A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THE OKANAGAN - The Similkameen River has been identified as one of the most endangered in B.C. and it is now the site of a proposed hydro dam by Fortis Generation Inc. The company plans to build a 45 to 65 megawatt power facility — with a 175-metre-high concrete dam and 21-kilometre-long reservoir — on the Similkameen River, about 15 kilometres south of Princeton. Mark Angelo, rivers chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., noted in an interview that the Similkameen was named one of the top 10 most endangered rivers in B.C. in 2011 due to a dam proposal on the Washington state side of the international border at Shanker’s Bend that would have flooded into B.C. That proposal was later shelved. Angelo said this new “Canyon Dam” proposal is in the early stages by Fortis, which purchased the former Princeton Light and Power, the company that proposed a dam at this same site in the early 1990s. He warned that “construction would create a reservoir upriver of the canyon that is estimated to destroy not only the canyon ecosystem” but extensive wildlife habitat, including for trout and other fish. The dam would inundate about 800 hectares.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:37:32 +0000
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