Nov 262016
For their environmental assessment, the proponent both acknowledged the current in-water recreation and clearly showed that the only dangerous areas would be within their proposed safety booms. However, the proponent’s own flow simulation shows the dangerously-fast water from their proposed hydro-electric generating station would extend more than 160′ outside of their safety boom. As a result:
- The proposed project to build a hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls would not comply with the environmental approval.
- Seeing the downstream safety boom, people would be deceived into thinking that is the only dangerous place, but the proponent’s own information shows the water would be just as dangerous outside as inside of it.
- The public would not be warned before the proposed station’s operation would start – often at about noon on summer days – even though the MNRF’s procedures require such notification.