B.C.’s Cheslatta aboriginals apply for water licence at Kenney Dam

VICTORIA – Sixty-two years after a dam flooded its traditional territory and dried up parts of north-central British Columbia’s Nechako River, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation is moving to profit from the structure built to power the Rio Tinto smelter in Kitimat.

Cheslatta spokesman Mike Robertson says the nation has filed for a water licence application with the B.C. government for its proposed $280 million Nechako River Legacy Project, which the band is hoping will create a profit for the Cheslatta to bring the river back to life.

Robertson says they’ve considered the project for decades, but today’s formal application marks a major milestone in an attempt to take advantage of the project that at one time flooded traditional grave sites and decimated a fresh-water fishery.

In 1952, the Kenney Dam was constructed to create energy to power the aluminum smelter in Kitimat.

The Cheslatta was not consulted about the project that reversed the flow of the Nechako River through a 16-kilometre tunnel to Kemano, the site of the smelter power plant near Kitimat.

Robertson says the band is proposing to work with BC Hydro, the B.C. government and Rio Tinto to generate and sell hydro-electric power from a newly constructed spillway that releases excess water from the dam.