Tag Archives: risk

Ontario Rivers are Under Assault

By Linda Heron on Saturday, June 28th, 2014
Posted in Dams, Energy, Hydroelectric, Impacts, Kapuskasing River, Media, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Video, Water Quality

Ontario Rivers Alliance (ORA) is a Not-for-Profit grassroots organization with a focus on healthy river ecosystems all across Ontario. ORA members represent numerous organizations such as the Vermilion River Stewardship, French River Delta Association, CPAWS-Ottawa Valley, Whitewater Ontario, Mississippi Riverwatchers, along with many other stewardships, associations, and private and First Nations citizens, who have come together to ensure the rash of waterpower proposals currently going through the approvals process are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

We all want Green Energy, but let’s ensure it is truly Green, and not the “Green-washed” version that is being proposed for many Ontario rivers.  Let’s ensure that efficiencies and upgrades are made to existing hydroelectric dams before new ones are built. Let’s ensure fish passage and fish friendly turbines are installed.

Climate change is upon us, and WATER is quickly becoming our gravest concern.  Let’s ensure river developments take into account the best advice of climate scientists, and are sustainable for many years to come.

So What’s the Dam Problem?

Ontario rivers are being placed at risk by a rash of over 45 hydroelectric proposals that have been awarded FIT Contracts, and are moving through the permitting and approvals process. The Green Energy Act with its accompanying FIT Program is the only thing that has made many of these rivers feasible for waterpower development. The proponent can’t be told to stand down, and gets paid a 50% bonus for whatever power they can generate – with a 50% bonus to produce power during peak demand. This encourages developers to maximize power at the expense of the environment and public health and safety.

Ontario Rivers are in trouble because our government has put the developer in charge of the Environmental Assessment process, instead of the MOE and MNR, and there is no possibility of a “no outcome” – effectively placing the FOX in charge of the chicken coop!

Hydroelectric is not “Green” when river flow is held back in head ponds – it is in fact “Dirty Energy”.

1.    Bad for the River Ecosystem:

Dams that hold water back in headponds result in:

  • Degraded water quality
  • Lower downstream water levels and flows
  • Lower oxygen levels
  • Increased mercury in fish tissue – studies show a 10 to 20 times increase
  • Increased nitrate and phosphorus levels
  • Warming of water – sound like a recipe for more algae?
2.   Bad for Fishermen & Snowmobilers:
  • Turbines chop up and kill Fish and Eels
  • Fish migration for spawning is blocked
  • Prime Spawning areas are destroyed
  • Entire species of fish are threatened
  • Rapid rise and fall of river water levels on daily basis makes ice unsafe for ice fishermen & snowmobilers
3.   Bad for Our Health & Safety:
  • Increased mercury in fish tissue resulting in fish consumption restrictions
  • Conditions created by dams & their headponds can result in increased incidences of toxic blue-green algae
  • Many people rely on river water for their drinking water and daily household needs
  • Dams can fail from extreme weather events and flooding
  • Rapidly changing water levels and flow velocity can put fishermen, swimmers and boaters at risk
4.   Bad for the Community & Local Economy:

Ontario Rivers offer  a thriving eco-tourism opportunity for small businesses:

  • Prime fishing and tourist viewing areas are destroyed
  • Decline in fish populations, especially cold-water species
  • Habitat destroyed
  • Pristine and unique features are replaced with a concrete dam, chain link fence and warning sirens
  • Rivers with cycling or peaking hydroelectric dams make boating, swimming, fishing, and ice recreation unsafe within zone of influence
  • Tourists will not travel hundreds of miles to see where rapids, waterfalls and fish used to be

We invite you to join us in our mission.

“Our future generations are depending on us.”

Proposed Wabagishik Rapids GS – Part II Order Request – Submission to Minister Bradley

By Linda Heron on Saturday, February 8th, 2014
Posted in Class EA for Waterpower, Dams, Energy, Environmental Reports, Hydroelectric, ORA Submissions, Part II Order requests, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Vermilion River, Wabagishik Rapids

Wabagishik Rapids – Vermilion River

Excerpt:

“Our concerns have not been alleviated by Xeneca’s response; in fact they are heightened as a result of their continued insistence that studies were completed when clearly they were not.  As a result of this, one has to wonder what else they are not telling us.  What will happen when a company like this takes over a large 20 to 30 km section of lake and river that local stakeholders and aquatic life rely on – all to produce approximately 1.7 MW of power.  Xeneca’s behaviour does nothing but erode our trust and confidence even further. Continue reading →

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 →

EBR 011-7696 – Proposed Approaches to the Implementation of the Endangered Species Act – Nottawasaga Steelheaders

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Posted in Endangered Species Act, Environmental Registry, ORA Submissions, Regulatory Submissions, Species at Risk

February 25th , 2013

Krista Adams
Senior Permits & Agreements Specialist
Ministry of Natural Resources
Policy Division
Species at Risk Branch
Permits and Agreements Section
300 Water Street , Floor 2
Peterborough Ontario  K9J8M5
Phone: (416) 326-1672
Fax: (705) 755-5483

Dear Ms Adams:

Re: EBR-011-7696 Proposed Approaches to the Implementation of the Endangered Species Act

The Nottawasaga Steelheaders is a volunteer group of anglers, conservationists and concerned residents who have been working in concert with The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, Ministry of Natural Resources and various communities to improve, rehabilitate and preserve the integrity of the Nottawasaga River watershed over the past twenty years years. Over this time we have committed tens of thousands of man-hours and hundreds of thousands of dollar in many beneficial programs. These have included the removable of numerous barriers to fish migration, undertaken countless garbage pick-ups, tree plantings, stream bank stabilizations, cold water delivery projects, spawning ground improvements and commitments to ensure the survival of wild species in this watershed such wild steelhead. Our organization was the first of its kind to undertake a comprehensive study to make uncover the genetic diversity of migratory rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Eighteen (18) distinct strains were found, each with its own set of co-adaptive gene complexes established over a hundred years. Recent studies including those at the University of Western Ontario have determined that that 35-40% of migratory Chinook salmon are of Nottawasaga River origin! This speaks highly of complex and delicate interdependent biodiversity which has taken hundreds if not thousands of years to establish in this watershed. This biodiversity and its interdependence in this watershed and across Ontario is something we know little about and should not be putting at risk with hasty decisions and without the input of Ontarians. It is OUR province with OUR resources and WE are responsible…not a few. Continue reading →

EBR 011-7696 – Proposed Approaches to the Implementation of the Endangered Species Act – ORA Comments

By Linda Heron on Monday, February 25th, 2013
Posted in Endangered Species Act, Environmental Registry, ORA Submissions, Regulatory Submissions, Species at Risk

Excerpt:

“While there are some good recommendations in these proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), many are worded in language that is far too vague and open-ended, and others are simply unacceptable. ORA is very concerned that this will significantly weaken the hard-fought protection already afforded to our species at risk and their habitats, and is inconsistent with the ESA.  Further, many of the proposed approaches appear to be in violation of the EBR in that there is no provision for public and First Nation consultation or transparency.

MNR’s Mission and Promise to Ontarians:

MNR’s Statement of Environmental Values (SEV) and strategic direction ensure sustainable development, protect and restore biodiversity, and must be the guiding principles in all decisions with regard to streamlining, modernization and economic development.  The values set out in the SEV must be adhered to in the contemplation of any existing or planned activities where endangered species or habitat protection is in question.  The SEV clearly states, “The Ministry’s mission is to manage Ontario’s natural resources in an ecologically sustainable way to ensure that they are available for the enjoyment and use of future generations.  The Ministry is committed to the conservation of biodiversity and the use of natural resources in a sustainable manner.”

Streamlining and modernization of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is a good idea, but only if environmental, ecological, and species at risk protection is not threatened or diminished.  All the streamlining, modernization and framework EBR postings preceding this one promised to uphold environmental and ecological values; however, this posting demonstrates that this promise is not being kept. This proposal clearly reflects a development at all costs approach taken by this administration.” Continue reading →

Public Meetings for a Proposed Mega-Landfill Site in Headwaters draining into Castor, South Nation and Ottawa Rivers

By Linda Heron on Saturday, February 23rd, 2013
Posted in Castor River, Landfill/Garbage, Ottawa River, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, South Nation River, Urban Development

South Nation Watershed – Go to bottom of posting to see details of Public Meetings on 25 & 27 February, 2013

As part of the campaign to preserve healthy Ontario rivers please note that a very valuable, rich and unique habitat containing numerous species-at-risk and holding the headwaters of several streams is at serious risk. This place is in Russell Township just outside the city of Ottawa in and around a former shale quarry, which is now a lake. Streams and springs rise up on the hill around the lake and drain into the Castor River, which drains into the South Nation and then the Ottawa. Species at Risk at the site include Bobolinks, Cooper’s Hawks, 10 species of amphibians (some at risk and some less so, although all amphibians have survival problems now), snapping and probably other turtles, Eastern Meadowlarks, Butternuts, rare Liverworts, several Mollusc species (snails), trees of increasing rarity, Orchids, and mosses, lichens and fungi. It is an important migration stopover point–at times hosting tens of thousands of birds at once.

That site is also the proposed site of a mega-landfill, which would be owned and run by Taggart Miller Environmental Services and called the Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre (CRRRC.ca). Taggarts own some of Ottawa’s biggest construction companies and Miller owns waste and construction companies in southern Ontario. They proposed to drain the 40-ac lake, fill it with rock and soil, blast a bigger hole beside it, and strip the site (which is between 200 and 470 ac, depending on if they exercise options on neighbouring farmland or not). The surrounding communities have been fighting the proposal for over two years. A few days before Christmas the Ontario Ministry of the Environment approved Taggart Miller’s Terms of Reference, even though serious problems with the vague, misleading document were clearly pointed out to the ministry by the community, which had completed their own scientific studies. Continue reading →

EBR 011-7696 – Proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act – FRDA to MNR

By Linda Heron on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
Posted in Endangered Species Act, Environmental Registry, Regulatory Submissions, Species at Risk

FRENCH RIVER DELTA ASSOCIATION
857 Hartley Bay Road
RR 2 Site 10 Comp 4
Alban, Ontario P0M 1A0

January 18, 2013

Krista Adams
Senior Permits & Agreements Specialist
Ministry of Natural Resources, Policy Division
Species at Risk Branch
Permits and Agreements Section
300 Water Street, Floor 2
Peterborough, Ontario
K9J 8M5

Dear Ms. Adams:

Re: EBR Registry Number: 011-7696, Proposed approaches to the implementation of the Endangered Species Act which could include regulatory amendments to authorize activities to occur subject to conditions set out in regulation consistent with MNR’s Modernization of Approvals

The proposed regulatory changes contained in EBR 011-7696 are vague and will not meet MNR’s responsibility to endangered species and their habitat maintenance and protection.
While the ambiguity of this MNR and provincial cabinet’s proposal will serve MNR’s and cabinet’s partners in the mining, energy, forestry, and aggregate industries, it will not meet the primary purpose of the Endangered Species Act which is to protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats required for survival.

It is intriguing to note that the spring 2012 budget proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act. These proposed exemptions – circumvention of permitting requirements, and removal of deadlines for recovery planning – faced serious public opposition and the budget amendments to the ESA were dropped. To now reposition the budget amendments as regulatory changes, which require only cabinet approval, is irresponsible, misleading and shows the continuing disrespect that cabinet and the MNR have towards the public, and as importantly, endangered species and their habitats. Continue reading →

Save Wabagishik Rapids – Vermilion River

By Linda Heron on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
Posted in Hydroelectric, Media, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Vermilion River, Video, Wabagishik Rapids

Wabagishik Rapids is a beautiful 1 km stretch of rapids on the Vermilion River, about 1/2 hour west of Sudbury, Ontario.  A developer is proposing to build a modified run of river hydroelectric dam that would produce enough power to supply about 1,600 homes.  These types of dams have numerous negative impacts associated with them, and are very harmful to the riverine ecosystem.   Check out this film to find out more.

Full length film:

Short – 13 Minute Version:

Short 3 Minute preview of the full version:

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