Potential Impact of Run-of-River (RoR) Projects on Salmonids
Context
What are the public confidence issues?
RoR hydro is a clean form of energy that invests billions of dollars into the economy, creates thousands of construction jobs, has a minimal environmental footprint, empowers First Nations, and is helping BC meet its climate change targets. However, there was significant public concern that run-of-river hydro projects were impacting fish.
How was public trust impacted? Is the impact at the local community level or the broader public?
Much of what the public knew about RoR facilities was based on media coverage noting incidences of fish kills, non-compliance, and destruction of natural habitats. Media headlines included “B.C.'s run-of-river…show more content… Although there was a year or two timeline, the industry become (and continues to be) heavily regulated. In some cases, regulatory agencies took the negative press as truth and started requiring exhaustive environmental studies and compliance monitoring. Moreover, many companies that have RoR projects are publically traded. Negative headlines were not welcome by shareholders and had the potential to impact investment decisions. Many RoR projects rely on the support of First Nations and local communities. Concern for RoR projects resulted in some communities questioning if these types of projects should…show more content… It generated media that corrected some of the misconceptions about RoR projects. Once example was the CBC story on January 14, 2014. In it, Pacific Salmon Foundation CEO Brian Riddell states that while some older RoR sites lacked monitoring, “at this point in time, the information we have would say the harm [to salmon] is minimal.” CEBC’s Executive Director Paul Kariya was able to get the message out that the study was part of an effort to “make sure our industry is held to the highest standard possible.” Paul went on to say that this report is “critical to the credibility of the clean-energy sector” and that “protecting the environment is job
