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Mamquam River, near Squamish. PHOTO STUART SMITH
THEY CALL IT DAMOCRACY
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THE B.C. LIBERALS REMOVE LOCAL VETO POWER OVER HYDRO PROJECTS
WHILE B.C. PADDLERS WERE WAITING FOR WARM WEATH- ER to bring spring flows in early May, section 56 of Bill 30 snuck it’s way through the B.C. Legislature like an open ca- noeist paddling a class V rapid. Hidden deep within Bill 30—a sprawling bill that touched on
everything from freedom to information laws to independent power projects—lurked section 56, legislation that stripped local governments of their veto power over proposed inde- pendent power projects (IPPs). “Bill 30 should be called the Ashlu Bill,” says Stuart Smith,
the head of the river impacts committee for the Whitewater Kayak Association of B.C. Vancouver-area paddlers thought Ashlu Creek had been saved from a hydro development when the regional government opposed it for the second time in January. Smith believes the provincial government drew up Bill 30’s section 56 so it could sidestep any future opposition from local elected representatives. “The opportunity for meaningful input has been eliminat-
ed,” says Smith. “The public in B.C. has now been taken out of the equation.” In 2003, Ledcor Power Inc. proposed a small hydro project
on Ashlu Creek, near Squamish. Paddlers, environmentalists, tourism operators and the community voiced their opposi- tion to the proposal to the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD), which had zoning authority over the project. With 60 proposals for hydro development on regional riv-
ers, the SLRD wanted to see a plan for where IPPs could and could not go before approving any more, according to John Turner, the chair of the SLRD. When no plan was offered by the province, the SLRD council twice rejected Ledcor’s rezon- ing application. Though 30 IPPs have been approved and are in various
stages of development, the January rejection of the Ashlu ap- plication was the first time in B.C. an IPP had been turned down. Four months later, the province took rezoning authority out of the regional government’s hands by passing Bill 30, despite opposition from the Union of B.C. Municipalities, an organization representing local governments in B.C. Paddlers feel Bill 30 tosses their views aside, but Peter Os-
tergaard, the assistant deputy minister of electricity and alter- native energy in B.C., sees it as a way to streamline what was a messy process. Ostergaard says the province wants to set up a formal
process to allow for public input during the water-licensing stage. But just what that process will be hasn’t been decid- ed, a fact that makes Turner skeptical about just how mean- ingful a tool it will be for retaining some local voice in the decision-making process. “If Bill 30 had been law three years ago there would be a
power project on the Ashlu now,” Turner says. “We no longer can turn down the zoning of something we feel is not in our best interest. We have to rely on the premier to make the right decision.” B.C. paddlers know that, given Premier Gordon Camp-
bell’s track record, that means many more hydro projects to come.—Ryan Stuart
Ashlu Creek the way the regional government wants it. PHOTO RYAN CREARY
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