Science Response 2014/011

Technical Review of the Effects of the Site C Clean Energy Project on Fish and Fish Habitat of the Peace River, British Columbia

Context

British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro, hereafter ‘the Proponent’) is proposing to construct and operate a hydroelectric dam at Site C on the Peace River, near Fort St. John, British Columbia (the Site C Clean Energy Project, hereafter ‘the Project’). The proposed Site C Project will be the third in a series of hydroelectric dams constructed on the Peace River, and will be operated as a run-of-river facility downstream of the two existing reservoirs. The construction phase of the Project is expected to last 8 years, with the facility in operation for over 100 years. No decommissioning phase is proposed for the Project. Key project components include an earth fill dam, a generating station, reservoir, access roads, and two new 500 kV AC transmission lines. Construction of the 60 m tall dam would move the current point of flow regulation from the Peace Canyon Dam downstream to Site C and create an 83 km long Reservoir.

The Peace River serves as fish habitat and is an important migration corridor between habitats that fish rely on to complete their life cycle. Potential effects of the Project include changes to fish habitat quantity, quality and availability (e.g., changes to water temperature, flow, sedimentation, aquatic productivity and others); changes to fish abundance, health and survival (e.g., changes to species diversity, distribution, and relative abundance). Mitigation proposed to offset these potential effects includes the construction of additional habitat features, development of ‘like for like’ fish habitat compensation, riparian planting, provision of upstream fish passage via a trap and haul facility, and the incorporation of project design considerations to minimize fish entrainment, reduce sedimentation, avoid fish stranding and reduce total dissolved gas. The Proponent has proposed monitoring and follow-up programs to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures and to monitor project effects on fish and fish habitat.

The Site C Clean Energy Project is subject to an environmental assessment by a Federal/Provincial Joint Review Panel. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) will be asked to present evidence at Public Hearings scheduled for January, 2014 in relation to its expertise on the effects of the Project on fish and fish habitat, the efficacy and adequacy of mitigation measures, compensation options, monitoring and follow-up programs proposed by the Proponent, and the conclusions reached in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Project.

DFO’s Pacific Region Fisheries Protection Program has requested DFO Science to provide a scientific evaluation of the EIS, to assist in the development of DFO’s submission to the Site C Clean Energy Project Joint Review Panel.

Specifically, the objective of this Science Response is to address four questions:

1. Does the EIS accurately characterize aquatic productivity and processes affecting aquatic productivity within the proposed reservoir upstream of Site C?
2. Are the conclusions drawn in the EIS, in relation to aquatic productivity post-dam construction, valid?
3. Does the EIS accurately characterize potential effects on fish species and fish habitat upstream and downstream of Site C during the operation phases?
4. Are the conclusions drawn regarding extent, duration and magnitude of residual and cumulative effects on fish species and their habitats reasonably valid?

Note that throughout this review, citation of the August 2013 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS; BC Hydro 2013) will refer to Volumes (Vol), Sections (Sect), Parts and Appendices (App). Pagination in the main EIS volumes will be in form of xx-nn referring page nn of Section xx. The term “baseline” is used in this report to refer to the current (pre-Site C) conditions as referred to in the EIS.

This Science Response Report results from the Science Special Response Process conducted in November 2013.

Complete document (PDF, 166  KB)

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