Monday 22 September 2008

Bala Falls Hydro Project -part 3

Bracebridge Falls

The town has risen in uproar. It is quite a movement. I posted a video on the Save the Bala Falls Facebook site and, for the second time my post was deleted and, I was blocked from a site that declares that it is an "open group". Obviously not open to discussion.

The photo above shows the Bracebridge Hydro Project. It looks very amenable to visitors and draws tourists.

An 'anonymous' posting on my original post has been responded to and new points have been raised. A rant, intended to disparage me and my motivation, has been removed, at my request, to keep this issue clear, and not about emotions but values and issues. In a democracy a healthy debate helps everyone to understand and come to some sense of truth.
hydro falls
What is clear in the media is that they are not looking for those in favour, nor seem interested in presenting a balanced viewpoint. Many business owners are in the fray, with ties to local politics, but no effort has been made to correct untruths and, indeed, efforts seem to be made to regurgitate falsehoods. This is the difference between an editorial and news reporting, something that escapes many media outlets these days.

cottage property
Many are working long hours on dambusting. It is good to see the business people, taxpayers and cottagers united. I am still unsure that there isn't some efficacy in this project and find that the move to sway public opinion opinion means that those who are in favour of the project are going unheard in the grassroots movement. In an attempt to sway those in the privileged Moon River area taxpayers, Swift River made a special presentation to this group worried about the impact to their cottages and homes. What is ironic is that the original dam was built to assist secondary landowners in maintaining water levels for logging and to protect white settlers who took over the land from the original native settlers.

That is the way to discuss, debate and determine the future! We need to sit, like ancient and modern aboriginal leaders, and come to a consensus, not shrieking in debate-like forums. Thank goodness we live in a democracy. In the current Federal election, like the politicians building up of planks to create platforms, we can have healthy debates and weed out facts from fiction. With the different levels of government involved, e.g., our Conservative M.P.P. is supporting the fight against this Liberal provincial government initiative. It was the McGuinty government who was accused of not meeting election promises of reducing our dependence upon coal and he has done so with this mandate from taxpayers.
Coal dependence reduction graph
This project has been begun by provincial policy,
"aimed at developing new clean, renewable, ‘green’ sources of power generation in order to reduce Ontario’s dependence on dirty, coal-fired sources of electricity production."
It is controlled by various levels and divisions of our government (MNR, Ontario’s Environmental Assessment Act (O.Reg. 116/01), & Canadian Environmental Assessment Act but they are bureaucrats responding to government policy, driven by taxpayers. Norm Miller, our Parry Sound-Muskoka Conservative member in a Liberal provincial government, has found a perfect opportunity to get on the bandwagon! What is interesting is that this issue does not appear on his website. With no election in the immediate future, it hasn't been discussed, and very little is being said outside the town. There were a couple of articles in our local paper
(Sept. 17, Aug. 13 & July 16), and one in McLeans that I have yet to read!), but the province is interested in looking after the well-being of the entire province, not just our small town.

I follow the debate with interest. The next event will be the visitation on Oct. 14 of local councillors of the Muskoka district council, to view the area. I hope they make an informed decision, not one based on popularity. (Swift River Energy will be in attendance for questions, although coverage of the facts by their group seems sparce.) They have already agreed to the project 'in principle' - subject to a study, and will proceed from there. It is exciting to see the critical reflection on this debate, the quality of the debate varies, but it is there. Unlike the Federal politicians not much use is being made of the Internet, aside from sneering comments, lies, and untruths mixed with some real concerns. Unfortunately, the mix means that the project cannot be weighed and balanced over public good and inconvenience to cottagers, pain for business owners, and the value of adding green power to the grid. While I live here, I found that many of my neighbours are absent landlords, however, choosing to rent over participating in cottage life. Many cannot see the forest for the trees.

Below is my iMovie, also on YouTube, that clearly shows the falls and the area for those who may not understand the hydrogeologic perspective.



Below are the overhead photos with labels that demonstrate the extent of the project. Taken from the Swift River presentation to Moon River area taxpayers. (Reprinted by permission.)

Bala Falls Hydro: Post #1,
Dambusters (post #2) & Misinformation -part 4

"Love is being able to walk arm in arm.
Even when you don’t see eye to eye
." --Thomas A. Kempis

7 comments:

Caitlin said...

Wow - those pictures and the presentation really tell the story well. It seems to me that there will be only minor impacts to the north, "recreational" dam and some relocation of the docks at Purk's. People will still be able to splash in the rushing water, water levels will be maintained as they are currently (with severe financial penalties otherwise), water chemistry will be the same, and green energy will be produced in the process. I'm really not sure why some folks are all up in arms over this project.

L.L. Barkat said...

I really respect your work in this regard. Never an easy road.

... Smells Like Fries said...

Seems Purk's docs are going to be moved abotu 30m to the other side of the rail bridge. Is this why people are actually complaining?

Jenn Jilks said...

I think it is simply fear. Fear of change, of losing 'the good old days', of progress? Tourism couldn't be worse. The Bracebridge falls project, much larger, is beautiful. (http://www.jilks.com/photos/Fall08/Pages/39.html)

There is so much emotion attached, plus the young kids who play in the falls and jump off the bridge (verboten!) want to keep up their behaviour.
I took the kids to the falls 20 years ago, but it really isn't wise. I am not sure how many tourists it draws, or how many canoes Purk's actually rents. They have several motor boats that are docked most of the time.

There is much misinformation broadcast as fact, and despite the dam changing over the years, business owners do not want further change. Change is all one can depend upon! Many business are failing and they need a new town plan to market themselves. The Chamber could cope up with some ideas, integrating the dam & tourism as Bracebridge has done, but I am afraid it is NIMBY . This would draw media, tourists and town planners.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen your video posted on www.savethebalafalls.com yet? It has a link to youtube.
I still haven't come to terms with how I feel about all of this yet. I am a classic fence sitter in many ways. However, I do know that the thought of the blasting and the construction is enough for me to dislike it. In Parry Sound this summer there was major construction and I really started to develop some serious road rage. What with the idling and the cost of gas and being stuck in traffic for 10 minutes at at time. It was awful and very bad for businesses in the area. At one point in the process the construction company put out money for an ad to support Shopper's Drug Mart and to apologize for the inconveniences that they had caused.

Jenn Jilks said...

I have lived in many places and driven through traffic. I remember when they did the rock blasts for the highways. You have to live with some things!

Yes, I saw the web posting! Links are perfectly acceptable Netiquette, and they contacted me directly on that.

What irks me is that they posted at least one of my photos in the Gallery and I subsequently asked them to credit my as the photographer. This violates intellectual property. I make sure I get permission if I use someone else's photo!

Jenn Jilks said...

My video was originally embedded on the site, without permission. I pointed this out. Then later, when people were discussing the video they then removed it from their site, as well as my T-shirt photos!