Hydro projects in Ontario: Bala, now Almonte part 24

Things are heating up in Almonte, with people protesting the hydro redevelopment of a dam. It reminds me of the big protests in Bala. The signage is scary for tourists. Those against the dam in Almonte have created models and illustrations of the project. There is much signage protesting the Enerdu Hydro Project in Almonte.

Almonte's dam is huge, and the banks of the river overflowed in the quick spring melt.

The old dam building, flooding foreground

Poor Barley Mow buildings -flooded

Then there is Bala, Ontario

The municipal election (Ontario: Oct. 27 ) in Muskoka Lakes is getting ridiculous. It all revolves around the redesign of the Bala Falls hydro dam. Now disengaged, the dam used to provide power but was considered too small to keep going.

Swift River Energy has applied for and gotten acceptance to install a dam. Bala cottagers and residents have protested for years. It's resulted in bad signage and people not wanting to live there.

People are choosing not to live in Bala, the signage scares them, the fighting amongst a duly elected body is wrong. All of this for a small piece of land surrounded by expensive 'cottages' and the mayor who wants to keep her pretty view, across the bay from the dam.

Muskoka Lakes has real issues: drug abuse, employment, sustainability, and the like.

Bird flipping gesture just the latest in ongoing Bala Falls saga

A photo showing Swift River Energy Ltd’s Bala Falls Project Manager Karen McGhee flipping the bird to a Save the Bala Falls supporter has been sent to the Moose...

I'd be ticked off, too! McGhee and others had been followed around town, and Sandy Currie (an anti-Bala Falls Hydro Project protester) taking photos of people in public places, saying he just 'happened' to be there is just wrong.

Then it gets worse:

Muskoka Lakes election candidates asked to take polygraph tests Re: Bala Falls

Candidates in this year’s Muskoka Lakes Township election race have been challenged to take polygraph tests to prove they ‘aren’t on the take’ with developers. The latest in the Bala Falls controve...