BC's Rivers At Risk

Website/URL:
http://wildernesscommittee.org/what_we_do/defending_public_lands/bcs_rivers_risk

Summary: Many of the 600 water bodies have been staked by private power corporations over the last seven years in British Columbia.” The rush to stake our streams and rivers was triggered by the 2002 Energy Plan when the provincial government forbade BC Hydro, our very profitable crown corporation, from producing new sources of hydroelectricity as part of a government shift to deregulate the electricity sector in BC. Since that time there has been a 1040 percent increase in waterpower license applications, with mining companies, stock promoters and even U. S. giant General Electric looking to develop BC streams and rivers for power.” There were many problems throughout all this . Some stated which is:
• There is no provincial planning and local governments, through the enactment of the infamous Bill 30 have had their zoning authority removed.
• Most projects do no undergo an environmental assessment and even if they do the cumulative impacts of the transmission lines, logging, road networks, and river diversions which accompany these projects are not evaluated by the provincial government.
• Not surprisingly, there is growing public concern regarding the wisdom of turning over our rivers and the production of hydroelectricity to the private sector.

Opinion: To me, nobody or no corporation should be taking advantage of great waters, clean waters or no waters that as no right to be touched. This is where all the problems start, not only in BC or in different parts of Canada but everywhere. Most of the time problems doesn’t start until people start making problems like this one. Take my previous post for example, Spotted Owls would still count to 500 pairs but people started messing around with their habitat killing their population off to 5 pairs. That’s a big jump. People need to start thinking before they act if not we ( as a province, community, country and world) won’t have anything left, but everything ruined.