People are still questioning BC Liberals’ review of Site C. Politicians wanted to avoid tough questions about need for project, future costs, critics say.
Why is the biggest megaproject in B.C. history, the $8.8-billion Site C dam, going ahead without the standard review by the B.C. Utilities Commission to determine if it’s actually needed and makes economic sense?
That’s one of the key questions readers raised when we announced our series diving deep into Site C.
Industry experts told us it was likely to avoid scrutiny on the major decision. “This project is so big, it’s a once in a career opportunity for a political person,” retired deputy CEO of BC Hydro, Bev Van Ruyven said. The government likely wasn’t certain about Site C when it brought in the Clean Energy Act, she said. “But they wanted to review the evidence and make the decision. Not the utilities commission.”
Read the rest of the article here to learn about the legislation change that allowed Site C to bypass the BCUC and what experts say about it.
- https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/04/10/Site-C-Review-Blocked-BC-Liberals/
- http://discoursemedia.org/power-struggle/why-bc-liberals-blocked-usual-independent-review-for-site-c
Part three in a six part series for The Tyee and Discourse Media.