Photo: Ian Lindsay du Vancouver SunÇà fait depuis les années '60 qu'on veut mettre un barrage hydro-électrique dans la Peace River, ou Rivière de la Paix, pour quelques kilowatts de plus. Un barrage innonderait une vallée fertile qui nourrit son monde et des forêts denses. C'est une rivière dans le nord de la Colombie Britannique, à l'intérieur de la province, et elle coule vers l'est, vers la province voisine.
Là-bas aussi, certains pensent que c'est de l'énergie que l'on veut vendre aux États-Unis. Les terres innondées empièteraient sur l'agriculture diversifiée locale dont l'autonomie nourricière serait mise à risque. De plus, il n'est pas encore certain que les tribus autochtones seraient d'accord, malgré le nombre d'emplois promis générés par ce projet.
Mais les politiciens provinciaux sont convaincus que c'est un bon projet à mettre de l'avant sans tarder.
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"British Columbia to go ahead with multi-billion-dollar dam
A controversial 6.6 billion Canadian dollar (5.9 billion US dollar) energy project will go ahead in northern British Columbia, provincial officials announced Monday (April 19th, 2010). The Site C dam has yet to pass independent environmental assessments, but if construction is on schedule the 900 megawatt dam on the Peace River would start powering some 410,000 homes in 2020.
The dam would flood about 83 square kilometers (32 square miles) of rolling forests and farmland in the Peace River Valley, and is expected to affect the watershed in neighboring areas to the east and in Canada's far north.
Debate about the third dam to be built on the Peace River has raged since the 1960s with both supporters and opponents citing environmental sustainability and the project's impact on youth to make their arguments.But the Peace Valley Environment Association argues the dam would destroy some of western Canada's best agricultural land, release carbon now stored in trees, disrupt a wildlife migration corridor and destroy heritage sites.
"It is misguided to destroy British Columbia river valleys to satisfy the energy demands of the United States," it said in a background document.
"The ability of the North to feed itself locally would be lost forever," wrote northern resident Carolyn Robe in a letter to a local newspaper. "How can it be considered green or clean to force the North to import food?" Under provincial and federal law plans must pass independent environmental assessments, and if agreement is not reached with aboriginal organizations, the dam could be held up for years through court challenges."
Excerpts from AFP article published here: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/British_Columbia_to_go_ahead_with_multi-billion-dollar_dam_999.html
Another similar article in The Globe and Mail here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-opens-floodgates-with-third-peace-river-dam/article1540014/
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