OPG alone has 66 hydroelectric facilities in Ontario with an additional 251 associated control dams supporting those facilities, and to highlight the lack of stewardship of the OWA and OPG and their powerful influence over politicians:
- Ontario has 225 hydroelectric facilities and likely several hundred more associated control dams, yet there are only 2 operating fishways in all of Ontario. This is a consequential problem because dams are a major factor in the extirpation of Ontario’s Atlantic Salmon stock, one of the most important causes of significant anthropogenic mortalities and decline of Ontario’s American Eel, and a key threat to Ontario’s declining Lake Sturgeon populations.
- No up-front decommissioning dollars are required to be made for removal of these hydroelectric dams when they become unsafe or extended drought conditions make them a liability to our children’s future with clean water. There are zero funds in place to remove them.
- The OWA is responsible for amendments to the Class Environmental Assessment for Waterpower that can skip over public consultation if the proponent deems the project to be low risk. There are no low-risk hydroelectric projects, especially now that we are facing a future of rising temperatures, extreme rain events and extended droughts.
- The OWA is also responsible for removing public consultation for proponents converting old control dams into new hydropower generation facilities.
Public consultation and meaningful engagement actually improve a project when stakeholders have input into how the project might benefit or negatively impact on local communities.