When B.C. Hydro’s Site C dam floods an 80 kilometre-long swathe of the Peace River valley to generate electricity, the company says it wants to leave behind 45 pieces of structural construction debris on the riverbed. 

In a written submission to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, B.C. Hydro states the structures that would be flooded and left underwater may include portions of causeways, gravel pads, concrete abutments and riprap from bridge construction, diversion channels with rock-filled gabions, a barge pad, a boat ramp, access roads, and giant concrete anchors each covering more than a hectare. 

If the provincial Crown corporation’s proposal is approved, it would leave about 20 hectares — almost 50 acres or more than two million square feet — of construction debris underwater at the bottom of the Peace, a major B.C. river approximately 1,900 kilometres long which flows into Alberta.

B.C. Hydro’s environmental permit requires Site C to remove its construction structures “as soon as they are no longer required.”

But Hydro wants to amend the condition, stating in its application that removing the structures “may result in greater potential harm to fish and/ or fish habitat than retaining them in place for reservoir filling” and that some structures “would provide a benefit to fish.” 

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