Site C

It is very understandable why some people are opposed to the construction of Site C. There are people who will be forced from their homes; a valley and First Nation traditional territory irreversibly changed; habitat and resources lost. What isn’t understandable, however, are the simplistic arguments some critics of Site C have put forward to suggest there is a business case for stopping construction at this time. The suggestion that Site C will be a ‘white elephant’ is unquestionably wrong. A ‘white elephant’ is a project that is too expensive to maintain in operation and would have little or no value if sold. Large hydro projects like Site C are anything but that. You can argue Site C shouldn’t be built in the first place.   However, once built it will provide ‘dispatchable’ electricity for 60 years or more at very low on-going costs. Dispatchability means Site C can generate electricity when most needed and valuable. Low operating costs means the electricity it can supp