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(What is all this about)
Stop the Proposed Hydro-electric Generating Station

We well understand that hydro-electric generating stations don’t produce nasty emissions or waste, but there are many other environmental concerns.

In this situation, the problem is that despite years of asking, the proponent for the proposed station at the Bala Falls will not answer our questions, such as:

1. Would the proposed station be safe. This includes safe for the in-water recreation that has been part of Bala for over 100 years, such as swimming and boating upstream and downstream. And would it be safe for fish and not harm the fish habitat.
2. Would the proposed station be beautiful, as this area is. The few drawings and renderings provided by the proponent have all had such major omissions and errors that they mislead rather than inform. And the proponent has not been able to confirm there would be no barbed-wire fencing or that there would not be warning sirens sounded daily.
3. Would there be enough water over the north and south falls that people would continue to be drawn to Bala (nobody would come to see where the falls used to be). The proponent refuses to compromise and both falls would be reduced to a trickle throughout most of the year. This would be ruining the economy of Bala to provide a $100 million dollar subsidy to a private developer.

What you can do:

• Subscribe to our e-Newsletter (click on the link at the top-right).
• Learn about the issue (summary articles are posted at the What is all this about box at the top-right, more detailed articles at Recent Articles below that).
• Contact us if you have any questions or comments.

 

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(Current status)
Request for the Minister to Review the Director’s Decision
(Where is the Science)

The Director of the Environmental Assessment and Approvals Branch of the Ministry of the Environment has denied all elevation requests – and an elevation to an individual environmental assessment is apparently the first step to the only way the MoE can stop this proposed project.

Given that the MoE prides itself on making science-based decisions, in this case, their decision had a remarkable number of oversights. We have detailed many of these in our submission to the MoE here.

In a strong statement that this remains a major issue, most of those who requested an elevation in 2009 requested this decision to deny all the elevation requests be reviewed by the Minister of the Environment. The Minister’s target 45-day review period passed on June 2, 2011, showing this is a very complex case which requires additional time for clarification.

We continue to await the Minister’s decision, and have provided additional input about the cycling operation which we have learned would be required (despite the proponent telling us for years it would be a run-of-river operation).

The Minister of the Environment was not re-elected in the October 6, 2011 election. We will therefore be communicating with the new Minister of the Environment to present our information and concerns.

 

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(Recent Development)
The votes are in: 93% of the public oppose the proposed project

The results to an on-line poll during late October 2011 on the Cottage Country Now web site were as follows:

Question: Was Muskoka Lakes council right to continue to fight Swift River on their hydroelectric project in Bala?

Results:

• No, it’s green energy and the way of the future: 3%
• Yes, that’s why they were elected: 93%
• To a point, but once approvals were in place they should have worked with them: 4%

 We note that:

• The poll was presented along with a related article that was the top item on their web site, and was available for over a week. The poll therefore had exposure to a very broad and interested audience.
• The percentage agreeing with “Yes, that’s why they were elected” was always in the range of 90% to 94% from when there were fewer than 200 votes to the final total of at least 1,725 votes. This shows that the poll results are statistically valid and do indeed represent the larger population.
• This confirms that the vast majority of the public – 93% – agree with the Township of Muskoka Lakes Council that the proponent for the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala Falls has not adequately addressed the major issues, and the proposed project should not proceed.
• Mayor Alice Murphy, running on a clear platform concerning the proposed project in the October 2010 municipal election, received more than 50% more votes than all those running against her combined – including the incumbent – for the position of Mayor of the Township of Muskoka Lakes. This again shows the vast majority of the public support the Mayor’s and indeed all of Council’s actions. Our elected representatives are representing us, and doing an excellent job of it. This is why we like living in Canada; we have a government and process that works (at least at the municipal level – we’re still waiting to find out about the provincial and federal level).

For many complex issues, people are often evenly split. Consider the 2000 United States presidential election where George W. Bush received 47.9% of the vote compared to 48.4% for Al Gore. Or the 1995 Quebec referendum where 50.6% voted no and 49.4% voted yes. This Bala Falls issue is complex, yet there is clearly a “landslide” of public opposition to the proposed project.

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