Currents – Episode 5 – The Ottawa River from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.
When is Green Hydro Power Really Green?
With dwindling supplies of conventional oil, we’ll need to rely on all available sources of energy to meet future energy requirements, including hydro (even assuming we reduce use and increase efficiency). However, hydro comes at a cost. So, when does it make sense to destroy an ancient ecosystem?
Along with Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia and Russia, Canada is one of only 6 countries in the world with an abundance of freshwater. A few others, like the United States, are marginally self-sufficient, but the reality in most of the world is one of scarcity. This has lead us to take freshwater for granted when in reality, we have a responsibility to treasure and protect it.
River rich provinces like Ontario and BC are seeking to solve their energy problems through supposed “Green Energy” plans. Unfortunately, there is a certain amount of “Greenwashing” in this.
These Green Energy plans are about filling an energy gap. Using the trendiness of fighting climate change, these provinces are seeking to get around normal environmental assessments for hydro and other “clean energy” projects. Hydro has benefits, but it also has its costs: valleys flooded, villages and ancient habitats destroyed, etc. There is often even a negative impact on GHG emission through the destruction of forests and vegetation (carbon sinks).
What these “green” energy plans do is gut the environmental assessments normally required for projects of this sort. The role of organizations like the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is to weigh the costs and benefits of a project prior to providing a permit. If the benefits of these projects outweigh the cost, why do you have to bypass the proper evaluations to get them approved? As we saw in the Petawawa segment, in Ontario, local municipalities have lost their say in these matters. BC has practically eliminated public consultations in project evaluations. Though low-impact hydro is possible, hydro at all costs is not green.
In short, governments must account for all of the ecological services provided by forests, agricultural fields and other ecosystems that will be impacted before approving a project. Proposed projects in BC like the Peace Valley Site C, and the KlinaKlini will have huge social and environmental impacts, destroying ancient forests and fish habitat, agricultural and first nations land.
We saw this type of “greenwashing” on a grand scale in the South Korea segment. Upon massive public outrage to their Grand Canal project (to dredge massive canals through the country for greater shipping access), the South Korean government renamed it the “Four Rivers Restoration Project”, trying to fool people into thinking that these canals will somehow benefit the environment. While I am not suggesting that we are seeing propaganda on this scale, by trying to bypass proper environmental evaluations and public consultations, governments are trying to hide the complete picture.
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Hydro has the potential to be an important part of the clean-energy mix that is needed to help Canada address the issue of climate change while also protecting against local environmental impacts. However, hydro can result in unacceptable impacts if projects are improperly located, poorly designed or built and operated in a manner that does not consider regional ecosystem costs and benefits. With a strategic approach that accounts for ALL environmental costs and benefits, hydro can be an important part of the clean-energy mix. Provinces need to evaluate all potential hydro costs against costs which include protection of minimum ecosystem water flows and minimization of local impacts, and seeks to minimize wilderness fragmentation resulting from associated infrastructure, such as access roads and power lines.
So keep getting out to enjoy our rich river network and keep trying to raise awareness of the critical importance of this resource. By ensuring that the environmental impacts of hydro projects are known, and discussed in the media, we can help push governments into a more strategic evaluation of “Green” energy sources, leading to a well thought out and truly eco-friendly solution.
CURRENTS – Episode 4 – South Korea
Currents – Episode 4 – South Korea from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.
Credits can be viewed here.
The Hankyoreh Posted on : Apr.2,2010 12:59 KST
» Jeong Seok-gu, Senior Editorial Writer
Every time President Lee Myung-bak emphasizes the necessity of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, I find myself at a loss, confused as to whether he says such things with an understanding of the true picture, or if he is doing so according to some other political understanding. Most disconcerting of all is when he claims that the project saves animal and plant life and restores the ecosystem. Religious groups, including Catholics and Buddhists, are currently waging a campaign of strenuous opposition and calling the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project an act of killing. Which side is the one restoring life, and which is the one ending it?
President Lee says that the four rivers are severely polluted and that their birds and fish are dying. That severe pollution situation does arise from time to time during droughts or when wastewater and sewage flow into the river, but calling the rivers so filthy that birds and fish cannot live in them is a distortion of the truth. He also uses this misguided assumption as a basis for saying that the primary goal of the project is to save these precious lives. It is a mind-boggling logical leap.
Go to one of the construction sites for the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. You will see that the once beautiful riversides, with their thick reeds and willows and their white beaches, are now being trampled by excavators and construction vehicles. A jet-black polluted layer of mud is being laid bare at the sites, while the formerly blue waters are turning yellow with mud. Far from saving lives, they are destroying the very habitats of these fish and birds. Some might say that all construction sites are like this at first. But will life go back to normal once the construction ends as planned? Every place will be blocked off with dams, the riverside decked out in concrete. It is not a natural, but an artificial river that drives away life. Currently, countries like Germany and the U.S. are tearing down the dams they have built on rivers over the years and are restoring them to their natural state. If the Lee Myung-bak government does not know the reason for this, it is simply ignorant, and if it does know and yet believes it can solve the resulting problems with the latest technology, it is indicative of an arrogant disregard for the order of nature.
President Lee says that the project is his own conviction, and that he needs to persuade the people who oppose it. He frequently cites examples such as the Cheonggyecheon and the Seoul-Busan Expressway. He seems to be saying that while those projects also had opponents, he followed through with them according to his own convictions, and everyone is pleased with the results. Every time I hear this, I find myself wondering whether the president thinks all South Koreans have the intellectual capability of a kindergartner. The Cheonggyecheon and the Seoul-Busan Expressway are completely different from the Four Major Rivers project. The Cheonggyecheon project changed a paved-over, rotting stream into a 5.8 km artificial concrete river. The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project involves no less than 1,300 km of living, flowing natural rivers. Comparing the two is a clear fallacy.
An even bigger cause for concern is when President Lee speaks as though he would be failing to fulfill his duty as president and committing some kind of crime against the state if he did not finish the project. The people never gave him the authority to blithely cut off and dig up the four rivers that form the mainstay of the Korean Peninsula. President Lee also said that if the project is turned into an instrument of political warfare, it is the nation’s future that will be sacrificed. However, the project itself is an act of barbarism, bringing down the country’s prestige and destroying the living space of our descendants.
Still, President Lee pushes stubbornly on, declaring that he will finish the project within his term. He completely ignores any recommendation to use just one of the rivers as a test case first, or any suggestion to implement the project in stages after carrying out a proper assessment of its environmental effects. No matter what problems or aftereffects are pointed out, it all falls on deaf ears.
What should be done now? Before doing anything, go to the four rivers and see the construction sites for yourselves. Even better, make a spring outing of it and go hand in hand with your children. If not, at least stop by the Nakdong River photo exhibition currently being held in Seoul, Busan and other locations throughout the country by Buddhist monk Jiyul. There, you will find the answer on what the true picture of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project is, and what it is that we must do.
CURRENTS – Episode 3 – Asheville, North Carolina
Currents – Episode 3 – Asheville, North Carolina from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.
View full credits for this episode HERE
From the desk of Mark Singleton.
Back in 2001, American Whitewater was part of a diverse group of local, regional, and national interests that began meeting with Duke Energy to collaborate on a new plan for operating their dams in the Tuckasegee and Nantahala watersheds. The outcome of those negotiations was a comprehensive settlement agreement that Duke submitted as their application for new operating licenses. The agreement called for the removal of Dillsboro Dam and subsequent watershed enhancements like enhanced flow releases, new public river access areas, new parks and trails and land conservation.
Unfortunately, the removal of Dillsboro Dam became a controversial issue and the resulting conflict delayed the river restoration and enhancement project for well over three years.Today, the removal of Dillsboro Dam is complete! Work will continue over the next few months to restore and stabilize the river banks. In place of an outdated and uneconomic dam (the dam had not produced power in over 4 years), there are two “new” ledges on the river. A yellow silt curtain (visible in the photo above) will remain across the main part of the river until the restoration work is completed, probably a couple of more months. For paddlers who wish to paddle this section of river, the silt curtain has an opening on the far river right side for boats to pass through.
The settlement agreement also calls for scheduled releases on the West Fork of the Tuckasegee (a class IV romp through a long de-watered gorge) and the Upper Nantahala. The scheduling of these release is unknown at this time and is dependent on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) moving forward on the process that will lead to the issuance of new licenses for the remaining Nantahala and Tuckasegee Hydro Projects.
We would like to thank the many members and paddlers that have supported this river restoration initiative over the past nine years, including a special thanks to the Carolina Canoe Club and Western Carolina Paddlers. American Whitewater has been a vocal and leading advocate for the restoration of the Tuckasegee throughout this project and would like to recognize specific project funding from KEEN and the Conservation Alliance.
Full article can be viewed here.
CURRENTS – Episode 2 – Petawawa, Ontario
Currents – Episode 2 – Petawawa, Ontario from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.
Full Credits for this segment can be viewed HERE.
The River
The Petawawa River is located roughly 90 minutes north west of the city of Ottawa. The river is both the namesake for the town, as well as a large reason why humans chose to settle in the area. The river has defined life in Petawawa for hundreds of years.
This area was initially opened as a result of the plentiful supply of timber and the fast water of the river which bisected the land and provided easy access to lumber markets. In the mid 1920’s the military base was firmly established and development spread to both shores of the Petawawa River, which bisects the town.
The river remains deeply entrenched in the life of this town. The recreation facilities, the economy, tourism and industry all rely heavily on keeping this river wild and free.
The Issue
In 2007, word began to spread throughout the local river community about the possibility of a dam construction project on the Petawawa River although it was not formally announced until the fall of 2008.
The proponent (Xeneca) actually has two projects underway on the Petawawa River. The upstream development – known as Half Mile Rapids – is slightly more advanced than the Big Eddy Project located right in town.
The most concerning of the two projects is the Big Eddy development, which would see a dam constructed across the Petawawa River right in the heart of the town. In fact, the dam would be mere meters upstream of the Millennium Trail and clear view of walkers, paddlers, fishermen and others.
The Big Eddy Project (5.8MW) would be diverting water around the majority of the rapids on the Town Section of the Petawawa and returning it to the river just before it meets the Ottawa. This essentially dewaters the river, leaving a bare minimum flow. The Proponent has given conflicting plans about where exactly the water would be returned to the riverbed.
There innumerable concerns about this project. What is the impact on the sport fishery; possible species at risk and environmental damage, kayaking and recreational river use, sediment buildup at the river delta, loss of tourism revenue, destruction of parkland and forest trails for road construction, stagnation of the swimming areas… the list is a long one.
The Action
As is the case with many of these projects, the public is kept in the dark until it is far too late to have a noticeable impact. Much needed dialogue doesn’t occur, and the project proceeds without a hitch.
The local whitewater community is determined to ensure that doesn’t happen here.
In 2009, they launched a river festival known as Hell or High Water (HOHW), with the intent being to raise some awareness of the value that this whitewater really has in the local community. Secondly, it used the festival as leverage to engage the local businesses and elected officials and voice their concerns about the damage that this dam will have on the community while demonstrating the economic impact that whitewater recreation has here in Petawawa.
This river is a core part of the community. HOHW was designed from the beginning to involve the community in river life, and have them recognize what a wonderful resource is going to be lost.
The Result:
From humble beginnings – 40 racers the first year – the event’s popularity skyrocketed bringing together over 200 paddlers from across Ontario, Quebec and the Northern United States to paddle, socialize, and celebrate this river.
Media coverage has been exceptional, helping bring awareness of the pending dam project to the masses. The economic impact of 200 visitors was also noticed with several area businesses lending their support to the event, and the Town Council publically recognizing the value that HOHW has to the Town, even offering greater amounts of support for next year.
The event inspired Town Council to demand that the whitewater community have a voice on the dam projects’ advisory council – a big win for whitewater – and demand increased public dialogue and involvement before any decisions are made.
What’s Next?
Over the coming year, HOHW will grow to involve more people in particular those people outside the whitewater community. The best way to protect a river is to get residents to value it. Whether through walking trails, kayaking, fishing, swimming or photography simply getting people to the river to experience it will be enough to inspire them to raise their voices to protect it.
HOHW has an ambitious target of 500 participants for the coming year, in addition to ongoing awareness work through the local media, the whitewater community and social media.
For more information:
Protect the Petawawa: http://www.petawawa-river.blogspot.com
Xeneca: http://www.xeneca.com/projects.htm
Hell or High Water: http://www.liquidlore.com/hohw
CURRENTS – Episode 01 – Tena, Ecuador
Currents – Episode 1 – Ecuador from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.
Having travelled to Ecuador 3 times in the past 5 years and having seen the changes in the rivers from year to year, this seemed like the logical place to kick off Currents.
The Expert
It wasn’t difficult to find our expert. We initially met Daniel Dixon 5 years ago when we were seeking out a guide to help plan logistics for our first trip to Ecuador. Though interest in Ecuador as a paddling destination is growing, it is still lacking the developed paddling tourism infrastructure that is present in places such as Costa Rica. I can’t remember how we stumbled upon Daniel’s email address, but the trip he organized couldn’t be matched. His wealth of knowledge of the local rivers and local wildlife are unsurpassed. Daniel Dixon is an American ex-pat who, after having travelled the world to paddle, and apart from working a few months a summer at Nantahala Outdoor Center, has made Tena, Ecuador, his home. With the highest concentration of runnable surface area of rivers in the world, and a huge range of river styles and degrees of difficulty, he sees no better place to live. Dan lives and breathes rivers and divides his time between guide work (paddling, bird watching, school field trips) and his volunteer work with the Ecuador River Institute (“ERI”). The ERI’s vision is to encourage sustainable natural resource management by educating the people of Ecuador about the importance of protecting their watersheds. As well, by increasing global awareness of watershed issues in Ecuador, they hope to minimize the exploitation of the environment and the people who depend upon it. They advocate prioritizing recreational river use as a criteria in watershed management planning.
The Tena area
According to the ERI, Ecuador has the greatest biodiversity of any country in the world in relation to its size and close to 80% of this is found in the Amazon region, which is the least populated and undeveloped part of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian Amazon receives up to 20 feet of rainfall each year and is also a main source (headwaters) for the Amazon River – the largest freshwater river system in the world. Most of the rafting and kayaking activity has centered around Tena, a small town and paddling mecca in the Amazon region about 5 hours southeast of Quito. The local rivers are very volatile and prone to flash floods from the heavy rain. This leads to river characteristics that can change often and unpredictably. The natural fauna and Tena’s tourism based economy are at risk of being eroded by the environmental damage caused by the oil industry, road construction, etc.
Tena is in the Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve. Some 80,000 subsistence farmers, 70 percent of whom are of Quechua origin, live around the 931,215-hectare park, some of them planting traditional crops like coffee, cacao, yucca and bananas to sell at market. The concept of a biosphere reserve is aimed at striking a balance between conservation and sustainable human development. The reserves are based on the premise that no conservation activity can be successful while local residents are struggling against poverty. According to UNESCO, biosphere reserves, which foster development that is socially, culturally and ecologically sustainable, are the only model of conservation that connects the protection of biodiversity with the livelihood of local people. Environmentalists see the Sumaco area as especially important because it has seven distinct ecosystems in a relatively small space. It is still possible to find animals here in certain abundance that you no longer see in other areas, like the jaguar, anteater, spectacled bear, tapir and giant armadillo. More than 654 species of birds have been identified in the area as well, along with 470 species of fish and 6,000 species of vascular plants.
UNESCO biosphere reserves are surrounded by buffer zones, where human activities are permitted as long as they are compatible with conservation objectives, and transition zones, where sustainable economic activities are promoted and developed.
The Issues
Despite being within a biosphere reserve, local rivers are being devastated by both legal and illegal mining activities. The mining is frequently done in river beds close to populated areas under the blind eye of local authorities. The riverbanks are regularly mined for gravel to be used in construction. Rather than mine from officially sanctioned gravel pits, which are established in areas such that ecological impact is minimized, to save time, construction workers often mine from the nearest river banks. Unfortunately, the removal of the vegetation causes significant erosion which is exacerbated by the frequent river flooding. Erosion scars are everywhere and the river beds are collapsing in on themselves. This will eventually have an effect on the houses and infrastructure nearby. It has been Daniel’s experience that even legal activities are sometimes approved with insufficient studies and in inappropriate areas.
With the skyrocketing price of gold which has been spurring greater exploration and development activities in gold-rich Ecuador, illegal gold mining has skyrocketed on the Jatanyacu. This is typically done at night without permits and again with little response from authorities even when local residents complain. There is a broad suspicion that the illegal miners are using mercury for gold extraction which is then making its way into the river systems.
At a more basic level, there continues to be a lack of water treatment and excess littering and spillage into the river systems. With wildly fluctuating water levels, biowaste, sewage, animal waste, litter and other items are routinely carried along the local rivers. In Tena people are tied to the river, using it for bathing, laundry, and sewage, leading to high levels of pollution downstream. People wash laundry in the river with detergent that still contains phosphates. Daniel and the ERI are pushing for a water treatment plant in Tena (which remains rare in Ecuador), and take upstream and downstream water samples to help provide the data to demonstrate the impact and need for greater attention to the issue. The local litter culture is about 40 years behind but awareness in general is increasing. Thanks to educational campaigns by people like Daniel, people are starting to understand and to see water stewardship as an important initiative.
What are paddlers doing to help?
Daniel and the other ERI volunteers focus on education and data gathering, with teaching the importance and benefits of preserving watershed resources as the underlying theme. A community-based water quality monitoring program began in January 2007, with the objective of establishing baseline data for rivers and streams in the Upper Napo watershed. The ERI organizes seminars and workshops to build up a conscience for conservation at the local level. They are also present at many local events and seek to increase people’s connection to the river by introducing them to paddle sports. Until 2010, the ERI hosted the popular Rio Napo festival, which was unfortunately cancelled due to a devastated local landscape and a deterioration in water quality to unhealthy levels. The ERI promotes responsible tourism development to provide economic alternatives for people and to help prioritize conservation of natural resources. Other main areas of interest are encouraging the implementation of municipal sewage treatment and waste management systems, as well as household water treatment solutions.
Beyond the local level, the ERI seeks to raise awareness about issues in the press and with Government officials and to push for positive initiatives like the water treatment plant, and the implementation of international environmental standards. As an ERI volunteer, Dan attends forums and conferences to help educate people using his unique perspective as a frequent recreational user of the river systems. His time on the river gives him the opportunity to document the changes that he sees.
Dan works with industries present in the area, guiding them around to show them the impacts of poorly planned activities. He tries to work with them to help plan their business in a sustainable manner, using knowledge of local ecosystems to try to minimize the impact. He tries to take what has been learned in North America to sway industry to adopt international standards on oil and gas projects. Likewise, he helps to educate the public on what they should ask and expect from extractive, and construction companies so that they are prepared for public consultation.
Dan’s vision is that with a better information base, that mining will be zoned to be concentrated in more sustainable areas rather than by the closest available beach, much like it is in developed countries. He hopes to see the local authorities enforce the requirement for permits and for respecting existing and future legislation.
He hopes to see a requirement for oil and mining companies to have remediation plans for their sites, in order to return mined areas to “former condition”, much like is required in the developed world. He wishes to see river stewardship become a common consideration in decision-making at the local and national level. In the meantime, Dan continues to document what is happening and to bring his findings to the press and to local residents.
What you can do to help
The main thing that North Americans can do to help is to help support the local river-based tourism industry by visiting Tena and paddling its rivers. Plus, it’s some of the best whitewater that you’ll find anywhere. You can learn more about paddling in Ecuador or the issues faced by local rivers at www.kayakecuador.com. If you’re interested in a great guide, you can contact Daniel at danieldixon@hotmail.com.
Note that much of the infrastructure in Tena was devastated by a flood on April 3rd, 2010. Tourism will also help the municipality and local businesses cover the costs incurred in the reconstruction efforts.
Credits for this segment can be viewed here.
