Fort. St. John, BC.- For the seventh straight year,  canoeists will be launching their crafts at the Halfway River bridge, and paddling to Bear Flat to make a statement about their opposition to the proposed Site C dam.

 

The Paddle for the Peace event set for today, will have a special participant this year, as David Suzuki will be joining them and will be addressing the gathering at Bear Flat following the canoe event.

 

While this has become an annual event for the past seven years, efforts  to spare the Peace River Valley from   becoming home to another hydro dam have been active since the mid ‘70’s.   The Peace Valley Environment Association was formed in 1975. At that time, the issue was the same, the proposed construction of Site C.  The Lieutenant-Governor in Council denied the original application for the hydroelectric project in 1983.

 

The proposal was brought forth again as B.C.’s energy demands by an increasing population, made the Province a net importer of power.

 

The Site C project would see a dam built near Taylor, just downstream from Ft. St. John, and would produce about 5,100 gigawatt hours of electricity each year – enough energy to power the equivalent of about 450,000 homes per year in B.C.

 

The project is into the environmental review process by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment office, including a review by a joint panel.