- MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada
(ENS) - A boon to regional development and small business, or an ecological
disaster in the making? These questions are being raised by a Hydro Quebec
proposal to build 36 new dams on 24 rivers across the province.
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- This Hydro Quebec dam on the Riviere des Outaouais creates
Lac des Quinze and generates 14,652 megawatts of power (Photo courtesy
<http://www.hydroquebec.comHydro Quebec)
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- The proposal by Quebec's largest utility company would
allow small private energy producers to build and operate the dams and
sell the electricity produced to Hydro Quebec. The utility in turn, would
market it locally or across the U.S. border in New England.
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- But before the scheme, known as small hydro, has even
left the drawing board, critics are calling it a blueprint for eco-disaster.
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- Environmental, tourism and recreational groups are accusing
the provincial government, and its majority owned crown corporation, Hydro
Quebec, of sacrificing some of Quebec's most pristine rivers and wilderness
areas to score political points while generating minute amounts of electricity.
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- In May, Quebec Natural Resources Minister Jacques Brassard
revealed that the government had identified 36 natural waterfalls and rapids
as candidates for possible damming by private companies. News reports noted
that if all 36 projects were completed, they would produce 425 megawatts
of power, equal to about one percent of the Hydro-Quebec's present 37,000
megawatts of generating capacity.
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- Quebec Natural Resources Minister Jacques Brassard (Photo
courtesy Government of Quebec)
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- Opponents accuse the ruling Parti Quebecois government
of steamrolling ecological concerns and scuttling recreational use of the
rivers in an attempt to strengthen support in economically deprived regions
it sees as crucial to the party's hopes of winning a third straight election.
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- Jean-Francois Blain, spokesman for the activist group
<http://www.eausecours.org/Eau-Secours, said his organization is outraged
the government is willing to allow dams on so many rivers for so little
tangible benefit to the society as a whole. "They're spreading the
environmental damage across the province," he complained to the "Montreal
Gazette" newspaper.
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- A coalition of 25 environmental and tourism groups submitted
a position paper asserting that at least six of the proposed dam sites
are on rivers in which Atlantic salmon spawn. Many others host hundreds
of canoeists, kayakers, rafters and hikers.
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- "The government is preparing, with no energy, economic
or social justification, to sacrifice this public asset at an enormous
environmental cost, essentially for the benefit of the private sector,"
the paper states.
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- Pierre Gaudreault, director of <http://www.aptaq.qc.ca/Aventure
Ecotourisme Quebec, pointed out that many of the rivers targeted for damming
have never before been impeded by artificial barriers. By damming the rivers,
Quebec is damaging its natural heritage and tourism industry, which has
much better potential for job creation than small-hydro production, he
said,
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- With this scheme, Quebec is risking a public relations
fiasco among environmentalists and ecotourists in the U.S. and Europe,
Gaudreault warned.
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- The economic value of the project is also under fire
from critics. Hydro Quebec currently generates electricity at an average
cost of 2.5 to 3 Canadian cents per kilowatt/hour (kw/h) and estimates
the cost of building new capacity at 4 to 4.5 cents per kw/h, according
to published figures. But, the new small-hydro generators will produce
electricity for between an estimated 4.5 cents to 6 cents per kw/h.
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- Vacationers overlooking one of Quebec's undammed rivers.
(Photo courtesy http://www.tourisme.gouv.qc.caBonjour Québec)
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- If the plan proceeds, the small hydro projects will begin
coming online in 2005. At least 10 companies are expected to offer bids
on the available sites when bidding opens in the fall.
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- About two-thirds of the projected 36 dams are expected
to eventually be built, at an estimated C$600 million in construction and
other costs.
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- Hydro Quebec officials and spokespersons from the small
hydro industry insist that existing policy provides ample protection for
the environment and note that hydro electricity production does not contribute
to greenhouse gas emissions.
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- They also assert that environmental and economic issues
will be subject to full public scrutiny before individual dams are built.
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- Gilles Lefrancois, speaker for the private energy producers'
trade association and president of Innergex, one of the firms planning
to participate in the project, insists the small hydro sites will be able
to produce electricity at competitive prices, and in an interview in "The
Gazette," called his industry's critics socialists whose real concern
is to keep the private sector out of the energy field. "It's a religion.
I call them the Ayatollahs of nationalization. Anything that is not public
is bad," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
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- Still, many Quebecers remain concerned that, generally,
environmental impact studies have not adequately assessed the real hazards,
and both the government of Quebec and Hydro Quebec have somewhat tarnished
records in addressing environmental concerns.
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- © Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All Rights
Reserved. http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul2001/2001L-07-25-02.html
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