Public hearings to start next month for B.C.’s massive Site C hydro project

VANCOUVER – A joint federal-provincial review panel says it is now satisfied that BC Hydro has submitted the necessary information on its proposed Site C hydroelectric project, and public hearings will begin next month.

An opening session in Fort St. John on Dec. 9 will mark the beginning of a process that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency says will be completed in January.

The public hearings phase will include four weeks of hearings in communities throughout the Peace River region including Doig River, Chetwynd and Hudson’s Hope.

The $7.9-billion dam would produce electricity for about 450,000 homes annually, but flood a wide area of farm and First Nations land along the banks of the Peace River.

Panel members began their preliminary assessment last summer and asked the Crown corporation several times for additional information that was not included in the initial environmental impact study.

The panel is still taking applications from those who want to speak at the hearings, after which it will submit a report to the federal environment minister and the head of the B.C. environmental assessment office.