New North Slope photos show vast expanse of material removed due to past slides & instability.

Posted on by Laila

Just sent in to me this morning, these new photos of the infamous north slope of Site C- the slope that has caused so much trouble since day 1.

I’ve documented those issues many times with photo’s since 2016-even after they tried a no flight rule, which was quickly removed – here:

https://lailayuile.com/2016/07/21/site-c-aerial-photos-show-mess-of-dikeswater-and-slides/

https://lailayuile.com/2016/09/21/new-site-c-photos-show-continued-mitigation-efforts-on-slide-prone-north-slope-construction/

https://lailayuile.com/2016/11/10/new-photos-show-new-cracks-and-landslide-yet-again-on-the-north-slope-of-site-c-how-much-are-they-costing-us-and-how-long-before-someone-gets-hurt/

https://lailayuile.com/2017/01/05/site-c-the-9-billion-dollar-boondoggle-complete-with-grassroots-oversight/

I include those links because they contain photos that, when viewed in contrast against these new ones, show just how much this slope has been flattened in order to mitigate the ongoing slide issues they experienced…and still do. You can see where even despite having had little rain, iron rich water seepage still stains the concrete coating of the terraced hillside.

It is because so much of this slope was removed that the design of the dam was changed – traditional dams are situated between two slopes of a higher angle to act as anchoring ‘walls’, or the sides of the dam. Here, because the north slip has such a low angle, and because of other geotechnical concerns and unknowns detailed in BCUC documents, the dam design had to compensate for that low angle. I detailed all this in my last post here, with those bcuc docs: https://lailayuile.com/2018/10/12/part-iii-old-fort-slide-as-evacuation-alerts-orders-continuemore-questions-for-site-c-geotechnical-concerns

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Now.

Here is a pic of the north slope and inlet portals ( diversion tunnel) labelled:

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And here is a pic of the current design showing this north bank, on the right, securing that side of the dam, followed by a larger pic for context:

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It doesn’t take an engineer to see why so many question the wisdom of Horgan’s decision to continue this dam. It will continue to experience geotechnical issues and with a clear,documented paper trail of contractor quality control and compliance issues, it will continue to escalate in cost.

As the wise ( currently working) engineers who help me say, “Just because you CAN, doesn’t mean you SHOULD.”

24 thoughts on “New North Slope photos show vast expanse of material removed due to past slides & instability.”

      1. Roy,its very common for large complex projects to hire or bring in consulting engineers in their field of expertise. Hydro has many of their own dedicated engineers and brings in consulting or new engineers as needed. Regardless of where an engineer is from,construction must still meet Canadian and BC code and standards. To me,where an engineer is from is of negligible importance.

        The greater issue is this. This project was driven by Clark on a fast timeline and Hydro heads were amicable to her order. There is so much secrecy and redactions in FOI requests,and so many concerns that in light of the recent slide at Old Fort, the Weisgarber report I have written of many times, and the many unknowns detailed in the bcuc documents I posted in my prior post, that the only rational thing for Mungall to do as minister is have an outside Hydro, truly independent assessment done.

        However, she won’t do this, so firmly is she wrapped around O’Rileys finger. She merely repeats nearly verbatim,whatever lines Hydro feeds her. Case in point is how often we heard from the ndp how bad of shape hydro is in…now Mungall says everything is awesome.

        🙄

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    1. More LNG and a new pipeline from northern BC , through Powell River, then Comox to go across the island..

      This oughtta go over well….oh.

      And a transmission line to supply electricity to the plant
      Where are the Greens on this??

      These plants are going to get a rate of less than 1/2 of what we pay. How is this fair or right?

      https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/steelhead-huu-ay-aht-submit-plans-for-kwispaa-lng-project/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

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    1. Really doubt this had to do with fracking…at least directly Jennifer. My thought is that pit shouldnt have been operating without a slope stability assessment done.

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  8. Many decisions made on policies, projects and the day to day government business in general, is sometimes crazy, stupid and wasteful, but not surprising, given the intent to constantly please the special interest in many cases. The general public has never been in that group, except when government needs our money and votes. Serving the people is at the bottom of the list, even though it is supposed to be at the top. Hahahahaha. Choke, choke gag. But as far as Site C is concerned, it is quite amazing and shocking that sheer madness and stupidity was the order of the day by Horgan to let the dam go ahead, when everything studied and reported was against it and continues.
    Removing tolls and MSP premiums isn’t going to help this guy at election time. Besides they will just rip us off somewhere else, and more. It’s to bad, because we may have another scummy BC Liberal government again, because Horgan has Frigged it all up. They are all the same dirty. He could have done okay, but instead caved to special interest and political cowardice and sleaziness instead, and quite fast after becoming elected. A new record. Maybe.

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  9. WOW. That is insane. What is up with the courts and these decisions when evidence shows the project should be stopped. I hate to ask, but it must be asked if i read it right, what’s you posted. Who’s ass do the courts kiss. It was even stated by them there is evidence to be tried as given and obviously so by the First nations and Treaty 8. Well hopefully and justifiably so, the infringement case will help bring this crime scene called Site C to it’s end along with all the other obvious evidence. I almost give up trying figure what the hell is up with it all. A touch of anger about it all keeps one going i guess. Just a wee bit. Hahaha. A willfully blind negligent Premier getting his head out of his rear and getting some kind of moral compass working would also help to stop the damned dam.

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  10. I’m just curious.
    Is the “Work Camp” the same place where all the construction workers live, eat and sleep?.
    I was told it was almost 2 miles from the actual Dam but these photos are showing it almost on the edge of the escarpment?

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  11. These photos are amazing but very close and from different angles.
    Its difficult for the average person to realize whats going on.
    If we had ‘Google earth” type photos of “Before” , “During”, and “After”( the dam fails?) taken from directly above the site from say 10,000ft ( Angels 10) it would be easier to show people the amount of earth movement and the overall mess…….

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  14. I now subscribe on line to the Alaska Highway News and today they were reporting on the continued sliding of the slide. Its slow but steady. If mother nature would do us all a favour, just get on with it and finish the slide, that way they can forget about the dam, dam and they can compensate the home owners and we can get back to some degree of normal.

    The Greens are not going to say anything negative about this dam because its renewable energy. Not all Greens know how to look at the big picture. Its about the same as some environmentalists want to stop immigration to Canada because it will damage the environment.

    then there is the no small matter of protesting too much about the dam. They made a deal with the NDP. If the NDP isn’t in office, the Green Weaver won’t be in his position and as some of you may have learnt by now, the first priority of any party is to stay in power and the first priority of any politician is to stay in their seat.

    About the last time I heard of politicians who made a decision they knew would have them voted out of office were a bunch of Conservatives in Australia who voted on a prohibition on guns. yes, they were voted out of office and one who was interviewed, said he had no regrets, he knew he was doing the right thing.

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  15. To be blunt, John Horgan is a photo-op puppet and nothing more. He is told what to do and he does it.

    He was told not to hold a criminal inquiry of the internationally infamous casino money laundering racket and he does as told.

    He was told to build site C, and he is doing what he is told.

    More recently, Surrey abandoned light rail, to build with an aging and obsolete SkyTrain, and nary a peep from the NDP, as they are told what to do. SNC Lavalin and Bombardier win again.

    The NDP are a disaster and nor a whole lot better than the Liberals.

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