The major dam in Northern BC kind of makes sense in the sense that they've already got 2 major dams on that river already, but it poisons everything. It's not just salmon, it's methylmercury accumulation in the fish in all the rivers in the surrounding area, it's high levels of methane release as trees decay for a hundred plus years in anaerobic environments because they didn't clear the forest before flooding the area that's not Williston lake. Blocking of sedimentation makes it so the rest of the river is less actually habitable for spawning fish as well, so double whammy on that front, since not only is the sediment blocked, the water is still flowing, eroding what's left.
I actually thought it made sense for a few years at first, but you’re right. The massive list of significant externalities rapidly makes it seem like it isn’t worth it.
Worth noting too is that the push for more energy was actually generated in large part by resource extraction industry such as fracking, so the megawatts generated would be going towards further generation of high-carbon and otherwise environmentally destructive energy generation.
I’m not kidding myself, I know BC is in a rough spot in terms of meaningful GDP growth and outside of real estate, things like this are going to make a significant impact on the bottom line. I know modern life requires a lot of energy.
It’s so disheartening to see our province race to the bottom constantly. We’ve got opportunities to be a model province, to set an example, invest in our kids and future generations through new industries and cleaner energy generation. We consistently choose not to. We lean on hydro like a crutch and increasingly turn to natural gas as well. Our kids will resent us for it, theirs will too, and the hole we’re digging will take that much longer for them to climb out of.
I think a weird irony about BC is that we’re surrounded by some of the most overtly stunning and beautiful landscapes in the world, but we’re bizarrely content to destroy them and remain ignorant of their ecologies and how critical they are for our collective well-being. You’d think we’d praise the land here for what it has given us, but… No, even with tourism being such a large industry with incredible growth potential, we behave as though nature is an endless faucet of wealth generation.
