B.C. court rules hydro project can proceed without an environmental assessment

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Supreme Court has ruled that a hydro-electric development in northeastern B.C. should be allowed to proceed without an environmental assessment.

The dispute over the assessment of 10 power generation sites along a 40-kilometre stretch of the Holmes River near McBride was launched by a coalition of conservation groups.

The Environmental Assessment Office said it wouldn’t conduct a review of the project, but the coalition — which includes the Watershed Watch Salmon Society and the David Suzuki Foundation — asked the court to overturn the decision.

The coalition claimed the assessment was necessary because the 10 sites together would generate more than the 50 megawatts needed to set off the environmental review.

Instead, the court sided with Environmental Assessment Office, ruling that no assessment is required because each of the plants has a generating capacity of less than 15 megawatts.

Aaron Hill with Watershed Watch Salmon Society says the Holmes River project could endanger the salmon population, and that this court decision underlines how weak environmental assessment laws are in B.C.