Proposed Wash. dam years away
Proposed Wash. dam years away
Permitting could take a decade
Andy Ivens
The Vancouver Province, February 29, 2008
A proposed dam in Washington state that could inundate 7,200 hectares of land in B.C.'s Similkameen Valley is a long way off, says Environment Minister Barry Penner.
"It looks like nothing is going to happen any time soon," said Penner, who has huddled with his Washington counterpart, Department of Ecology director Jay Manning, on the issue.
A Jan. 31 letter to Penner from Manning "lays out a 91/2-year process, if you add up all the steps and delays, before they even get to making a decision," Penner told The Province.
"He says in his letter that may be optimistic."
The idea of damming the Similkameen at Shaker's Bend, eight kilometres west of Oroville, Wash., has been around since the 1920s.
There are three options.
Two would not affect land in B.C., according to Washington studies. But the third option -- a 79-metre high dam -- would raise the level of the Similkameen for 25 kilometres back into B.C.
Manning said in the letter: "It has been many years since a successful licence for a new hydro power facility has been issued in the state of Washington. In light of this, I view the . . . schedule contemplating a nine-year permitting timeline as somewhat optimistic."
He stressed his intention to co-operate with the B.C. government, municipalities and the Lower Similkameen Indian band, which would lose a large portion of its reserve to a lake formed by the high dam.
"[Our] governments have worked hard to create a positive cross-border relationship," Manning wrote. "I am dedicated to preserving this relationship.
"I ask for your guidance to ensure that Washington accommodates your legitimate need to be involved in any discussions and studies that might occur."
Penner said, "Reading between the lines, I get a sense that those other two options may be more realistic than the high-dam option, and certainly from our perspective [they] would be . . . preferable."
Penner has tasked his ministry's biologists with determining the effects all three options would have on the B.C. section of river, which flows through one of the most ecologically diverse regions of Canada.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
February 29, 2008