After weeks of speculation, the New Democrats released terms of reference Wednesday for a review of Site C that left the door open for them to terminate, mothball or continue the project.
The middle option — mothballing — was the more clever politically of the three that the cabinet presented to the B.C. Utilities Commission for consideration.
It could allow sufficient delay to satisfy those who say Site C power will not be needed when the giant hydroelectric dam comes on stream in 2024.
Yet it could also avoid some of the costs of outright cancellation, including the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars to fully restore the heavily worked over construction site along both banks of the Peace River.
The possibility of shelving construction for a time also provided a ready rationale for the NDP decision to allow work on the B.C. Hydro project to continue while Site C’s fate is decided.
“Currently there’s 2,200 people on site working and to immediately stop the project would have impacts on them so we have to recognize that,” said Energy Minister Michelle Mungall, citing the low-range estimate for current employment at the site.
Vaughn Palmer – Vancouver Sun – August 3, 2017.
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