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[Note: All follow-ups/inquiries should be directed to
jbrooks@web.apc.org]
 
Urgent Alert: Ontario government poised to cancel environmental
hearing on $1 billion Mattagami hydro project !!!
 
Multi-million acre Moose River system could be traded for a few
short term jobs, despite environmental travesty, conflict of
interest, and financial boondoggle.
 
::: Action Request: Urgently send letters, faxes and phone calls to
Ontario Minister of Environment Bud Wildman, asking him not to
exempt Mattagami from the environmental hearing! ::: <---- !!
 
Toronto, September 18, 1994:
Bud Wildman, Ontario Minister of Environment, Energy and Native
Affairs, announced on Tuesday September 13 that he planned to
exempt Ontario Hydro's proposal to redevelop and extend several
hydro power dams on the Mattagami River System from the normally
required Environmental Assessment Hearing. It is a travesty because
the river ecology will be disturbed, the power is not needed, and
the government has a conflict of interest in granting the
exemption. A hearing is the only way to get the issues considered
fairly.
 
October 4 is decision day: Under Ontario law, the public has only
fourteen days to object to the exemption, and then the Minister has
absolute discretion to grant an exemption from the hearing. The
exemption notice has been deliberately kept out of the media and
many interested parties have not been notified. An entire
watershed, a fundamental principle of justice, Native rights and $1
billion of public money is at risk. To date there has been almost
no public information or discussion on the situation.
 
Therefore it is essential that the government be made to feel the
intensity of public opinion on this issue in the next few days.
Public objection is very important at this point. The Minister has
absolute discretion under the law, and he has quietly admitted his
intention to use it very soon. Objections to the hearing exemption
must be filed by October 4. It would be ideal to organize a press
conference denouncing the exemption, with high-profile
representatives of Native, environmental, and social justice /
civil liberties groups.
 
What is wrong with the Mattagami exemption deal:
 
1. It will forever change a Northern Ontario river system.
Aboriginal land use and the natural environment over an area nearly
as large as southwestern Ontario will be damaged by continuing
water level fluctuation and flooding.
 
2. The project will cost at least $1 Billion (Hydro's estimates are
almost always low-balled) at the same time as efficiency efforts
and small renewable energy projects (that could deliver energy for
half the price) are being deliberately crushed by Ontario Hydro.
 
3. The government has a direct conflict of interest in granting the
exemption: The exemption releases the Ontario government from its
financial obligation to Ontario Hydro (about $250 million) which
the government accepted as part of its 1991 deal with the Kimberly
Clark paper company to sell its Kapuskasing paper mill to its
workers. -- It is a basic principle of environmental justice that
a government should not exempt a proposal from public hearing, if
the government has a direct financial interest in the exemption.--
 
4. Process has been abominable: In 1991, then Hydro Chairman Marc
Eliesen declared that he would abide by a "co-planning" system
which gave aboriginal groups absolute veto over new hydroelectric
development in most parts of northern Ontario. As late as last
Friday, September 9, no aboriginal group had signed onto anything,
and the Ministry was telling environmental groups not to worry,
nothing was moving quickly. Something happened over that weekend,
and the pace accelerated exponentially: on Monday the three
official Native groups in the area (Mushkegowuk Council, Moose
Factory First Nation and New Post First Nation) had signed a set of
terms and conditions with Hydro that gave them jobs on the project
and other consideration in return for removing their objection to
an E.A. exemption. 
     The next day, the exemption was released by the Minister, but
very few groups were notified. The only two non-Native parties
officially notified were Energy Probe and IPPSO, the Independent
Power Producers Society of Ontario. For example, Northwatch,
Ontario's largest northern environmental group, and the Ontario
Environment Network, were not notified, despite their previous
involvement in the EA process. Even Mocreebec First Nation and the
Teme-Augama First Nation were not notified.
 
It is very important that people who feel strongly on these issues
express their opinions by writing, faxing or calling Minister
Wildman's office, and perhaps helping to organize a media
conference publicly denouncing the deal. The media conference could
for example, include a prominent lawyer, environmentalist and
Native leaders. Politicians could be invited too.
 
The Mattagami project is all the more objectionable because its
power plants would be used to supply peaking power, resulting in
more uneven water flow patterns, and requiring bigger transmission
lines. In addition, it comes just days after the Ontario Energy
Board released its most comprehensive and influential report ever
on Ontario Hydro, which recommended, among other things, not to
develop any more hydro projects without thoroughly checking out the
alternatives. Hydro is shamelessly flauting this OEB
recommendation.
 
Ontario Hydro could solve the problem easily by simply separating
out the Smoky Falls dam EA from the rest of the Mattagami EA. Smoky
Falls is a power dam north of Kapuskasing that was sold to Ontario
Hydro under a 1991 deal brokered by Premier Bob Rae. The deal
required the Ontario government to "indemnify" Ontario Hydro if the
Mattagami EA were not approved by certain dates. Apparently,
penalties would become payable to Ontario Hydro very soon, so that
is why the government is moving so quickly. The Natives have been
offered "Terms and Conditions" that are arguably more generous than
they could ever expect to get again, and that has undoubtedly been
the main incentive for them to sign the no-objection deal.
 
For copies of the exemption notice (4 pages), and the "Terms and
Conditions" (21 pages) contact the Ontario Ministry of Environment
and Energy, Energy Probe or Jake Brooks at IPPSO, (416) 322-6549,
fax (416) 481-5785 or e-mail jbrooks@web.apc.org
 
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
 
Register your public objection to the Ontario government's planned
exemption of the Mattagami mega-project from an environmental
assessment.  Your opinion will make a difference!
 
1. E-Mail, Call, Write or Fax the politicians listed below and/or
your Member of Provincial Parliament (if in Ontario) or your
federal Member of Parliament if elsewhere in Canada (consult local
directory Blue pages):
 
Hon. Bud Wildman, Minister of Environment and Energy
Minister Responsible for Native Affairs
135 St. Clair Ave West, l2th floor
Toronto, Ont. M4V lP5
(416) 323-4360   FAX 323-4682
 
The Rt. Hon. Bob Rae, Premier of Ontario
Room 281 Leg. Bldg., Queen's Park
Toronto, Ont. M7A lAl
(416) 325-1941  FAX 325-3745
 
Derek Doyle, Director
Environmental Assessment Branch
Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy
135 St. Clair Ave. W.
Toronto, Ont. M4V 1P5
(416) 440-3480  FAX 440-3771  
doylede@epo.gov.on.ca
 
2.  Make a cyberspace statement by sending an e-mail message to 
jbrooks@web.apc.org with the following keywords in the body of the
message: 
      "Stop Mattagami Environmental Travesty" (case insensitive)
Ensure your name and municipality are included in your message
since an e-mail address alone may not be adequate for a petition. 
Your e-mail message will add your name to the following petition
that will be presented to the Minister of Environment and Energy,
Bud Wildman and to the Premier of Ontario, Bob Rae:
 
Dear Premier Rae and Minister Wildman,
   Based on the principle of respect for the environmental
assessment process, we the undersigned strongly urge you not to
exempt Ontario Hydro's Mattagami project from an Environmental
Assessment hearing. The hearing is necessary, as you have argued in
the past, in order for the issues to be brought out fairly. In
addition, it is necessary to have hearings in any case where the
decision to exempt is being made by a party with a financial
interest in the exemption decision.
   We are also concerned that the electric power is not needed, and
that the EA document seems to miss this important point. As such,
it can not be allowed to stand as an acceptable EA document without
damaging the standards of Ontario EA process. 
   At $1 billion, the Mattagami proposal is too significant to
allow bypassing a hearing. Please use your powers to ensure that a
full EA hearing takes place for Mattagami before any further
development takes place.
 
...............
 
Your e-mail message will also initiate the following short e-mail
to Bud Wildman and Bob Rae at Queens Park in Toronto.
 
"I am opposed to the Ontario government's recent announcement to
cancel the usual requirement of an environmental assessment before
Ontario Hydro extends its dams in the Mattagami river system. The
Environmental Assessment is essential before the true cost of this
mega-project can be known. To fairly evaluate the issues, an
environmental assessment must be performed.  This mega-project is
not cost-effective when other less environmentally destructive
power producers can provide the same power at less cost."
 
3. Call local media sources (city and university newspapers, TV
News departments) and get their e-mail address or FAX number. 
E-mail or FAX this news release to them (and cc to
jbrooks@web.apc.org)
-- 
It's a wise man that knows his father