This family-owned Peace River ranch will be underwater when the Site C dam is completed. credit: Emma Gilchrist, DeSmog Canada (flickrCC)

“At a projected cost of $8.8 billion, the approved but yet-to-be-built Site C dam is the single most expensive public infrastructure project in BC’s history. However, far more is at stake than just our pocketbooks when assessing the costs of Site C,” caution Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ben Parfitt.

The pair argue that too few benefits alongside too many costs make Site C a poor investment. From loss of farmland and biodiversity to infringement on Indigenous rights, the environmental, social, and cultural costs are many. And then there’s the economic implications.

“With major work on the dam not even started, our hydro bills are already climbing well beyond inflation, in part because of costs coming due on repairs and upgrades at existing dams, and questionable investment decisions by BC Hydro,” write the authors. “By 2018, we will pay nearly 30% more for our power than we did in 2013.”

Download Spring 2017

Read more about the project’s expected impacts in “Site C Dam Comes with Too Many Costs,” in the Spring 2017 issue of Input, page 16. Download Spring 2017

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