Province Seeks Intervenor Status on Shanker’s Bend

VICTORIA – The B.C. government has filed a request for intervenor status with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the United States regarding the proposed Shanker’s Bend water storage project on the Similkameen River.

Environment Minister Barry Penner, on behalf of the B.C. government, is seeking to have the Province added as a party to any future proceedings concerning the proposed Shanker’s Bend development, if and when those proceedings take place, to express B.C.’s position on the proposed options.

A preliminary permit was issued by FERC on December 18, 2008 to allow the study of three proposals for the construction of a water storage and hydroelectric dam at Shanker’s Bend on the Similkameen River, less than two kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border. These include an 80-metre-high dam, a lower height dam and a run-of-the-river project.

The B.C. government supports the responsible use and development of hydropower when such projects are appropriately sited and designed to avoid unacceptable environmental impacts. However, the government opposes construction of the 80-metre-high dam because of the anticipated environmental and community impacts in British Columbia. It has been estimated that the high dam proposal could flood an area covering more than 9,000 acres in British Columbia, including sensitive habitat.

The flooded area would impact First Nations lands southeast of Keremeos, two provincial protected areas, Snowy Protected Area and South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area, at least 20 provincially declared blue- and red-listed species, a potential national grasslands park and valuable agricultural land.

The potentially flooded area is home to 16 listed species at risk as defined by the Canadian federal Species at Risk Act. The act prohibits any action that threatens, damages or destroys a threatened or endangered species or its habitat.

In its intervention motion, the B.C. government says the impacts of the high dam on Aboriginal communities in British Columbia must also be considered. The Province has an obligation to consult and accommodate, as appropriate, any potentially affected Aboriginal group who may be adversely affected.

Penner noted the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District is a high-value agricultural area with product sales throughout British Columbia and the world.

Careful consideration and environmental scrutiny are necessary before a decision is made regarding the other two, smaller options being considered.

Penner has already engaged his counterpart in Washington State, the director of the Department of Ecology, about the potential development at Shanker’s Bend, to express British Columbia’s concerns.

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http://www.barrypenner.com/

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