Option 1 or Option 2

We can argue about whether Option 1 or Option 2 is the “lesser of the evils”, but keep in mind that the beauty of the falls would be completely ruined either way.

For both Option 1 and Option 2:

• The proponent will take 94% of the water, leaving only a trickle for both the north falls and the south falls ALL YEAR (except for a bit they couldn’t stuff through their proposed power station in April and May).
• The plant would operate for at least 40 YEARS – this is basically forever and for our children.
• There will be a huge reinforced concrete structure within 20 m of the falls, which rises at least 20′ above the Moon River, and is at least 33′ wide at the Moon River. And anyone looking at the falls from the north side will see the side of this concrete cube with rocks piled up the side.
• For over a year, there will be an ugly construction site, with a rock and plastic coffer dam hundreds of feet long leaving the head of the Moon River dry to the riverbed, there will be safety fencing, construction equipment and a construction crane with a 100′ boom, all the trees on Burgess Island west of the highway will be clear-cut, blasting and hauling away 1,700 tuckloads of rock, construction trailers and porta-potties, pumps and settling ponds, traffic disruptions, and on and on.
• During operation, there would be a dangerous water intake, no local operator to shut the plant down if there was an emergency, the flow into the plant would be remotely controlled so recreation activities nearby would get no warning when this changes, loss of the portage locations, the creation of new dangers, the loss of hundreds of feet of public shoreline, and on and on.
• The proponent refuses to post a completion bond, so if they run into business, financing, or technical problems, they could leave a much uglier and expensive mess than Port Carling has.
• The proponent would have control of Margaret Burgess Park (the land north of the north falls) and Diver’s Point (the land west of the south dam) FOR 40 YEARS. And the proponent won’t confirm that they would never, during the term of the lease, apply to build on these lands. So who knows, maybe they would try to put up high-rise condominiums (apparently being crown-owned, municipal zoning by-laws don’t apply to these lands).

So let’s not argue about which is worse, they would both be a disaster.