In the seventies, the huge and ambitious Churchill River Diversion hydroelectric project cemented Manitoba Hydro (MBH) as one of Canada's preeminent crown electric utilities, and positioned Manitoba as a whole to be a leader in clean, green energy thirty years later. A thousand kilometers north of Winnipeg, work is still continuing to add to the gigawatts of production capacity already in place, and further develop the Nelson River as a hydroelectric mainstay. Wikipedia has a great graphic illustrating the scale of the developments in the province's far nothern regions.
As with many hydroelectric projects, however, there have been environmental and social costs. The Churchill Diversion in particular flooded hundreds of thousands of acres of pristine land - the home of First Nations peoples for millenia. Despite agreements in place with native peoples and financial compensation from MBH, to many the Diversion meant the end of a way of life - flooding displaced towns, drowned burial places, and ruined fisheries.
This controversey continues to dog northern hydroelectric development. Example: Green Green Water, an anti-hydro advocacy vlog and documentary film from the USA. Prompted by the social and envrionmental issues of northern Manitoba and the fact that 40% of the electricity produced is consumed by Americans, the site attempts to introduce a layer of transparency to the issue with on-site interviews. The vlog portion of the site makes for interesting viewing, and the full-on documentary is expected sometime in 2006, according to the status page.
Controversey begets controversey, however, and Green Green Water is itself under attack from at least some of the First Nations people interviewed. Chief Primrose, in a lengthy letter accuses Green Green Water of mis-representation, being a tool of US energy interests, and generally being superficial and paternalistic. Green Green Water responds to Cheif Primrose here.
At this moment, I'm not going to chime in with an opinion of my own on this issue, as I don't think I have enough information to say anything really intelligent about it all. Regardless of whether you support GGW's position, however, the thirty years of story behind it are a fascinating study in balancing social and environmental agendas, changing policy environments, and role of advocacy groups.
Your thoughts and comments on the matter, as well as any more related material, would be appreciated - don't be shy in the comments section below.
Stay Tuned: Next week I'll be talking with Charles Pick of DNALandmarks about creating in-the-field rapid genetic tests to identify wheat varieties, and why this is important. Also on deck is the developing technology of pelletized prairies grasses, and grasses ability to capture and transport solar energy for use as a cost effective source of residential and commercial energy.
