By Winona LaDuke
Worried about the destruction of the Amazon rain forest?
Concerned about global warming, the greenhouse effect and other
climatic changes? A $60 billion mega-project on the shores of
Ontario's and Quebec's James Bay, in eastern Canada, promises to
bring it all home to U.S. consumers. The series of new dams,
water diversions, and hydroelectric projects at issue will,
according to the National Audubon Society, "make James Bay and
some of Hudson's Bay uninhabitable for much of the wildlife now
dependent on it." Audubon senior staff scientist Jan Beyea
reports the society is "convinced that in 50 years [this entire]
ecosystem will be lost."
For the indigenous people of the Subarctic, the plan represents an
ecological nightmare of as yet unknown proportions. Widespread
mercury contamination, the by-product of methane gas - which also
contributes to the greenhouse effect - and significant
destabilization of land/water systems in the north are already
problems resulting from the existing James Bay area dam complex,
constructed during the "James Bay I" project during the 1970's.
The new project, James Bay II, will destroy four major river
systems in northern Quebec: the Great Whale, Lower Broadback,
Nottaway, and Rupert. It will also flood Lake Bienville, Further
James Bay II will involve the total deforestation of some 356,000
square miles, an area the size of Main, Vermont, and New York
state combined. Environmentalists and scientists project that
caribou herds, migratory birds, fish and marine mammal populations
will all be severely affected by the envisioned hydro
developments. Initial dams will completely alter the targeted
river beds, in one case leaving 90 miles of dry bedrock as the
water is diverted into a completely different system. The dams
will also cripple the estuaries which are a critical habitat to a
number of species. Worst of all, this gigantic easterly project
comes at a time when a series of 58 smaller dams are proposed for
the west shore area of James Bay along with a complex scheme for
water diversion. The net result is intended to turn the entire
region into a fresh water reservoir and power generator for the
United States.
TODAY ON JAMES BAY
James Bay, at the base of Hudson's largest northern drainage
system on the continent. Virtually every major river in the
heartland of North America eventually meanders its way there.
These rivers make the bay a rich ecosystem teeming with wildlife.
It is the nesting or "staging" ground for the "central flyway" for
most migratory birds, from geese and ducks to shorebirds whose
annual travel cycle may ultimately take them as far south as
Tierra del Fuego. Such birds flock to the bay's habitat by the
millions during the spring, summer, and fall, securing rest in
preparation for their long flights. For them, there is no
replacement for James Bay; without it, they will die. And with
them, of course, will go countless other species.
The land has a fragile ecology of coastal marshes, a muskeg, and
pinelands comprising a verdant natural garden in which animals and
Native people have lived in a stable balance for tens of thousands
of years. Despite millennia of habitation by humans, it has
remained essentially pristine until very recently. Within three
centuries of contact with Europeans and their "advanced" mode of
dealing with the world, however, this delicate and vitally
important ecosystem rests on the bring of total destruction.
Ontario Hydro and Hydro Quebec are the two government (provincial)
electric companies which are committed to "developing" the north.
Canadian Premier Bourassa has lauded their perspective as "they
way of the future." In this view, both Quebec and eastern Ontario
exist as little more than a vase hydroelectric plant in the bud,
"a tremendous waste at present," in the words of the Canadian head
of state.
The resultant James Bay I project was proposed in 1972 to produce
100,000 megawatts of electricity by putting 11,500 square
kilometers of land under water behind the dams needed for hydro
purposes. Ultimately, the initial project - concentrated along
the Eastman and Rupert Rivers - ruined the ecology of some 176,000
square kilometers, an area about two-thirds the size of West
Germany. The Crees, Inuit and Haskapi of the northern villages,
whose land and lifeways were at issue, did not hear of the project
until planning was well under way. When they finally discovered
the scale of the intended flooding, they mounted an aggressive
campaign to head it off. Joined by environmentalists from
southern Quebec, the Native people presented over six months of
testimony concerning the cultural and ecological impacts of the
project. In March 1975, James Bay I was halted by a court
injunction. A week later, the Quebec Court of Appeals overturned
this lower court ruling largely on the premise that too much money
had already been spent on the project to abort it. The "balance
of convenience," according to Hydro Quebec and its governmental
allies, rested in favor of continuing development. The end result
was a major agreement between the federal and provincial
governments on one side, and regional Native governments on the
other, dividing jurisdictions, establishing compensation for the
indigenous people to be dispossessed by the flooding, and
outlining a series of federal and provincial commitments to "the
future of the north".
One commitment was certainly kept by Hydro Quebec. The
corporation pledged itself to bring James Bay I "on line" in the
most expedient possible fashion. In 400 days, the electro-giant
pushed 400 miles of paved road into the very heart of Cree
territory; within a decade, the full complement of dams and
hydro-generating facilities were functioning at capacity. Given
the pace of construction, there was "no time" to conduct an
environmental impact study prior to the event. This lack was
allegedly to be offset by the conducting of an official review,
attended by appropriate "adjustments" to protect the environment,
after the project had become operational.
The procedure has proven to be a cruel hoax, however. Hydro
Quebec has been allowed to "cover up significant damage caused by
its first major dam complex [called "La Grande'], says Cree Chief
Coon Come. Neither the federal or provincial governments have
assigned scientists to study Native complaints, and Ottawa now
claims it "lacks jurisdiction" to do so. "When you have the
largest project of the century in your backyard, and no
environmental assessment...not one person monitoring the impact,
there is an obvious failure of federal responsibility," Coon Come
says.
Within a decade of the completion of the La Grande complex, signs
of environmental disaster had become obvious. Massive flooding
had leached methyl mercury from the soil, changing an inorganic
mercury compound into organic mercury. The result was mercury
contamination, with levels six or more times that considered
"safe" in the reservoirs. The most significant mercury
contamination in North America - as pronounced as those found in
Minimate, Japan 20 years ago - is now present in the waters backed
up behind the dams of La Grande. It follows that aquatic life has
also become highly contaminated. This, in turn, is passed along
to birds and land mammals that subsist on the poisoned species.
The only reason the Cree people of the area aren't dying is
because they have learned to test themselves for the toxin and
studiously avoid eating certain types of fish, their major food
sources.
Considerable additional ecological instability has been fostered
by the presence of the dams. For instance, the flow of water
along the impacted river beds below the reservoirs has been
radically altered. At time the flow may be increased or decreased
at up to 20 times the normal rate. The situation carried obvious
implications for fish, beaver and other water-based life forms
downstream. The results can be quite deadly in other ways as
well. One major 1984 release from the Canapiscau reservoir, for
example, occurred precisely in the midst of the annual migration
through the area of the George's River caribou herd. As a result,
an estimated 10,000 caribou drowned. Hydro Quebec officials
refused to accept any degree of responsibility for the disaster
describing it as "mainly an act of God".
THE U.S. CONNECTION
The new big dams projected for Quebec in James Bay II will greatly
accentuate the present environmental damage, creating irreversible
devastation. At Great Whale, four smaller rivers would be
diverted into the Broadback, and then the Broadback diverted into
the Rupert River. The project, according to the National Audubon
Society, would completely alter the dynamic equilibrium of the
Rupert Bay estuary, a major habitat for migratory birds. One
reservoir, planned for Lake Vienville, will flood musket lands,
destroying the caribou calving grounds. In the "early winter
drawdown" each year - necessary to meet increased seasonal
electrical demand - an estimated 600 square kilometers of mud will
be left surrounding the lake. Cree environmental biologists
project that hits mud, hidden by a winter ice cover, will become a
trap for caribou herds which usually walk across the lake's ice.
Additional mercury contamination and release of methane gas will
also be predictable by-products.
The 58 smaller dams planned for Ontario - about which the area's
Cree population has yet to be officially informed (they received
notice of the matter only by way of a government leak) on the
Moose, Severn, Winisk, Albany, and Attawapiskat Rivers are no less
ecologically dangerous. By the turn of the century, every river
into James Bay will be dammed. It is the cumulative impact of all
this which concerns even mainstream environmental groups like the
Audubon Society. For the Cree of the region, who have lived
around James Bay for a thousand generations, such a catastrophe is
not just unprecedented, but virtually inconceivable. Their entire
culture, based in the principle of "Endoohoo" ("living from the
land") stands to be obliterated altogether. Finally, the reality
is that ALL inhabitants of North America will be negatively
affected by the environmental changes planned by the electric
companies. It is simply impossible to change the ecology of an
area as large an dynamic as James Bay without precipitating
sweeping environmental and climatic changes elsewhere.
The irony of this entire scenario is that while the problem may
seem "Canadian" - and thus remote to residents of the U.S. - the
whole thing is designed to service markets in the "lower 48"
states. Seven U.S. utilities - New England Power Pool, New York
Power Authority, Vermont Joint Owners, Massachusetts Power
Authority, Citizens Utilities, Detroit Edison, and Consumers Power
- have entered into long-term contracts with Ontario Hydro Quebec
to secure power for the next 20 years or more. More than $40
million in contracts with Hydro Quebec alone have been signed.
The buyers are hyping the product to their consumers as a "clean,
safe" alternative to risks attending nuclear reactors and the acid
rain caused by coal-fired generators. Privately, several have
been more candid, acknowledging that the problems attending
hydro-generation are merely somewhat "different" (rather than
non-existent), but can be displaced to and contained within a
"wilderness area" in another country where "nobody lives". Such
statements conform well to the view of Crees such as Bill
Mamagoose, who views the whole thing as an exercise in
"environmental racism".
Hydro Quebec officials maintain that the contracts only serve to
accelerate their plan, that the dams would be built in any event.
However, the power company proposes to export virtually every
kilowatt produced. It seems unlikely, under such circumstances,
that the Canadians would have proceeded with so ambitious and
costly a scheme minus the U.S. connection and its guarantee of
lucrative sales on a more-or-less permanent basis. By the same
token, it seems probable that cancellation of the U.S. contracts
could lead to an abandonment - for financial reasons, if nothing
less - of James Bay II. The weight of culpability for what is
happening thus rests south, as well as north, of the border.
RESPONSE
Some U.S. consumer groups, and several states, are finally
beginning to look at the price of northern power. Local
organization in Maine and Vermont have testified before the
Vermont Public Service Board and the Energy Board of Maine.
Progressive groups are mounting campaigns on both sides of the
border to oppose the power deals. The Conservation Law
Foundation, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont
Natural Resources Coalition, and others groups have geared up a
campaign to alert residents in their area of the fact that
"conservation practices could save 30 percent of presently used
electricity, not to mention millions of dollars to the taxpayers,
and ecosystems. The issue is not whether we should use nuclear,
coal or hydro; the issue is that we should conserve". Jim
Huggins, a long-time organizer for No Thank You Hydro Quebec, puts
it even more strongly in his speeches on the topic, "We must live
within our means. We don't believe that we, as Vermonters, should
be partaking in human rights abuses, even if they happen outside
our borders. The James Bay project can only happen if Vermont,
New Hampshire, Maine, and New York buy power."
The statements are not falling on entirely deaf ears, although it
is too early to tell what the results of such efforts will be. So
far, Maine has been the only state to actually cancel a contract,
although Vermont appears to be considering following suit.
Meanwhile, direct action has also been brought into play, along
with legal initiatives.
In March 1989, Crees at the northern village of Chisabi, blockaded
a road used by hydro workers in an effort to stop testing for
electrodes and new transmission lines. This was followed, in May,
by the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec filing a major lawsuit
in federal court against the Ministers of Environment, Fisheries,
and Indian Affairs, contending that their collaboration in James
Bay II violated the Canadian Environmental Policy Act, Fisheries
Act, and several international treaties and covenants. Crees in
northern Ontario are also resisting development, with every band
and community having signed a unified statement of opposition
under the premise that "beavers are the only ones who should be
allowed to build dams in our territory".
Coordinated regional Cree planning for a strategy by which to halt
the entire project has begun to emerge over the past several
months. Key to success of any such effort will be the continuing
cultivation and expansion of alliances with non-Indian groups and
individuals from outside the area of immediate impact.
Those interested in participating in the campaign to block James
Bay II should contact one of the following organizations. No
Thank You Hydro Quebec, Star Route Box 2905, Dryden, Maine 04222.
Catalyst, P.O. Box 73, Stratford, CT 05072. National Audubon
Society, 950 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022. Moose Factory,
Ontario Canada POL 1WL. Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, 50
O'Connor St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIP 6LH.
Winona LaDuke, a 32-year old Anishinabe Indian educated at Harvard
University and MIT, is a veteran activist having been prominently
involved with such organizations as the Black Hills Alliance,
[ The message, as received from IGC, ends here. --Gary ]