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2 Tuesday July 14 2015 INDUSTRY HYDRO NEWS BRIEFS Man accidentally shoots child while trying to scare bear away A man who unintentionally shot a youth in the arm with a handgun is facing multiple charges as a result of the acci- dentwhichtookplaceonJuly9.PhilipWolfe31hasbeen charged with careless use of a rearm unauthorized pos- session of a rearm and obstruction of a peace ofcer. The shots were allegedly meant to scare off a black bear near LittleBuffaloTerritorialCampgroundbuthitachildwhen the gun misred. The youth was taken to hospital and is in stable condition. Police arrest man in connection with indecent act in Yellowknife YellowknifeRCMPhavearrestedamaninconnectionwith an indecent act committed on the McMahon Frame Lake TrailonJuly2.MitchellThomasModeste26wasarrested onJuly7followinganinvestigationintoanintoxicatedmale exposinghisgenitalstoapassingcyclist.Modestewasiden- tied using video surveillance and has been charged with committing an indecent act and failing to comply with a probationorder.Hisrstappearanceincourttookplaceon July 10 2015 after he was remanded to custody. Fort Smith man sentenced to federal prison for 2013 stabbing A man from Fort Smith has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for aggravated as- sault charges. Lars Vogt faces 30 months in jail less four and a half months remand for time already spent in holding. The charges stem from an August 2013 stabbing outside of The Landing a bar in Fort Smith now under a new name and management. 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Construction on Site C dam begins despite First Nations opposition By MEAGAN WOHLBERG The government of British Columbia granted the nal approvals for construction to begin on phase one of BC Hydros massive Site C dam on the Peace River last week despite a recent international call to hold off on projects that could harm the Peace- Athabasca Delta. Twenty-four permits were issued last week authorizing timber removal road build- ing and site preparation to pave the way for the 9-bil- lion project set to be built over the next eight years. The province said it has com- pleted consultation with the necessary First Nations and is ready to move ahead on the project which received regu- latory approval last October. But representatives of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Fort Chipewyan say its pre- mature to be starting con- struction on a project that is now getting attention at the international level. We think its too early we dont think they should be starting any construc- tion said Melody Lepine director of government and industry relations for the Mikisew Cree. UNESCOs World Heritage CommitteeaskedCanadaear- lier this month to avoid mak- ing decisions on any project that could have irreversible impacts on Wood Buffalo Na- tional Park in northeastern Alberta in response to con- cerns brought forth by the Mikisew last December that want to see the world heritage site designated as in danger. Wood Buffalo National Park contains the Peace- Athabasca Delta which the Mikisew Cree say has already been negatively impacted by ow regulation on the Peace River caused by BC Hydros two existing dams. A mission from UNESCOs World Heritage Committee is scheduled to visit the park to do a review of the purported impacts and talk to the stake- holders. At the same time Canada is required to carry out its own strategic envi- ronmental assessment of the world heritage site including possiblemanagementactions. If the ndings come out of the UNESCO mission and from Canadas assessment that in fact the world heri- tage site - the park and the delta - are under threat be- cause of impacts then does BCHydroreallywanttospend billions of dollars construct- ing a dam that theyre going to have to take down Lep- ine asked. It seems a little too premature to consider construction at this time. Mikisew heads to court next week Apart from its request to UNESCO Mikisew has led a judicial review against the hydro project citing inade- quate consultation. Though the First Nation had repeat- edly asked for the impacts on the delta and Mikisew harvesting rights to be in- cluded in the Site C review Lepine said that assessment was never done. They failed to assess the impactsontheMikisewCree Lepine said. Yeah there were meetings yeah there were exchanges of information be- tween us and Canada how- ever theyve never taken into consideration anything that we were requesting. For example the regional study area for Site C only went as far down as Peace Point - the rivers junction with the Slave River - and not into the delta. We asked for them to in- cludethedeltaintheirassess- ment to assess the potential impacts on water levels in the delta and we asked for that because thats a very impor- tantecosystemtotheMikisew and we see declining water levelsfromtheiroriginalproj- ects. They didnt even want to look at the delta to include it in their assessments. So now for them to say consultation is adequate and complete it doesnt make sense to us Lepine said. The Mikisew will be head- ing to Vancouver for the hear- ing in federal court on July 20-21. Theirs is one of six court cases still pending against the proposed dam. One is being led by the Peace Val- ley Landowner Association which represents the farmers and landowners who will be displaced when the 100-km area is ooded by the Site C reservoir the other four are by First Nations in the pro- posed dams vicinity. BC Hydro expects con- struction on the project will generate approximately 10000 jobs. The dam is promised to create enough electricity to power around 450000 homes annually. PhotoEmmaGilchristDeSmogCanada A sign sits on farmland in the Peace River valley showing the area that will be ooded by the Site C dam reservoir in northern B.C. Permits were granted last week to begin construction on the 9-billion hydro project which will be the third on the Peace River.