Biologists race to save fish from Brazil river contaminated by dam collapse

Scientists say the dam collapse could have a generational effect on aquatic life in the Doce river.

Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

Biologists race to save fish from Brazil river contaminated by dam collapse

So-called Operation Noah’s Ark aims to relocate aquatic life from Doce river by moving fish in tanks provided by mining company Samarco to area lakes

The Guardian, November 16, 2015 

Teams of biologists are rushing to rescue fish from a river that was contaminated after two dams at an iron ore mine in Brazil collapsed earlier this month, unleashing a deadly wave of mud.

Read more here: 
http://www.theguardian.com/…/biologists-relocate-fish-brazi…

Remove the Dams to Save the Salmon?

This short film from the producers of DamNation looks at the effects of four dams on the lower Snake River. It envisions how a future without those dams might bring back a resurgence of salmon to the area.

Taxpayer group questions worth of $309-million flood mitigation project

This is the area in Springbank that would be affected by a provincial government plan to build an off-stream reservoir for flood mitigation.
Colleen De Neve / Calgary Herald

Taxpayer group questions worth of $309-million flood mitigation project

by Matt McClure, Calgary Herald, Feb 27, 2015

A new study says Premier Jim Prentice’s pledge last fall to build a dry reservoir to protect Calgary against future floods from the Elbow River at a cost of $309 million makes economic sense.

But a taxpayer lobby group says the cost-benefit analysis of the Springbank Off-Stream Storage project fails to account for the amount and likely price of the land the province will need to purchase so it can construct the massive canal and dam west of the city to divert and hold excess waters during a disaster.

The study by IBI Group Inc. figures the province will have to pay $4o million to acquire around 700 hectares, but the government’s own documents show it will need over 1,400 hectares that a land valuation expert consulted by the Herald conservatively estimates would cost taxpayers at least $139 million.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1E1gXyj

How the founder of clothier Patagonia became an opponent of dams

How the founder of clothier Patagonia became an opponent of dams

David Ebner, VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail, Friday, Dec. 19 2014

"....But this business guru is also well aware of plans that were given the official go-ahead this week to build a third massive hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia. Known as Site C, it is expected to cost almost $9-billion – the biggest infrastructure investment the province has ever made – with construction to begin next summer and to take as long as a decade.

Mr. Chouinard questions B.C. Hydro’s case for flooding 55 square kilometres, much of it farmland and traditional First Nations territory. “It really is a fallacy that hydro is clean power,” he argues. “It’s like ‘clean’ coal. There’s no such thing. I mean, with wind turbines and solar, it’s pretty crazy to destroy an entire river, destroy an entire valley, destroy some of the best agricultural land in Canada.”....

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1v7pM1i

Rising costs take toll on Site C dam likelihood

Artists rendering of the proposed Site C Dam. Handout

Rising costs take toll on Site C dam likelihood

The Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River now has a price tag of C$8.5 billion

By Jeremy van Loon and Rebecca Penty, Calgary Herald/The Province/Bloomberg December 12, 2014

Rising costs for a planned hydropower station in British Columbia are threatening the project as the province champions exports of liquefied natural gas.

The Site C hydroelectric dam on the Peace River now has a price tag of C$8.5 billion ($7.4 billion), an increase of 7.6 per cent since October when the provincially owned BC Hydro & Power Authority project won environmental approval. The government of Premier Christy Clark, who revealed the higher cost this week in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters, will decide by the end of the year if the project will go ahead.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1IRoyBN

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard puts mega-dams in the crossfire with new documentary, DamNation

DamNation - Coming to Calgary - Nov 26, 2014

Learn more here: https://damnationcalgary.eventbrite.ca

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard puts mega-dams in the crossfire with new documentary, DamNation

By Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald October 30, 2014

Yvon Chouinard is not one to mince words.

“Every project that man has ever done is going to have to come out some day, I don’t care what it is,” says the 75-year-old environmentalist with typical bluntness. “What happens normally is these things are put up and when they are no longer useful people walk away from them. And, at best, it’s left to the taxpayers to remediate and to clean up.”

Which is the thrust behind DamNation, the environmental documentary that will be screened at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. The film is executive produced by Chouinard on behalf of his company Patagonia, the manufacturer of high-end outdoor apparel that the businessman founded back in 1973. It is a no-holds-barred look at the environmental havoc caused by dams in the U.S. over the past 90 years, particularly on fish populations.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/1zpb5Oq

DamNation - Calgary - Nov 26, 2014

DamNation - Calgary - Nov 26, 2014

Site C dam on Peace River will do more harm than good

DamNation writes: "Our neighbors to the north are in a huge battle to stop an $8B dam proposal on the Peace River in northern British Columbia. The Site C Dam would flood fertile farmland, forests, and wetlands while adding the greenhouse gas equivalent of putting 27,000 additional cars on the road each year. Please read the article, share, and take action in the below comment link, thanks."

Site C dam on Peace River will do more harm than good

By Liz Logan, Special to The Vancouver Sun July 12, 2013

Read article here: http://bit.ly/1qOzXw2

B.C. Hydro awaits Site C dam decision

A conceptual rendering of the proposed Site C dam project.(Courtesy BC Hydro)

"The Site C dam has already been turned down twice -- will the upcoming review panel decision be strike three?" - Wilderness Committee

B.C. Hydro awaits Site C dam decision

by Justine Hunter, Victoria, The Globe & Mail, Apr 27, 2014

"... There is little doubt that the massive earthfill dam on the Peace River in B.C.’s northeast corner will destroy farmland and damage wildlife habitat. Or, to use the charming Hydro phrase, the “conversion of terrestrial habitat to a reservoir habitat.”...

Read story here: http://bit.ly/1llH49

DAMOCRACY The Movie

Happy Earth Day! Healthy rivers = healthy planet. Dams can destroy rivers. Dams can destroy cultures. This doc is worth a watch