energeticcity.ca/2018/10/people-are-still-trying-to-figure-out-what-to-do-says-old-fort-resident-about-landslide-situation/
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RanD Hadland
Post
BC Hydro twitters that there is no evidence that the slide is related to construction of the Site C dam. BC Hydro fails to mention that there is no evidence that it is not related either. The construction destruction happening in the Peace River valley needs to be stopped until the implications of the instability of the river banks for a future dam and reservoir are re-evaaluated and made public by independent analysis. BC Hydro has no credibility in large part because of their habit of making truely moronic statements like ‘There is no evidence…’ when evidence has not yet begun to be collected.
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Yes well BC hydro also initially denied pretty much everything I have reported here on tension cracks,slides and infractions…until major media followed up and found it to be true…🙄
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My biggest concerns are 1) the residents of the Old Fort. 2) The river itself. 3) The workers at site c who are being asked to work in an unsafe environment. I have been hearing of people quitting because they’re afraid to be below any of the hills. They can hear the earth moving, the trees snapping, they feel the tremors as the earth moves. I’m not sure if they have shut down yet, that would be the responsible thing to do, but I’d bet they’re assuming they’re in no danger due to the distance. The adjoining slopes could be compromised by the slide, who the heck could ever know. The entire valley and site should be evacuated until this slide is done sliding.
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perhaps one quiet night, when all animals, including humans are out of the area, Mother Nature could do us a favour, by sending the rest of the stuff down the hill and it would be all over. Must say John Aghast’s last comment made me laugh…..the video would be good.
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Documents show BC Hydro has a 30 ft right of way on the property above the slide and locals say there are three large stockpiles of rocks on that right of way….
Now BC hydro says site c didn’t cause the slide….but if those stockpiles on the right of way belong to them, or were authorized by them, or even stored without their knowledge on their right of way….well then that’s still a liability issue because of the geotechnical conditions of that lot.
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Post updated 11 am today (Oct 3) with new pics from today of the slide sent from a friend up north.
Also questions coming to me now on Garbage Creek.They just finished a new transfer station and retention pond right in the edge of the bank.Same geology. Up a draw. If it were to come down it would open up the landfill.
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I wouldn’t build a HOUSE there, much less a dam! Can you imagine getting a CMHC mortgage on a dwelling built there? Not bloody likely. And house insurance? Forget about it!
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Makes you wonder what kind of geo testing they do ??
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Oh hey….
Old Fort slide has triggered another slide …and the evacuation zone is much bigger now.
Yo Horgan…hope it doesn’t keep sliding down to Gate B access road.
https://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/fort-st-john/old-fort-landslide-triggers-another-1.23453359
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I can just imagine the buck passing and emails being fired back and forth to “share the blame” if this thing goes sideways…..or downways…..
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Can’t say they weren’t warned. Over and over and over…well you get the idea. I feel so bad for the people in Old Fort. They dont have a 5 star accommodation to go to like there is at site c work camp. Which is also on the edge of a bank now because they had to remove so much of the north bank.
Like I ended this blog. If an Injunction doesn’t stop it…mother nature will.
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As a part time resident, and now a full time resident of the Peace I have been involved in this issue for over 30 years. I remember the Attachie slide. And now the entire area is going to be one great big quivering pin cushion. Excellent piece on CBC Radio this morning regarding the illegal entrapment of water behind unregulated dams – all for fracking. Farmers are suffering from drought and we are blasting water into the ground – insane.
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I think Mr O’Reilly – out of his profound sense of compassion, superior intellect, and a deep commitment to defend BC’s honour – should tour the UK. Soon. Once there he can explain to the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland how wrong they are to think ill of LNG.
At once he must take issue with banning such a perfectly innocent venture!
And if the UK’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is released before our Mr Hydro arrives and it contradicts his favourite claims? Someone unyielding needs to demonstrate that scientific facts are too weak to withstand well-funded non-scientific rebukes. No policy maker should be seen swayed by science-driven timidity. Such back-peddling is Executive Cowardice: especially when compared to the virile quest to help mega-corporations make piles of money. Of course responsible governments must shield their industrious friends from expenses more appropriately dumped on the public.
Polluted water tables? Ruined land? Permanent environmental damage? Poisoned people? In this century as in the last, such small stuff must not be allowed to interfere with Policy.
To finally enlighten a confused continent, Europeans need to be shown what to ignore in order to understand what’s good for them. Otherwise they’ll just keep reading stories like this, and then think Bad Thoughts.:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/fracking-protest-cuadrilla-injunction-courts-halt-preston-new-road-lancashire-a8570311.html
“The controversial extraction of the fossil fuel comes on the eve of a damning report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), described as “life changing”, and detailing the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions are impacting the planet.”
“Fracking has already been banned across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland due to concern over the risks and environmental effects of the practice, leaving England as the only option.”
“At the last general election the Conservative party called for a US style fracking “revolution” in the UK, to reduce imports of foreign natural gas. It is the only large political party supporting the practice, with the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and the Greens all opposed.”
“Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said: “Seven years after the last UK well was fracked, the industry has produced no energy and no money.”
“But to try to keep it going, the government has changed property law to give frackers access to the land under your home and overruled local councils and people to force fracking on communities.”
“Millions have been spent on policing to shield the frackers from resistance in those communities, and protesters have been sent to prison for trying to protect those communities and the planet.”
“The government should take heed, stop forcing fracking on a reluctant nation and start backing renewables now.”
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Fyi…by request, I finally updated my long neglected Site C page above.
41 posts on Site C dam since 2015, and two columns while at 24Hours Vancouver.
This damn dam haunts me 😒…https://lailayuile.com/the-case-to-stop-site-c-construction-links-news
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Evacuation order has expanded tonight…
https://prrd.bc.ca/evacuation-order-area-expanded-for-old-fort/
Cracks found all the way down to the river…https://www.energeticcity.ca/2018/10/eight-more-properties-being-evacuated-from-the-old-fort-landslide-community-meetings-held-saturday/
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Something just clicked in my head.Where in the heck does Worksafe BC play a part in all of this, considering all the hazards and dangers that seem to be on the rise at and around the dam site. I wonder if this to big for them to get in the way of the big players. After all the provincial government is there master. Are strings being pulled on the puppet. Just wondering. Food for thought.
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These slides are NOT on the site c worksite ( yet) ,contrary to what some have stated on social media – they are approx 2.5 kms east of it.
Work safe has in the past attended the dam site when required and has been reported on the site c progress reports.
The big issue remains as I have always said. This is an area in which the govts own commissioned report in the 90’s stated clearly any development should be minimized. ( aggregate sites mentioned specifically so why is a gravel pit in operation on the slope where the slide was triggered?)
So yeah. They built a dam.
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I guess my cynicism clicks in about the whole safety issue picture concerning the dam construction and the big politics and powers involved. Tension cracks, foundation, and those slides. The Peace area is prone to slides and gets me thinking if there’s a correlation relating to the construction and maybe exacerbating the situation. Hopefully no one finds out in any tragic ways on or off site. Oh well, the madness continues.
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Even early on there were issues reported by those in old Fort when the pile driving was occurring. I was told before the initial slide occurred, the rock crusher had been in use. The combination of ground vibration and the stockpiles weight of all that gravel would be a definate no no I would say…
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I am personally TOTALLY opposed to Site C. Always have been. Always will be. So I’m not going to add my thoughts on that here. The previous comments have summed it all up.
Regarding Chris O’Reilly’s comments that fracking doesn’t cause significant earthquakes. Really? One of the largest ever recorded as a result of fracking (4.6 on the Richter scale if I remember correctly) occurred in north east BC.
Also, I read (either The Tyee or The Narwhal, or both!) that 3 Engineers were brought over from Italy to, well, we don’t know. Because the NDP or BC Hydro won’t say. Which could be probably be translated into: Shit, this isn’t good!
But I digress. The whole thing is a complete travesty.
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A Thanksgiving gathering.
22 people over the age of 15.
Less than half showed any willingness to talk Site C.
Kitimat was the believed to be location by 4, including a teacher.
Fort St John was the common answer.
5 had heard of the slide at Old Fort.
1 had heard of the slide at Little Fort.
2 knew it’s actual proximity to Site C.
22 of them had a really good handle on, and were vocal about, Brett Kavanaugh.
This is what “they” want, right?
—————————————–
Laila,can you bump this topic up above the LNG one?
An enormously important topic.
Thanks for keeping the light on for us.
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Saw more about the slide on the noon news, not much, but enough to want to explore and found the Alaska Highway News, which had much more information, with pictures, than the MSM in the Lower Mainland.
They want people to just pick up and leave all the have behind? Are they crazy? O.K. they’re politicians. However, to think people will simply do that, without knowing the future, One of those homes, the Alaska News showed, is not cheap to build. Does the government just expect that owner to leave all of this behind?
Lets hope, if the government/B.C. Hydro, does not come clean about their “clear out” order, that the people who live there, look at a class action lawsuit.
I’m not an engineer, or geologically inclined, but from the pictures available, and the information regarding a gravel pit and its location, who ever decided to have it put there, needs to be fired. This was an accident waiting to happen. I suspect that B.C. Hydro/the dam builder/B.C. government are concerned the whole hill will slide down onto the town. If that is the case, they need to be honest with the people who live there. Their whole lives are invested in this area.
As to your question, will they hear it on the lower mainland? Not so much and even if they do, they don’t care, not the politicians, the media or the public in general. However, if this were happening in West Vancouver, Whistler, North Vancouver, etc. it would be a national disaster type scenario. Guess this doesn’t fall under Green Weaver’s interests, its only people loosing everything. Haven’t seen the opposition say anything either. Reasonable to conclude the politicians of all parties don’t give a rat’s ass about what is happening and about the people who live there.
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e. a. f. “Haven’t seen the opposition say anything either.”
They started this mess.
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Steven Barringham reads both The Narwhal and The Tyee..
Why not? The former site I can understand, the latter not so much any more.
Sites such as this one, IntegrityBC, The National Observer, The Narwhal, Norman Farrell, The Breaker, The Blog Borg Collective, (on occasion) the CBC, routinely take issue with the BC government on multiple fronts.
Such as…
BC Gun Crime, LNG. Site C. Homelessness. Tanker Traffic, CasinoGate. TransMountain, The Housing Crisis. The Health Care crisis. The Fish Farm sell out, Three years of forest fire fiasco, Children at increased risk because they are in government Care. And so on.
But then there’s the issue no reporter or politician wants to talk about.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Outrage+boils+over+government+plans+sell+groundwater+million+litres/10865416/story.html
“Outrage boils over as B.C. government plans to sell groundwater for $2.25 per million litres.”
In a recent TV interview BC farmers complained that they could no longer provide water to their own animals.. They had to shut down instead. News about Nestle? There is none, nor do reporters or politicians ever return email requests for further information.
Prior to the last provincial election Tyee stories ridiculing seemingly absurd policies were vital must-publish-now issues generating well-researched outrage among Tyee writers
Stories currently missing from the October 8 Tyee? All the above.
Instead here’s today’s sample of what merits Tyee publication.
“I Want to Serve Food to Strangers” “Who Wrote that Great Song? A Robot?” “The Seven Best Places to Eat in Canada” “The Summer of ’68: A Baseball Memoir” “Hey Fox News and Other Killers of Hope, This Week You Failed” “Need a Screen Break? Three Galleries to Visit Right Now” “Canada’s New Nobel Winner Isn’t a Full Professor, and I’m Not Shocked”
Riveting must-show-the-neighbours stuff, right? Visit their page. See for yourself.
Perhaps expecting a continuity of approach focused only on important NEWS is too simple minded when a once-outstanding example of partisan media reinvents itself as an NDP amalgamation of FOX News \ Readers’ Digest \ Better Homes And Gardens..
“Moving beyond Left & Right?” Not really happening in BC media, is it?
Anyone got an explanation?
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Back in my miss spent youth, I recall a Union Business Agent working on an NDP election told me, what Union people need to remember is one day the NDP will be the employer. She was correct. That applies to politicians of all stripes. We heard the Greens wax on about every thing and anything environmental, now not so much. They are part of the government and in their minds, they have achieved what they wanted, three really, really nice cushie jobs.
Left wing organization no longer criticise things that are wrong because the NDP is in office. Yes, its better to have them in office because the alternative is ugly. For most of the things presently wrong in this province, it started with the B.C. Lieberals. Having said that it does not say that we can not criticise the NDP for things they do wrong, or things we do not agree with. However, I suspect the NDP knows they can build Site C and the majority of voters will support it because they think it provides jobs and that is all they want to know or hear.
For many of us, we didn’t know why the NDP wanted to continue with Site C., given the cost, the environmental destruction of farms, land, First Nations rights. Well know we know. . They had a good idea that Kitimat was about to be declared. Why else have Site C go ahead.
If that is why the dam, dam is going ahead then at least come out and tell us, the voters, citizens, taxpayers of this province. Come out and say, we need Site C to power Kitimat and this is what its going to cost us in money, the environment, etc. and this is what we will get out of it. If families in this small town are going to loose their homes, then they need to be told NOW and they need to be compensated NOW. At least give the people a fair shake. Let people decide what they want to do.
Guess the politicians were just lucky it was Thanksgiving weekend and the American news media kept us distracted also.
As long as Horgan delivers on hospitals and schools, he’ll be in office for a long time, but we do need to let him know, we are unhappy about what is going on at Site C. As a rule I have found people don’t really care about tomorrow or the next year, as long as they can get through to the next pay day. Its some where around over 50% of Canadian families would be dead broke if they missed 3 pay days in a row. As long as that is the situation, no one in Vancouver is going to hear what is going on up country and we saw that loud and clear when Mount Polley happened.
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I almost gave up Thanksgiving. This article helps explain why.
I expect to outlive the SCHEDULED completion of Site C.
That doesn’t mean that I expect to see the successful completion of Site C.
Rather I hope that a rational decision, Indigenous rights or Mother Nature will terminate this farce before a tragedy of international significance occurs
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New post. Part 2.
https://lailayuile.com/2018/10/09/part-ii-if-the-land-falls-down-around-site-c-does-anyone-in-victoria-hear/
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I hear very little about the Fort St. John city lagoons located above the slide, and
why is the one nearest the river bank now empty? My question is, why was it ever built there in the first place if the hill was unstable?
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Questions you should be asking your city and district leaders Walter. A lack of due diligence with respect to geotechnical studies?
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