The Site C dam is an "economic, fiscal, environmental and aboriginal treaty rights disaster," according to former B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt.

In a letter submitted to the B.C. Utilities Commission, which is currently reviewing the $8.8 billion project, Harcourt said Site C will “severely damage BC Hydro and B.C. credit ratings” and lead to increases for ratepayers across the province.

Harcourt, who first voiced opposition against Site C in late 2016, said a recent study from Oxford University that found worldwide hydro projects see average cost overruns of 90 per cent should be a warning to B.C.

“What a coincidence both recent BC Hydro transmission lines have recently seen 90 per cent cost overruns,” Harcourt wrote to the commission.

He estimates “Site C will cost $15 to $17 billion.”

Site C’s price tag has increased by 33 per cent. In 2010, British Columbians were told Site C would cost $6.6 billion. That figured increased to $7.9 billion in 2011 and then to $8.8 in 2016.

Despite multiple requests and Freedom of Information submissions, DeSmog Canada has been unable to obtain an updated budget for Site C from BC Hydro.

ICYMI: Year-Long Wait for Site C Dam Budget Docs 'Disturbing': Expert

In a sit-down interview with DeSmog Canada last fall, Harcourt said it is never too late to stop a bad project from going ahead.

In the 1960s, when Harcourt was a lawyer representing the Chinese community in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Strathcona, the province cancelled plans to build an eight-lane freeway along Stanley Park.

“We stopped it cold,” Harcourt said, “that last part of that really bad idea.”

He added $200 million had already been pumped into construction of the freeways but stopping the project allowed Vancouver to become the city it is today, celebrated for its parks, walkable waterfronts and sustainability rankings.

“Proponents say it is too late, too expensive to cancel Site C because $1.5 billion has been spent,” Harcourt wrote to the commission. “I say it is better to cut losses.”

Harcourt points to an April 2017 report from the UBC Program on Water Governance that found cancelling the project could save B.C. between $500 million and $1.65 billion. 

Harcourt’s letter follows on the heels of a submission by former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen who called for an immediate and permanent halt to Site C.

The decision to proceed with Site C, despite a clear need for the electrity it would produce and despite a failure to explore cheaper, less environmentally destructive alternatives, was “reckless and irresponsible,” Eliesen told the commission.

Letter from Former BC Premier Mike Harcourt Calls for Halt to #SiteC Dam https://t.co/FzYgUQRITQ #BCUC #bcpoli

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) August 23, 2017

“There never was a business case for the start-up of construction of Site C, and there is not a business case to support its continuation or postponement,” he wrote.

The BCUC has until September 20 to release a preliminary report and will make a final recommendation on the project on or before November 1.

Image: Former B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt. Photo: Zack Embree

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In a sit-down video interview, former B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt told DeSmog Canada the Site C dam, proposed for the Peace River, is “a bad idea” and should be abandoned immediately.

“Site C is going to be a disaster economically, environmentally, culturally for First Nations and shouldn’t be built,” Harcourt said.

Site C, originally projected to cost B.C. ratepayers $5.5 billion, is now estimated to cost $9 billion.

Harcourt said Site C follows a long history of hydro project cost overruns.

“The average overage cost of dams worldwide over the last 70 years have averaged 90 per cent overage. So you can assume Site C is going to cost, probably, $15 billion to $17 billion dollars,” he said.

https://www.facebook.com/DesmogCanada/videos/1054438974661662/

“I think economically it’s just not going to cut it.”

The crux of Harcourt’s criticism of Site C, a project first proposed in the 1980s, is the lack of growth in electricity demand in the province.

Demand for electricity in B.C. has been flat over the last 11 years, Harcourt said.

“In that sense you don’t need it, there’s not the demand. Economically you’re going to be bankrupting BC Hydro and seriously harming the credit of British Columbia.”

That could deter businesses from operating in B.C., he said, all when there is no need for the power.

The lack of customers for Site C electricity was evidenced in Premier Christy Clark’s suggestion the power could be sold to Alberta to electrify the oilsands.

Harcourt said the idea is similar to the B.C. Liberal’s promise to create a liquefied natural gas empire..

“It’s like the LNG pipe dream,” he said.

“I haven’t heard any expression of interest from the Alberta government and the oilsands industry in doing that. And what would the cost of the transmission line be on top of the $15 billion to $17 billion that the dam would cost?

“It’s a weak version of field of dreams: build it and hope, hope, hope there will be a customer down the line.”

Possible to stop #SiteC like the 8-lane hwy once slated for NShore, #StanleyPark, #Gastown & #YVR #Chinatown https://t.co/1CCLxu3PKz #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/jTyb3H0GcE

— DeSmog Canada (@DeSmogCanada) March 3, 2017

Ongoing construction of Site C should be immediately halted, Harcourt said. “It’s never beyond the point of no return.”

He pointed to an analogous example from the 1960s, when Harcourt was a lawyer for the Chinese community in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Strathcona. At that time there was a plan to build an eight-lane freeway along Stanley Park and through the east side of downtown Vancouver.

“We stopped it cold. But we still had part of it built, the Georgia Viaducts, and now we’re tearing them  — at the cost of $200 million — that last part of that really bad idea.”

The Site C dam is 18 months into construction on what is projected to be an eight-year timeline. So far, a worker’s camp has been built and a small section of river valley has been cleared. Ultimately, more than 100 kilometres of river valley, including valuable farmland, will be cleared to make way for the dam’s reservoir.

“It’s not too late,” Harcourt said.

Harcourt joins Harry Swain, the chair of the provincial-federal panel that reviewed the Site C dam, and former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen in criticizing the project.

The provincial NDP has vowed to send the dam for an independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission if elected in May.  The B.C. Liberals exempted Site C from a utilities commission review and Premier Christy Clark has vowed to get the project “past the point of no return” before the May 9th election.

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