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July 20, 2018

International dam expert says Site C dam seriously behind schedule, marked by secrecy

 

British Columbia’s mammoth Site C hydro-electric project is seriously behind schedule, plagued by quality problems and marked by secrecy, says an assessment by an international dam expert.

E. Harvey Elwin – hired by a First Nation asking for a court injunction to aspects of the dam’s construction – expresses concern about work at the job site in his 196-page report citing internal BC Hydro and government documents, many of them previously confidential.

“In my opinion, it is the sign of a large performance problem with the (main) contractor meeting the requirements of the specifications and quality of work,” he wrote in the report filed Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

In a letter accompanying a progress report to the B.C. Utilities Commission dated July 11, BC Hydro president Chris O’Riley said the project remains “on time and within budget.”

Spokespeople for the provincial government and contractor Peace River Hydro Partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Elwin, who has worked on dams around the world including China’s Three Gorges project, concludes the dam’s construction is likely to take years longer than BC Hydro says.

The 1,100-megawatt dam and generating station on the Peace River in northern B.C. would flood parts of the traditional territory of the West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations.

In January they filed a civil court case, alleging their rights have been violated.

West Moberly also applied for an injunction to halt construction pending the outcome of the rights case. That motion goes to court Monday.

Elwin’s report was filed in support of West Moberly’s case.

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