Opposition to the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir flood mitigation project continues as the federal government announced more than 1,000 comments have been received from regarding the proposed project – with only three per cent of the feedback in favour of the dry dam.
“So 97 per cent of the comments were against the project, and that’s a significant number of people who know about this project who are speaking out to oppose it,” said Lee Drewry, a Springbank resident and landowner who will be impacted by the proposed reservoir. “It’s bad public policy, and there is another alternative that doesn’t require 7,000 acres of private property to be created.”
Drewry is a member of DontDamnSpringbank, a grassroots group formed to protest the government’s decision to move forward with the project. According to Drewry, the group has done “everything they can” to encourage the government to make “a better decision,” including meeting with officials and providing public input.
The feedback received by the Federal Environmental Assessment Agency (FEAA) was submitted at the request of the organization over the summer, after it was determined a federal environmental assessment was required for the proposed project. According to Communications Operations Manager Christian Vezeau, the public was invited to comment on which aspects of the environment may be affected by the project and what should be examined during the federal assessment.
“Some of the concerns raised include effects of the project to land, wildlife, fish and species at risk; the effects of flooding; effects of the project on Indigenous peoples; economic impacts; the financial cost of the project and the time and cost to regulatory requirements,” Vezeau said in an email to the Rocky View Weekly.
According to Drewry, those are many of the concerns the DontDamnSpringbank group has been raising since the project was first announced in September 2014. The group continues to encourage the government to look at a different option – a dam on McLean Creek, located upstream from communities including Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows, on land already owned by the government.
“I think most people in Springbank are very apprehensive about this project,” Drewry said. “We did a survey a few months ago to see what Calgarians think about the project and again, overwhelmingly, we saw from that feedback that people think McLean Creek is a better option. I think most people would say, if you can use land the government already owns, why take a bunch of land from somebody else?”
According to Vezeau, the federal environmental assessment of the Springbank Off-Stream Project is ongoing. Another comment period will be announced at a later date, on the proponent’s Environmental Impact Statement.
Until then, Drewry said the DontDamnSpringbank group and other concerned landowners will continue to voice their opposition to the project. For more information, visit dontdamnspringbank.org
