The 2017 BCNDP platform said to maximize BC's current hydro infrastructure, but which didn't explicitly say to end #SiteC, which they completed. Chagrin x1000. #caveatemptor #readthefineprint
Watch the #bcgreen...
#democracy #usa #gop #fascists #fascism

👉 Vote 'em Out!

Original post on mastodon.social

The 2017 BCNDP platform said to maximize BC's current hydro infrastructure, but which didn't explicitly say to end #SiteC, which they completed. Chagrin x1000. #caveatemptor #readthefineprint

Watch the #bcgreens membership grow, starting late next week...and even bigger if an ecosocialist […]

Gotta subsidize the pipelines, #SiteC, and logging somehow, eh?
And the global money laundering fobbed of as #VanRE….

Haul trucks. February 2017.

The bedrock at the Site C Dam in Fort St. John, BC is a soft clay shale, easily dug up with an excavator. The weakness of the rock also made it problematic as a dam foundation.
#photography #construction #heavycivil #geotechnicalengineering #sitec #bchydro

Has B.C. Hydro really learned from Site C overruns? Utilities commission asks tough questions Vaughn Palmer: Utilities commission is asking some tough questions. Will Hydro keep on ducking and making excuses?

Having seen many governments, I'm betting this BC NDP government is, like most of them, a Seinfeld government: "no learning."

#bcpoli #SiteC #CostOverruns

vancouversun.com/opinion/colu...

This OneBC mess is extra weird for me because Tim Thielmann, before he transformed into this weird social conservative far-right entity, was the lawyer for West Moberly First Nation in their BC Supreme Court case against #SiteC. I was often in touch with him—over his concern re racism against FNs!

The #BCLNG scam is that the very few who profit, fudge the carbon emission numbers. #SiteC dam was a ma$$ive #taxpayer gift we paid to power dirty industry. Excluding emissions from our gas because it's burned elsewhere is pissing in the pool & saying, "Don't worry, it was in the corner."

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🇨🇦 GLEN CLARK: B.C. MAY RETURN TO MEGA-DAMS IF DEMAND SPIKES 🇨🇦

BC Hydro's chair says while #WindPower is the current focus, the province could eventually revisit massive #Hydroelectric projects—including the long-shelved Site E.

#BCHydro #CleanEnergy #SiteC #SiteE #BCPoli #Energy

Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds Research challenges idea that sending liquefied natural gas around the world is cleaner alternative to burning coal

Carney shouldn't pay any attention to David Eby's lust for LNG. #SiteC Dam destroyed 10,000 acres of the best farmland & produces power for fracking the Montenay gas fields & producing LNG. Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal major study finds www.nationalobserver.com/2024/10/09/n...

When Government Gaslighting Becomes Policy: The Cost of Official Denial revealed in new ‘Site C Lessons Learned’ report. ### **The Shape of Denial** For years, the public was told that everything at Site C was under control…even when it clearly was not. BC Hydro – operating first under a BC Liberal, then BC NDP government – claimed that the concerns raised by citizens, independent observers and journalists were either exaggerated or unfounded. As a former columnist and writer who personally wrote over 60 reports on Site C – many broken here on my website – I was among them. In fact there is a page here dedicated specifically to Site C: https://lailayuile.com/the-case-to-stop-site-c-construction-links-news/ Engineers, First Nations and ordinary citizens watching from the air or the riverbank also voiced concerns. They were speaking truth to power long before I started looking into this project and how it was handled. But we were all treated the same way : those of us who questioned the official story were dismissed, labeled as alarmists, or told we simply didn’t understand the complexity of a project of this scale. But truth, like the Peace River itself, has a way of surfacing. And it finally has in a new BC Hydro report posted to the BCUC website and first reported on by Vaughn Palmer https://vancouversun.com/opinion/vaughn-palmer-bc-hydro-site-c-report-what-went-wrong BC Hydro’s new _“Lessons Learned”_ report finally acknowledges what was long denied: that critical risks were underestimated, oversight faltered, and communication with the public was shaped more by public relations than transparency. It is, in essence, a formal recognition of what many had already documented in real time — a quiet admission that the narrative of control, confidence and non-partisan oversight was a façade. They even try to bolster the decision by saying they had considered decades of research that said high consequence risks were low probability, when nothing is further than the truth – all it took was a walk to the riverbanks and talks to locals to tell them all they needed to know. The banks have been infamous for slides in this area for as long as the river has existed…the project had never been approved earlier, because it was known how precarious risks and costs would be. This post isn’t about vindication, though. It’s about some much needed accountability. When governments, elected officials and agencies manage the public perception instead of reality, they gaslight not just their critics but the very people they were elected to serve. They erode hard-earned trust, delay less costly solutions, and make truth the casualty of convenience. The Site C Lessons Learned report offers a rare opportunity to examine how that happens — how spin becomes strategy, how oversight becomes optional, and how voices on the ground are silenced until the evidence becomes too visible to deny. The question now is not whether lessons have actually been learned, but whether they will ever actually be applied. (I wouldn’t look to the BC Conservatives to do so, most used to be BC Liberal MLA’s or members.) ### **The Pattern of Manufactured Reality** There’s a pattern that repeats whenever public institutions face uncomfortable truths. Instead of confronting problems early, they reassure. Instead of transparency, they manage the message. Words like “monitoring,” “reviewing,” and “no cause for concern” become tools of delay. Tools of delay become big mistakes… Costly ones, in the case of Site C. It’s a familiar playbook when it comes to every level of politics — one that protects both elected and appointed officials as well as ‘preferred contractors’ with questionable experience in the short term, but inevitably erodes government trust and credibility in the long run. And this applies to municipal, provincial and federal governments. Government gaslighting rarely looks as dramatic as it does in relationships; it’s far more polished, professional, and at times even plausible. But the effect is the same and just as destructive as gaslighting between partners: citizens start to question what they see and are told, and those who do speak up are portrayed as unreasonable, uninformed or having an ax to grind. * * * ### **A Timeline of Contradiction** Throughout most of Site C’s construction,both BC Hydro and government ministers continued to insist that the geotechnical risks were manageable, and that costs were under control…until they weren’t. Yet aerial images, independent opinions, government documents and FOI disclosures had always suggested otherwise. In fact, aerial photography often proved what BC Hydro was claiming was inaccurate. I published dozens of pieces documenting slope movement, water seepage, and structural inconsistencies — evidence that contradicted official assurances. The more I published, the more push-back and hostility I ( and others ) received from partisan supporters left and right. Now, years later, the “Lessons Learned” report quietly confirms what those early observations revealed. It admits that early warnings were not acted upon, that oversight mechanisms were insufficient, and that communication focused more on optics than openness. The record shows that the truth didn’t change — only the willingness to acknowledge it did…far too late to prevent a $1.8 billion and 100% cost overrun. One that will inevitably have to be paid by generations of hydro customers to come. * * * ### **The Cost of Manufactured Doubt** Every delayed admission like the Site C Lessons Learned report has a cost. For Site C, it was measured in billions of dollars, broken trust, and the loss of confidence in institutions meant to serve the public like the BC Utilities Commission. When government can overrule and even exempt oversight of major public projects from the very institutions they created for that purpose, we all lose. When denial of facts becomes the hidden public policy, accountability disappears. Engineers, project workers, and local residents who lost territory, homes and their heritage are left in the crossfire — doing their best to work within longstanding government systems that reward silence and punish transparency. Public relations can’t and shouldn’t become a means to hide the erosion of ethics and oversight like this. When the truth is treated like an imminent threat to power like it was during the building of Site C, the people paying the price for this are always going to be you and me. * * * ### **Lessons That Must Be Learned** Real accountability won’t ever happen with an apology, or with a report like the one released on Monday — it begins with a change within the operating culture of elected governments and appointed officials. That means valuing evidence over image, and integrity over convenience. It means making it possible for experienced and valued professionals to raise red flags and worrisome situations without fear of punishment, job loss or social and professional ostracization – all things that happened to people during the building of Site C. And actively working to create an atmosphere where the public can ask valid questions without being treated as adversaries. Do I think that will ever happen in the current political atmosphere? No. Do I think it needs to happen? Yes, absolutely. We can’t fix what we refuse to see. And we can’t learn if we keep pretending there was nothing to learn in the first place… * * * ### In the end, truth doesn’t need a press release. It waits, patiently… it is still waiting in the unstable soil of the riverbanks and in the records of those who paid attention when it wasn’t convenient to do so. For years, the Peace River and its banks told its own story, even as officials tried to ignore it. The cracks, the slides, the shifting ground — they were all there, visible to anyone who chose to look. “High consequence, low probability risk,” was anything but. It happened, and everyone knew it was coming. Decades of research and rapidly increasing costs were ignored for political will. And the astronomical costs will be laid on the backs of British Columbian’s for years, either in rate increases or growing deferral accounts at BC Hydro. None of the earlier research even considered the very real issue of how severe and/or multi-year droughts that have already affected the region, will impact the generation capabilities of Site C down the road. There have already been instances where the reservoir behind Bennett fan was too low to allow generation and BC Hydro has been transparent in acknowledging that hydroelectric power is no longer the reliable powerhouse it once was. Accountability isn’t vengeance. It’s respect — for the land, for the workers who put themselves at risk, for the people who believed what they were told because they trusted those in charge. When governments use denial as strategy, they don’t just fail technically; they fail ethically. And those failures continue to ripple through other projects and the public, eroding not only budgets and timelines but the already and increasingly tenuous bond between citizens and the governments we choose. There’s still time to do better. Politicians need to listen to the public and critics when it’s inconvenient, they need to acknowledge what’s visible before it becomes undeniable, and they need to replace public relations with public honesty. Honesty shouldn’t be a revolutionary proposal, but here we are. Tell the truth, tell it all and tell it fast. The Peace River remains indifferent to who tries to claim credit or who tries even harder to avoid blame. I still think it has a story to tell within its banks, and nature has a way of not caring how much man spend to build something – But maybe, just maybe, someone in Victoria will learn the right lesson this time: truth doesn’t disappear when ignored… It only grows stronger in the people left behind. ## Site C Lessons Learned Executive Summary : Click to access doc_84171_2025-10-30-bch-sitec-lessons-learned-report-exec-summary.pdf ## Site C Lessons Learned Full Report: Click to access doc_84170_2025-10-30-bch-sitec-lessons-learned-report.pdf ( This is a preliminary first reaction after my first read of the summary and report. I will be reviewing the long version of the report more in depth and comparing what was said in media reports over the years – I will post again once complete. This is timely considering the projected costs of the North Coast Transmission Line project – another project that could potentially escalate into a similar situation if some accountability isn’t put into place as a result of this report) Like Loading...

This project should never have moved forward once the BCNDP came into power. A great read, thanks Laila Yuile.

lailayuile.com/2025/11/03/when-governme...

When Government Gaslighting Becomes Policy: The Cost of Official Denial revealed in new ‘Site C Lessons Learned’ report. Independent observers documented risks years ago, yet public messaging cast doubt on reality itself — until evidence could no longer be ignored.

#SiteC and BC Government gaslighting. Started under Christy Clark's Liberals but happily continued under the BCNDP.

"Critical risks were underestimated, oversight faltered, and communication with the public was shaped more by public relations than transparency"

lailayuile.com/2025/11/03/w...

Big risks and costly fixes: What went wrong with Site C detailed in new B.C. Hydro report Vaughn Palmer: From misjudging geotechnical risks to underestimating the need for independent oversight, new report raises doubts about Hydro's ability to plan, manage and deliver major projects

The #SiteC "lessons learned" report was released—you guessed it—late on a Friday.

Original cost: $8B
Final cost: $16B

Of that $8B overrun, $1.6B was due to COVID.

So... #BCHydro spent an extra $6.4B because of its own "miscalculations and mistakes." 💰💰💰

#bcpoli

vancouversun.com/opinion/vaug...

On the Alberta.ca gov site there is a proposed major projects section.
Stage 1 of #WonderValley #GIG is estimated at $14 billion CDN. This is basically for a 1.4 Gigawatt #NatGas & #geothermal power infrastructure, similar cost/output to #SiteC in BC.

majorprojects.alberta.ca/details/Wond...

How BC Megaprojects Were Cleared of Suppressing Injured Workers’ Claims | The Tyee Site C, LNG Canada and pipelines were probed for failing to report job-related medical incidents. A Tyee exclusive.

How BC Megaprojects Were Cleared of Suppressing Injured Workers' Claims #bcpoli #worksafeBC #SiteC #safety

thetyee.ca/News/2025/09...

1/9 🇨🇦 BC MEGAPROJECTS CLEARED AFTER PROBE INTO SUPPRESSING WORKER INJURY CLAIMS 🇨🇦

#WorkSafeBC investigated #SiteC, #LNGCanada, and major #pipelines over suspicions they were illegally preventing injured workers from receiving compensation.

An exclusive report from Andrew MacLeod, The Tyee
#bcpoli

How BC Megaprojects Were Cleared of Suppressing Injured Workers’ Claims | The Tyee Site C, LNG Canada and pipelines were probed for failing to report job-related medical incidents. A Tyee exclusive.

WorkSafeBC investigated suspicions that workers at the #SiteC dam were discouraged from reporting injuries, but in May cleared the project. Andrew MacLeod reports. #bcpoli

Hagiography of Horgan should have become impossible after his craven #SiteC decision, never mind everything else he did—everything he gifted to corporations, every harsh pronouncement

"We're going to be managers, not activists" he said in 2017 which is def one way of describing corporate capture

Site C Dam's Future: Healing or Sustainability

**SHORT CLIP FROM FULL EPISODE**
Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #canada

How Recycling Buildings Can Bring New Jobs to Your Town!

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Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #canada

Site C Dam: A Green Push for BC

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Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

How Did They Build This Giant Dam in Canada?

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Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

Big Dreams for Site C’s Next Life

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Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

Big Dreams for Site C’s Next Life

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Live Chat With James - Aug 21, 2025

#SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

Young Bassist's Cancer Battle

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#BugsBand #JordanBrunoli #Cancerawareness #LynchSyndrome #SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

Lynch Syndrome: Early Cancer Detection & Prevention

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#BugsBand #JordanBrunoli #Cancerawareness #LynchSyndrome #SiteC #BCHydro #PRRD #Peaceriver #SurreyBC #News #Headlines #BreakingNews #Recycle #Reuse #ClimateImpacts #HealingCentre #BritishColumbia #Canada

Considering Site C The Peace River in northern British Columbia is currently being considered for a major hydro-electric project at Site C, near Fort St. John. The river has already been dammed twice. Another dam raises...

Nearly sixteen years after our Considering Site C event... - niche-canada.org/resources/co...

"BC Hydro announced on Saturday that the Site C Dam in the province’s Peace Region is now fully online and operational." - globalnews.ca/news/1132836...

#envhist #dams #hydroelectric #sitec

This govt has the funds to pay for an unnecessarily fossil fuel-washing #SiteC dam whose energy costs 5x what wind power does, but not for give life-extending drugs for a little girl.

Massive subsidies to oil and gas and real estate, but not regular people. The BC NDP needs to change its name.

Screenshot of article In defence of wind power Contributed - Jul 9, 2025 / 9:47 am | Story: 560628 Re. John Francis letter, Tilting at windmills (Castanet, July 3) When power is curtailed it is not “dumped” into the ground. Wind power is curtailed by adjusting the pitch on the blades or angling them out of the wind direction. So it would be impossible for them to disrupt magnetic fields of the earth and cause cancer for miles around from excess electricity dumping. Nowhere in the article referred to does it mention subsidies. It will be a competitive bid process where the lowest cost projects in the right locations will be approved. Wind has a levellized cost of energy that is, on average, around four cents per kWh. The site C Dam levellized cost of energy is unknown as BC Hydro refuses to reveal that number. Experts predict 16 to 18 cents per kWh. Wind and hydro mix well. The reservoirs can store water when the wind is producing, acting as a battery. That water can be used later to generate electricity when needed or the wind isn’t blowing. Nuclear power is the most costly form of commercial electricity production. If it is the largest base load generator, then it will have the same amount of power on standby as the nuclear plant produces. If the plant is 800 megawatts, then you would need 800 megawatts of stranded or standby power. Darrell Morley

"Wind has a levellized cost of energy that is on average around 4 cents per kWh. The #SiteC Dam levellized cost is unknown, as BC Hydro refuses to reveal that number. But experts predict 16 to 18 cents per kWh"

Never mind the loss of 100km of fertile valley!
#BCpoli
www.castanet.net/news/Letters...