Senior policy advisor for the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, Mike Robertson is optimistic regarding the Sept. 12 Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund (NEEF) management report which recommends that up to 80 per cent of the available NEEF money be allocated for the construction of a Kenney Dam Water Release Facility (KDRF). He is optimistic because the report finalizes and puts into motion what, “should have been done years ago”, but he is quick to point out that this report, “is basically just repeating history. In 2001, they [already] acknowledged that the best use of the fund was the water release facility.”
The NEEF is a 'matching funds' agreement between the province of British Columbia and Rio Tinto Alcan where Rio Tinto agreed to contribute, on a matching dollar basis, up to $50 million to the NEEF. “This fund does not represent a grant to the Cheslatta First Nation,” Robertson says, “but is a legally binding agreement rising out of the 1997 [B.C./Alcan] agreement.” It remains for the Cheslatta Nation to find their own funding in order to receive matching funding from NEEF.
The construction of the KDRF, a project that would see the rehabilitation of the Nechako watershed as well as provide hydro power generation, is a $280 million project that will require large private investment. The $38 million NEEF dollars committed to the KDRF requires the Cheslatta Nation to come up with matching dollars first. The potential total value of NEEF and matching funds for the KDRF could approach approximately $76 million, but only if the Cheslatta Nation can raise funds first. “It’s a monumental task, but we can do it. We’re confident”, Robertson said as his community prepares to meet early next week with provincial representatives regarding talks with BC Hydro.
Robertson is emphatic that the success of the KDRF project, and ultimately the success of the NEEF itself, depends upon a contractual agreement with BC Hydro to buy power generated through the construction of the KDRF. “BC Hydro must open formal negotiations with the Cheslatta Nation. Everything rides on BC Hydro. It’s the make or break on this.”
“The next step in our process is to convince the provincial government to direct BC Hydro to open formal negotiations with Cheslatta on an energy purchase agreement,” says Robertson. Without a purchase agreement, the Cheslatta Nation has nothing to approach private investors with. “To get the private investors we need this purchase agreement,” says Robertson. The value of NEEF, for Cheslatta First Nations, depends upon how the province directs BC Hydro regarding hydro purchase agreements.
Cheslatta Nation has no plans to approach the province for funding, but Robertson feels very strongly “that the provincial government needs to reinvest in the Nechako River and we’re going to continue with our campaign to bring to light the fact that the Nechako has been used as an industrial power source for a private corporation.”
This use, according to Robertson, has lead to the drastic impact seen on the Nechako watershed today, where the Nechako River has been reduced to one-third of its natural flow. “The Nechako River is the life blood of the valley,” says Robertson. “It’s the biggest tributary to the largest salmon river in the world [the Fraser River]”.