B.C.’s decision to revisit long-dormant plans for two massive hydroelectric projects is already exposing division between First Nations, environmentalists and trade unions.
This mixed bag will likely present a complex set of challenges for the province’s New Democrat government to navigate if officials decide to proceed with the developments, as all three of these core NDP constituencies vie for influence.
So far, the government is proceeding cautiously.
Adrian Dix, B.C.’s energy minister, announced on Monday (June 15) that the government is taking another look at Site E, a proposed dam on the Peace River a few kilometres from the Alberta border, as well as several dams on the Homathko River at Bute Inlet. Dix was clear that this is information-gathering only at this stage, with no commitment to proceed.
Both of these projects were shelved many years ago, and supposedly put out of reach when the province passed the Clean Energy Act in 2010. This law will need to be amended for even this early information-gathering to be done.
The next hurdle will be gaining the support of First Nations, some of which are already staking out opposite positions.
Homalco Chief Darren Blaney is all for the Homathko proposal, telling Black Press his nation could use the proceeds from the project to build a trauma centre in his community to address the intergenerational impacts of residential schools and the ongoing toxic drug crisis.
“I think for us it gives us a lot of certainty because we cannot rely on the government for funding,” he said. “We’d like to be self-sustaining through the resources of our territory.”
But the Tŝilhqot’in National Government lay claim to some of the territory as well, issuing a stern rebuke of BC Hydro in a news release, complaining about the lack of consultation preceding Monday’s announcement and saying the project “will never proceed” over the opposition of the nation.
Tŝilhqot’in leadership says the Bute Inlet project, on a remote area of the B.C. coast northwest of Campbell River, would require extensive infrastructure in the nation’s territory and impact its lands and waters.
“BC Hydro’s public announcement, without us, without our approval, without engaging us in any meaningful way in the process, is the most disrespectful way to initiate a process for a project that affects us so significantly and directly,” said Otis Guichon, tribal chief of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government.
And there is opposition from the Wilderness Committee, which worked to stop another proposed hydro project on the Homathko River to protect the area’s salmon and grizzly bears.
“That is an area that we would vigorously want to defend,” committee campaigner Joe Foy said.
Wealthy visitors also come to the area to fish and view wildlife — the actress Michelle Pfeiffer even had a home in the inlet at one time. That home has been repurposed into a high-end retreat called Fawn Bluff, which sells Bute Inlet as “one of the richest marine habitats on earth.”
The project would require four dams to provide roughly 500 to 900 megawatts, with the potential for another on the Southgate river system for an additional 200 megawatts of capacity. Transmission lines could run to both Vancouver Island and Williams Lake.
Blaney says the Homalco want to rebuild salmon stocks in a “big way,” acknowledging the tourism implications for these wealthy visitors. He said the nation’s vision is for the dams to be built upriver, beyond the reach of salmon, and for BC Hydro to contribute to the restoration of local fish stocks.
Different issues dogged the Site C dam project, which is much farther north and inland, in a low-lying valley bottom with prime agricultural land on its banks.
It was recently renamed after former premier John Horgan, who had struggled with the decision to proceed but eventually relented and allowed the dam to be built.
Site C was opposed by a coalition of Treaty 8 First Nations, local landowners and environmental groups, including the Wilderness Committee. Some of those same groups are now speaking out against the new plans, which would flood more farmland and wilderness along the low-lying Peace River valley bottom.
“Very disappointed that we are once again even considering building another large hydro dam in the province,” said Ken Boon, who lost farmland to Site C and organized local resistance. “I thought those days were over, but maybe not.”
Boon’s land is now lakeside, with 140 acres of his family’s farmland and the local highway underwater. A new highway runs alongside his house. He called the transformation “dramatic and traumatic.”
Site E, on the same river about 60 kilometres away, was not part of the picture during this fight, shelved by BC Hydro back in the early 1980s. The utility now says that building it would “take advantage of existing reservoir storage” from Site C. Boon says it would flood a similar mix of agricultural lands, wetland and wilderness.
“A really beautiful landscape and tremendous ecosystem,” he said.
Shelley Luce of the Sierra Club BC, which also opposed Site C, called these sorts of mega dams “incredibly destructive.”
“Rivers are the lifeblood of our ecosystems,” she said. “Rivers are what carry water; they carry nutrients, they move sediment, and all of that is blocked when we put a dam in place.”
One point environmental advocates continuously return to is that these new dams are not being built to power homes, for the most part. They are powering liquefied natural gas, mining and data centres. The province recently introduced restrictions on connections to data centres, though those given the green light will still draw substantial power.
And it is full-steam ahead on LNG and mining.
As of the summer of 2025, BC Hydro’s electrical connection request queue had nearly 7,000 megawatts applied for, with only 329 of that for non-industrial use, such as homes. The rest is for industry, and includes the 600-megawatt ask from the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG export terminal. For context, Site C generates about 1,200 megawatts of capacity.
“Investing billions — let’s say Site C, $16 billion — in a hydro dam, a huge mega dam to support the fossil fuel industry, doesn’t make any sense to me,” Luce said.
Even if the province does need more power, Luce says there are better options, such as expanded wind, solar, geothermal and utility-level battery storage.
“My vision is solar panels on every home, balcony and parking stall, not to mention the rooftops of these big stores that we have in shopping malls, with compact battery storage that allows people to have access to power even when the lines go down,” Luce said.
BC Hydro is looking at those things as part of a long-term strategy to “conserve, optimize and build.” But with so many requests for industrial connections, and the added pressure to allow data centres to pull more from the grid, the utility projects massive increases in demand in the coming years.
After relatively flat demand growth for the past decade, BC Hydro projects a 20-per-cent increase by 2030 and a 50-per-cent increase by 2050.
Unions are all for this new development. BC Building Trades had a representative on site at Dix’s announcement about the dams, and the unions representing engineers and ironworkers issued supportive news releases afterwards.
”When you look at the possibility of these dams and the other major projects coming to B.C., our operating engineers and all tradespeople have many, many busy years ahead,” said Bryan Railton, the business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers, in one of these news releases.
Whether these projects get off the ground may depend on First Nations’ support. Even environmentalists like Foy are willing to listen, arguing that these nations ought to have more self-determination. But as an environmental advocate, he will not always agree.
“I will continue to speak out for wildlife and for nature, but at the end of the day, environmental groups don’t decide; governments decide,” he said.
Premier David Eby says he will weigh costs, although he speaks enthusiastically about the need for more energy to spur development and boost B.C.’s economy.
“We know, because of what we hear from project proponents, that the more electricity we can produce, the more jobs we can create, the more prosperity we can deliver in the province,” he said.
But he also acknowledges the impact of dams on communities, including the struggle Horgan had deciding whether to proceed with Site C.
“These are not foregone conclusions, but it is necessary for our government to explore every opportunity to create economic opportunity,” he said.