The current status
It has now been more than five weeks since we sent the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change our letter with the graphic entitled: “Murdered in 45 Seconds” (more detail in our article here), and we still have not received a reply even though we have since sent a reminder to the provincial government. The provincial government also never responded to the hundreds of individually-written letters concerning this same issue of public safety which many of us sent the Premier in January 2017.
The root of the problem appears to be that the MOECC does not accept that they do have responsibility for protecting human life, as this responsibility is clearly stated in both the Environmental Assessment Act and the Environmental Protection Act.
This responsibility was also confirmed by the recent decision by the Environmental Review Tribunal which cancelled a proposed project which the MOECC had previously approved to build eight 45-storey-tall wind turbines too close to two Collingwood-area airports, as the Tribunal found:
- These proposed wind turbines would: “cause serious harm to human health”.
- It was unacceptable for the MOECC to assume that the proponent would or could later figure out how to operate their proposed wind turbine project safely so close to airports.
- The MOECC does not have, and did not seek, input from aviation experts, even though such input was required to adequately assess the public safety implications of the proposed project.
The above three points are very significant to us, as for the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls, the MOECC:
- Approved an obviously dangerous project (some examples here).
- And the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have stated repeatedly that it would be the proponent’s responsibility to operate the proposed Bala project safely. But both Ministries refuse to consider that this may not be possible, or that design changes may be required for this to be possible so the proponent’s public safety plan should be disclosed now so the public can comment on whether this safety plan is workable and could be implemented.
- Does not have, and did not seek, input from in-water recreation experts (we have, as noted here).
We have therefore filed a formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.
Also, we have posted some new articles at SaveTheBalaFalls.com, at the right, under Recent Articles.
Doug Ford
Doug Ford, who is a candidate to be the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, visited Bala on February 27, 2018. A photograph of him in Margaret Burgess Park is here, a Toronto Sun article is here (marked-up pdf version here), and a MuskokaRegion.com article is here. The statements Doug Ford made in Margaret Burgess park (video on Facebook here, video copy here) include:
“I’m here today in Bala, speaking with local residents, about the impact of this Liberal government’s disastrous plans to put a privately-owned green energy power plant. I’ve spoken to numerous residents, local residents, who have serious concerns with this development. Friends, what I’m seeing here today is extremely, extremely troubling…
I see this no matter where I go in Ontario, the local people, the grassroots people, don’t have a say. My government is going to listen to the local people, the grassroots people. It’s not about the political insiders and the establishment. The good people of this region do not want this project, and it’s not in the public interest. This is not about green energy, we can talk about this green energy file all day long. This is about the surplus energy being constructed on public land for private profit. Friends, we have a lot of smart people in this area right now, looking at these energy policies. Look into these policies, it’s about making money. That’s what this is all about. It’s not about getting more green energy, that’s a farce…
My friends, this project is another example of a long list of Liberal pet projects that would cost this province dearly. Projects like this are hurting our province and costing taxpayers billions of dollars, all to benefit the political insiders, the political elites, that have been running this province for years…
This tells me there’s a serious problem here. This project stinks of political interest and insider deals…
As Premier, I would conduct a full investigation into this project, and make sure the local residents are armed with the facts. As Premier I will get answers, and I can assure you, I will get answers. I will drill down and find out who is part of the big scam…
And as sure as I’m standing here, I’m going to come back, and each and every one of you can hold me accountable. I will be back here in the same spot, and we’re going to stop this project.
The comments we received from a huge range of people were remarkably similar – that:
- People hadn’t considered voting for Doug Ford before, but here he’s got a very compelling point that resonates with us.
- If the PC party makes this a campaign commitment, they’ll vote PC, as the provincial Liberal’s handling of the renewable energy file is a big mess that needs strong action to fix.
Our observations – the: “stringent approvals process”
We note in the MuskokaRegion.com article that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry replied that: “When it comes to energy projects such as Bala Falls, there is a stringent approvals process in place.”
Clearly this process is inadequate as the public has not been shown this proposed project could be operated safely – even though it would be unprecedented to build a known-deadly hydro-electric generating station in the middle of a popular in-water recreational area and the proponent has never built a hydro-electric generating station. All we know now is that the public could not be adequately informed or warned of the extreme new dangers this proposed Bala project would create, due to:
- The land ownership in the area would not permit signs to be located where needed.
- The proponent has stated they would not use audible alarms to warn before the deadly operation would start, and even if they did these alarms would be inadequate as the alarms couldn’t be heard above the sound of the trains that frequently pass by.
- The proponent has stated that by starting operation “slowly”, people would be adequately warned. This is as stupid as telling someone not to worry as they’ll be pushed off the cliff “slowly”, or I’ll just warn these swimmers of my 200 horsepower motor boat by driving through them “slowly”. You can’t do something deadly “slowly” and expect it to be safe.
- Being a navigable waterway with many other users who have the riparian right of access, the safety booms could not be extended out far enough to provide adequate warning:
- Upstream, people would be drowned just 45 seconds after tipping out of a canoe.
- Downstream the proponent’s own flow simulations show the water outside the safety boom would be dangerous to both people using their own docks and people using the portage the proponent would build. The proponent does not have the authority to change the location or extent of these safety booms.
Our observations – the costs of cancellation
We also note several have questioned what costs the province would incur if they now cancelled this proposed Bala project. The answer is the province wouldn’t have to incur any costs, as it has been the proponent’s own business decision to begin construction without approval that they could actually operate this inexcusably and insanely dangerous thing (that’s all you can call it when a tourist would be drowned 45 seconds after falling out of a rental canoe). The proponent can spend all the money they want on construction, but there’s no evidence they could safely operate it.
Normally, a proponent couldn’t get project financing to start construction without knowing they have, or could get, approval for operation. But this apparently isn’t a normal proponent as Anthony Zwig seems to be financing this directly, using money he inherited from his well-respected and late father’s estate. If Anthony Zwig wants to build a project so dangerous that it could not be operated during the in-water recreational season, he can waste his money trying to build an embarrassing legacy.
So there doesn’t have to be any costs of cancellation, the MOECC just has to do its job and require that the proponent show the public exactly how this proposed Bala project would be safely operated.
What is going on now
The proponent’s work is months late from what they had previously announced:
- Rather than finishing their proposed intake excavation by December 2017, they had to stop work on it in February 2018 for the spring freshet, and the earliest they can resume working in this intake excavation is June 2018.
- Rather than blasting starting in January, it is March and not yet started.
The proponent doesn’t seem to be able to do anything themselves, they’ve been working on updating their parent-company website here for many months (note their graphic shows a river flooding the adjacent buildings). Once in a while they enable what they’ve got working so far, you can see some cached pages here and here (the links don’t work). That second page shows they have a CFO and a Controller – who would be busy writing cheques, for example to: WSP Canada (design), Stevens Burgess Architects (building shell), BBA Inc. (Quebec, nearby building surveys as required for blasting), CRT Construction (Quebec, contractors), Loopstra Nixon (legal), KGS Group (construction management), CTD Inc. (Quebec, cofferdam design), Hoelscher Dewatering Inc. (industrial sewage water treatment), and Tulloch Engineering (surveying).
The proponent has indicated that they expect to start blasting soon, and this would require their closing Muskoka Road 169, six days a week, for some time every morning and evening. During these road closures, fire and other emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles, pedestrians and everything else could not pass. The proponent has not indicated what provisions emergency responders have made to provide required services.