Tag Archives: dam

Learn about the extraordinary American Eel!

By Linda Heron on Sunday, June 25th, 2023
Posted in American Eel, AquaCulture, Aquatic Life, Dams, Endangered Species, Fish/Eel Mitigation & Recovery, Hydroelectric, Media, River Concerns, Species at Risk, Video

It’s a lizard, It’s a snake, It’s one of the most unique fishes in the world: the American Eel!

Known for their elongated bodies and short fins, these fish which were once very common in North American waterbodies, are now endangered. This is largely due to the presence of hydroelectric dams, which block their natural migration routes, making them unable to reach their breeding grounds in the ocean.

Learn more about their impressive migrations, extraordinary life cycle, and current conservation efforts through this short video.

ORA’s first Youth Engagement event!

By Linda Heron on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023
Posted in Alternatives, Aquatic Life, Climate Change, Dams, Energy, Environmental Registry, Events, Hydroelectric, Media, ORA Reports, ORA Submissions, Photos, Presentations, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns, Safety, Turbines, Water as a Commons
ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-1ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-2ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-3ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-4ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-5ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-6ORA Hydroelectric Youth Engagement-7

ORA collaborated with Engineers Without Borders (UW Chapter) to host a youth engagement workshop for 35 grade 11 students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School on March 31st. The group included students from the STEM Club and from the Environment Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Red Seal Program. ORA offered the students a Sector-Partnered Experience (SPE) focusing on real-world environmental issues to be solved. Continue reading →

Misner Dam Removal – Save the Lynn, by Richard Delaney

By Linda Heron on Monday, November 11th, 2013
Posted in Dam Removals, Dams, Lynn River, Media, Misner Dam, Presentations, Removal, Safety

Misner Dam News Updates:

2019:  Misner Dam repair bill already way over budget
2019:  Tender call coming for Misner Dam
2019:  Misner Dam ‘task force’ to “create a road map”
2019: Task force charts course on Silver Lake 
2018:  Misner Dam’s Future is Up in the Air
2016:  The County of Norfolk Council voted 6 to 2 to repair the Misner Dam
2016:  County told repairs of $929,000 should make Misner Dam good for another 25 years
2015:  Mayor Luke takes Misner Dam, Silver Lake issues to MNR
2015:  Where are we with Port Dover’s Misner’s Dam
2014:  Friends of Silver Lake Show County Owns Misner Dam
2013:  Misner Dam can’t hold back ‘Super Flood’

A presentation made by Richard Delaney at ORA’s 28 October 2012 Annual General Meeting.

Download (PDF, 3.67MB)

Review of Long Term Energy Plan – EBR # 011-9490 – Rob MacGregor

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
Posted in Dams, Energy, Environmental Registry, Green Energy Act, Hydroelectric, Impacts, ORA Submissions, Regulatory Submissions, Studies & Reports

16 September 2013

Dear Ms. Green

I tried to submit my brief comments online but only found a save button so I am uncertain if my comments were received. So I am providing comments again directly via email.

My major comment is that any public consultation regarding choices in long-term energy plans is incomplete without including the environmental risks associated with each choice.  For instance, significant collateral ecological damage often comes with waterpower and asking the public to consider choices and comment on them with out a clear articulation of environmental risks associated with each sector is not only incomplete, it can be viewed as deceptive if later the government indicates it consulted with the public over the LTEP. I know the argument will be that there are other environmental processes that look after this aspect and that this consideration is out of scope. This siloed approach is rampant in government and extremely flawed.  For instance, there have been many instances of serious collateral ecological damage in the past with waterpower projects, despite the existence of  environmental regulations and processes, some could have been easily mitigated, mitigation of others would have been more difficult.  Consulting with the public over energy plans for the province without a full discussion/disclosure of the environmental risks is a serious oversight, particularly in view of the fact that the environmental review process for energy projects is not working and needs to be reviewed and amended accordingly. Added to this is the simple fact that once a site is release for consideration for energy projects, a train starts rolling that is difficult if not impossible to stop. Indeed. finding ways to approve such projects can become the unwritten rule. A better approach would be for the province to first to develop a strategy that evaluates where such projects make ecological sense, and where they do not before sites are released for further consideration and investment by the various energy sectors. Continue reading →

BC is no different from Ontario in this respect

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, June 25th, 2013
Posted in Articles, FIT Program, Green Energy Act, Media, Rivers at Risk

Memo to Media: Watchdog the Environment

Six issues the press must cover to hold power in this province accountable.

By Rafe Mair, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca

Excerpt – full article found here.

Misema River - After Hydro Facility

Misema River – After Hydro Facility

So-called ‘run of river’ projects. This donation of our wild rivers to Independent Power Projects (IPPs) so that they can make power, is one of the great heists in history. Their dams (and that’s what they are) divert water within rivers to generate power that BC Hydro is compelled to buy at double the market price and up to 10 times what they can produce it for themselves. And, it must be emphasized, nearly all of it is produced during run-off time when BC Hydro doesn’t need it but must buy anyway. They are on a “take or pay” contract forced upon BC Hydro by the Liberal government. Thanks to this unbelievable Liberal government policy, BC Hydro isnow in future debt to IPPs for some 50 to 60 billion dollars.

This has all been achieved with hardly a peep from the mainstream media! BC Hydro, the jewel in the provincial crown is now financially ruined by greedy business, urged on by a far right-wing government with nary a murmur by the mainstream media! BC Hydro, if in the private sector, would be bankrupt and escapes bankruptcy only because it can turn to us the public for their ongoing fiscal requirements. This is scandal of major proportions yet unmentioned by the media who are supposed to be protecting the province from this sort of corporate and government fiscal vandalism.

High Falls, Sturgeon River – 1993 Dam Project – MNR Report abandoned in 2006

By Linda Heron on Friday, April 12th, 2013
Posted in Dams, Hydroelectric, Interviews, Media, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk

Click here to Listen to this episode of Tapestry.

Season 18: Episode 29

Anthony Lawlor is an architect who has made it his job to find the sacred in the ordinary. He and Mary talk about how the divine is not limited to churches, mosques, synagogues and temples. Lawlor says you can find it everywhere, if you just look  – even in your own kitchen.  For more on our show and our guests…
I’m drawing your attention to the interview at 34:40 min.:
After that, we visit a place where a construction worker dug up something he didn’t expect to find. In High Falls, Ontario in the fall of 1992, a dam project was at a crucial phase. The plan was to generate hydro and provide development for the local economy.However, a skull and two bones showed up after several days of heavy rains. Testing revealed they were human remains, and suddenly, the site took on a whole new meaning for the nearby Poplar Point Ojibway First Nation.Many Ojibway believe that wind and rushing water are vital for communication between the living and the dead. The dam would block the voices of many ancestors. Jody Porter‘s documentary, This Powerful Place, explores the difficult questions faced from the perspective of one of the band’s elders and an archeologist hired to investigate.

Experimental Lakes Research in Kenora Reveals just how Dirty Hydroelectric Really Is – Groundbreaking Information

By Linda Heron on Thursday, April 4th, 2013
Posted in Algae, Articles, Impacts, Media, Mercury, Pollution, Rivers at Risk, Studies & Reports

Harper seals our fate on water and energy sustainability

By Emma Lui | March 5, 2013
Note:  This is an excerpt of the original article – access by clicking here.

The federal government states that Fisheries and Oceans Canada no longer need to do this type of research. And yet when we look at the research being conducted at the ELA, the scientific data is sorely needed for a sustainable energy strategy.

One ELA study assesses the effects of hydroelectric development. Hydroelectric dams are often touted as a ‘clean’ energy solution. However, the ELA study raises questions about whether hydroelectric dams have similar impacts as burning fossil fuels.

“There’s a new idea around that reservoirs may be significant sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. And we want to test that idea, ”says Drew Bodaly, Research Scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in this Experimental Lakes video (see below). Continue reading →