Residents chime in on Site C truck hauling concerns in letters to PRRD

DAWSON CREEK, B.C – Input from concerned residents about the Site C truck hauling plan was included in the Peace River Regional District’s recent letter.

In the letter penned to the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), PRRD Chair Brad Sperling suggests a technical and community advisory committee should be created along with public engagement sessions.

“[We] wish to ensure that the process is paced to allow for meaningful input, research and analysis and full and fair consideration of all input received,” says the letter to Project Assessment Director Kimberly Walters.

“The 85th Avenue hauling proposed amendment is of sufficient complexity to warrant the highest level of consideration.”

BC Hydro is looking for an amendment to the Site C Environmental Assessment Certificate to haul glacier till from the 85th Avenue Industrial Lands to the dam site when not using its conveyor system.

Attached to Sperling’s letter were others from residents. The contents were similar to concerns the PRRD expressed in a letter last week to BC Hydro Community and Social Mitigation Manager Nancy Pepper calling out the company’s lack of detail. A list of 16 impacts to the District and residents was included in that letter such as greenhouse gas emissions, human health, wildlife resources, and current land and resources used for traditional purposes.

One resident is calling the plan a “huge imposition to residents”.

“We as residents become secondary citizens to PRHP/BC HYDRO construction, which is ridiculous considering we are the residents that pay taxes every year as property owners not just temporary, like Site C. We were repeatedly told at the beginning of all this that there would be NO IMPOSITION, NO INTERRUPTIONS TO OUR DAILY LIVES and yet that’s exactly what happens over and over again.”

Another resident says it feels like BC Hydro is asking for forgiveness instead of permission, following that up by questioning if heavy rainfall would put the conveyor system underwater again.

“At the beginning of consultation with the City, we were told that the Old Fort residents would not be impacted by the Site C project. Well, I beg to differ. We have been subject to a plethora of effects from road construction, delays because of said construction, massive amounts of dust, noise, smoke to the point of asthma attacks, irregular and extremely high river water and the list goes on. Now we will be contending with more delays on the road to add insult to injury. Is our time not valuable too?”

Sperling understands that the EAO can appoint specialized expertise to the Technical Advisory Committee, which the PRRD sees as beneficial for addressing concerns. This includes options other than truck hauling, analyzing risks, and review of effects of options.

He also mentioned there is enough public interest to establish a Community Advisory Committee.

“We wish to ensure that the process is paced to allow for meaningful input, research and analysis and full and fair consideration of all input received. Making allowance for the complex and fundamental nature of the amendment request, as well as the application of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, we anticipate that a determination by the BC Environmental Assessment Office on this application is at least a year away,” wrote Sperling.