May 26, 2011: “ORA would first like to emphasize the vital importance of providing safe upstream and downstream passage for American Eel, as well as all fish species, even those not listed officially as threatened or endangered species. Ensuring the conservation of Ontario’s biodiversity, and protecting the integrity of Ontario’s ecosystems, is absolutely essential when issuing any permit or approval for any waterpower facility, as each project can individually have serious potential impacts on the natural resources of Ontario.”
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Photo by Linda Heron
EBR-010-7895 – Site Release Policy – ORA
April 13, 2011:
Excerpt:
ORA is suggesting much more groundwork be undertaken, as well as consultation with the public and stakeholders, by the Applicant, before a Site Release is granted. There is no point in going through the Environmental Assessment process unless the Community, Stakeholders, and the Municipality have first given their consent. This Site Release Policy is important groundwork that must be completed and approved of before any Notice of Commencement is issued. Continue reading
Application for Review of the Environmental Bill of Rights – ORA Submission
May 24, 2011:
Excerpt:
The Environmental Commissioner for Ontario, Gord Miller, in his 2007 – 2008 Annual Report, stated: “Ontario’s EA process is broken”; and “A ‘no’ decision is not a possible outcome.” ORA members, representing 15 Ontario rivers, and some 30 organizations, have experienced this unacceptable truth first hand…. Continue reading
Maude Barlow: Run-of-river projects: Not green, not public, not for us
“It’s ludicrous to think that we must sacrifice all environmental considerations to get green energy onto the grid.”
“We also need a better system for water licences and Crown land licences to avoid the gold-rush mentality that is leading numerous private interests to stake claims on rivers for power projects. And we need strong environmental regulations, along with monitoring and enforcement, to ensure impacts are minimized.” quote by David Suzuki about Run of River projects in B.C. ( see article below)
With the arrival of spring, and as the B.C. coastal mountains begin to thaw, many will be watching rivers and creeks with more than just concern for swelling banks. With the rights to hundreds of rivers ‘out to tender’, private power corporations are submitting applications for a stake in the biggest resource pillage since the 1850s’ gold rush. Continue reading
Hydro Power’s Dirty Side
Biggest Constructions Site in Canada, Photograph by: Rapide Blanc – Romaine River
The Montreal Gazette, By William Marsden, Postmedia News April 15, 2011
Nicolas Boisclair and Alexis de Gheldere photographed the river’s magnificence — its raging waters, its hurtling falls, its woodland caribou, black bears, moose, salmon and trout, its spectacular mountain vistas and rocky cliffs, and dense forested valleys — capturing the river’s last moments before the machines moved in. Their film, Chercher le courant, will be archived as a record of a lost world.
On May 13, 2009, about eight months after the paddlers completed their trip, Hydro-Quebec unleashed the bulldozers for what will become the biggest construction site in Canada. Continue reading