TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/071591/0715330.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 7.4 KB | 158 lines

                                                                                ENVIRONMENT, Page 60

Bury My Heart at James Bay


The world's most extensive hydropower project has already
disrupted rivers, wildlife and the traditions of Quebec's Indians.
Is it really needed?

By EUGENE LINDEN/CHISASIBI


    The Cree village on the Canadian island of Fort George
never had many full-time residents: most of the 1,000
inhabitants were subsistence hunters and trappers who would
spend months in the bush. But today the place is a virtual ghost
town. Following the construction of huge hydroelectric dams
upstream, almost all the villagers were relocated because of
fears that torrents of water would erode their island, which
lies at a vulnerable spot where the La Grande River meets James
Bay in Quebec province.

    The Crees who moved to nearby Chisasibi now have
electricity, running water and ties to the outside world, but
they have lost their traditional way of life. Many ancestral
hunting lands are underwater, and the natives can no longer eat
local fish because of mercury contamination stemming from the
creation of a reservoir upstream. Crammed together and often
idle, they suffer from soaring rates of alcoholism, suicide,
vandalism and family violence. About 30% of them have high
levels of mercury in their bodies. "When we were on the island,
we had less," says Larry House, a community leader, "but we were
happy."

    The tale of Fort George's Indians serves as a warning
about what could happen to thousands of Crees, as well as Inuit,
who live in the wild regions surrounding James Bay. The
construction on the La Grande River is just one part of what is
intended to be the world's largest hydroelectric network. Begun
in 1971 and only about one-third finished, the James Bay power
project could eventually include 215 dams and dikes, 23 power
stations and 19 river diversions. If completed, the project
would affect an area larger than Germany, disrupting the
environment and destroying the tribal heritage of many of
Quebec's Indians.

    The Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, backed by
environmental groups, has sued Hydro-Quebec, the
government-owned utility, to block the next stage of the James
Bay project, which would affect the Great Whale and Nastapoca
rivers, in the northernmost regions of inhabited Quebec, and
three rivers farther to the south. Though the Crees have
unsuccessfully fought the project for two decades, they now have
a reasonable chance of at least stalling it when the courts rule
on the case this summer. Growing environmental concern and
worries about an uncertain economic climate have led some
opinion leaders in Quebec to question the wisdom of spending as
much as $31 billion on more dams. What particularly outrages the
Crees is that Quebec doesn't need all that power, some of which
may be sold to New England and New York. The Indians face the
possibility of losing their hunting grounds so that Americans
can keep running their air-conditioners and hair dryers.

    The James Bay project is the dream -- some say obsession
-- of Quebec's Premier, Robert Bourassa, who seems to see every
free-flowing drop of water in Quebec's big rivers as a wasted
kilowatt. From the beginning, 20 years ago, Bourassa envisioned a
power network that would ensure his province's economic
independence and boost the fortunes of its French-speaking
majority. At first, the only serious opponents were the Crees,
who claimed aboriginal rights to the land. In 1973 the Indians
lost a major battle: a Quebec appeals court decided that
construction on the project was too far along to stop and that
the needs of millions of the province's residents outweighed the
concerns of a few thousand natives. In 1975 the Crees grudgingly
ceded rights to lands affected by the power project in return
for an agreement that gave them cash compensation (which will
eventually total more than $300 million), exclusive hunting and
fishing rights to 75,000 sq km (29,000 sq. mi.) of land and the
right to have a say in future projects. The Crees now have a
strong legal claim that this last part of the deal is being
broken.

    Because Hydro-Quebec launched the project before
completing any kind of environmental-impact assessment, problems
such as mercury pollution came as a surprise. The mercury lay
dormant in rocks until the dammed La Grande River began flooding
forest land. When drowned trees began decomposing, bacteria
transformed the mercury into a form that could enter the food
chain. The problem should disappear when the trees have
decomposed completely, but that process may take 20 to 50 years.

    The Crees claim that by drying some rivers and inundating
others, the hydroelectric project is affecting everything from
the health of moose herds to the eelgrasses that are vital to
migratory birds. Says Ian Goodman, a Boston-based environmental
consultant who has advised the Crees: "It's like a giant science
experiment to see what happens to an area as large as New
England, New York and Pennsylvania combined."

    Gaetan Guertin, who directs Hydro-Quebec's
environmental-impact studies, admits that the company started
with very little knowledge but asserts that the utility has
since spent tens of millions of dollars examining the affected
ecosystems. Moreover, Guertin says, the hydro project has had
positive effects on populations of beavers, ducks and such fish
as walleye pike and sturgeon.

    The agreement that the Crees signed in 1975 may give the
tribe the tools it needs to prevail in court. The utility is
trying to separate road building from the parts of the project
subject to environmental review, so that construction can begin
this summer. As in 1973, it would become much more difficult
for the Crees to halt work once it has begun. The Crees,
however, are arguing that the $1 billion road-construction
program, in the region of the Great Whale River, is an integral
part of the project and that the 1975 agreement requires both
Grand Council consent and environmental review before any work
can go forward.

    Delay would favor the Crees because the public is
beginning to question who will be the real beneficiaries of
additional power capacity. In January the Quebec government went
to court to suppress the publication of unusual secret contracts
that Hydro-Quebec had signed to deliver power to 13 metals and
chemicals companies. Some of the details leaked out anyway,
revealing that the utility had offered cut-rate energy deals to
these companies. Other industries and consumers in Quebec
suspect that they will end up subsidizing the bargain contracts
through rate increases.

    Moreover, the promised economic bonanza for Quebec is far
from certain. Potential power customers in the U.S. are
vigorously pursuing conservation programs, and their need to
purchase electricity may not grow as fast as once estimated.
Whether or not more customers come forward, completing James Bay
will weigh down the Quebec government with an additional $60
billion in debt, more than twice its current debt load.

    Whatever the Canadian courts decide, the Crees have raised
legitimate questions about the logic and impact of a vast
undertaking. Canada aggressively promotes its many natural
wonders in the hope of luring tourists from abroad, but at home
it often seems willing to sell that heritage for short-term
profits.