Wednesday, April 25, 2007
A Delta Diverted
Speaking of energy, after poisoning the life-sustaining fishery of the Cree with James Bay 1, HydroQuebec now plans to begin James Bay 2, in which they will actually take the river. Unable to eat the now mercury-tainted fish, and unable to hunt geese that've disappeared along with the dammed and flooded habitat, the Cree will--upon completion of the megaproject--find themselves residents of a delta diverted to turbines in a completely different watershed.
As a major supplier of electricity to New England, HQ evidently felt it necessary to pull a fast one on the Cree, first asking them to participate in an environmental assessment, and then when the assessment revealed their whole way of life would be destroyed, used the Cree's good faith involvement in presenting their concerns as evidence that they had relinquished their rights.
All of which, of course, goes to show once again that small is beautiful, and big is bad--sometimes really bad.
As a major supplier of electricity to New England, HQ evidently felt it necessary to pull a fast one on the Cree, first asking them to participate in an environmental assessment, and then when the assessment revealed their whole way of life would be destroyed, used the Cree's good faith involvement in presenting their concerns as evidence that they had relinquished their rights.
All of which, of course, goes to show once again that small is beautiful, and big is bad--sometimes really bad.
