The Site C dam moved one step further in the environmental assessment process this week, and the projected price tag increased by almost $2 billion from earlier estimates.

The Site C dam has been met with significant opposition from environmentalists, First Nations, farmers, and Peace Valley residents. In fact a strong coalition has stopped the project twice before, using logical arguments that prevail today: they can’t prove it is needed, and they can’t prove it is the best option. In fact, way back in 1993, the then president of B.C. Hydro pronounced Site C dead because it was too costly and the environmental impact was unacceptable.

The ballooning costs of the current proposal serve to highlight the serious flaws with the proposal. At a time when Premier Christy Clark is taking about potential budget shortfalls around HST uncertainty, the B.C. government wants to add an $8-billion project to the provincial books to generate power we don’t need, and to destroy a valley we can’t replace.

In the words of Roland Wilson, chief of the West Moberly First Nations: “British Columbians don’t need this power. It’s the natural gas and coal industries that need this power. How is it clean to dam rivers to produce electricity to pump gas and dig coal out of the ground?”

Wilson is referring to two facts that the B.C. government doesn’t often mention. First, in terms of future demand, B.C.’s Hydro’s own reports show we can meet future demand increases with our current energy supply through modest conservation. Secondly, Hydro’s energy forecasting does not include the downstream benefits from the Columbia River Treaty, which B.C. can receive in the form of energy or money. We currently take the money, but any time we need the electricity we have a source equivalent to Site C without the environmental destruction.

There is also the question of where the energy is going. Energy Minister Rich Coleman has stated that Site C will help “power a new wave of industrial growth in northern B.C., from 100-year supply of natural gas in the Horn River and Montney shales and as many as six new mines”. Far from an investment in the future energy needs of B.C. families, Site C is an $8-billion taxpayer subsidy to provide cheap energy to the fossil fuel industry.

The Peace region of B.C. is already our province’s breadbasket. With two existing dams, and heavy oil and gas activity, the region’s ecosystems are feeling the pressure of decades of runaway development. The two existing dams, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and the Peace Canyon Dam, blocked migratory corridors that were essential for the region’s once plentiful caribou herds.

In addition to the giant reservoirs, the land is dotted with oil and gas wells, and criss-crossed by pipelines. Since 1950 the number of active wells has increased from 17 to over 27,000 today. Pipeline spills and abandoned waste sites are an unavoidable consequence of activity in the oil and gas sector. In Treaty 8 territory there are over 1,400 documented contaminated sites where hydrocarbons have soaked into the soil. Ungulates, like moose and deer, are drawn to the mineral deposits and ingest them, which has a lasting impact on the food chain.

In the midst of all of this devastation, the Peace River Valley stands as a sanctuary for species impacted by fragmentation. The valley is home to the best agricultural land in northern B.C., and is a key piece of the Yellowstone to Yukon conservation corridor.

In all of B.C., the Peace River Valley is second only to the Okanagan in terms of species biodiversity. Its unique micro climate is home to species that you wouldn’t think could flourish that far north, like prickly pear cactus. The valley is home to over 20 threatened species, including grizzly bears, bull trout, and great horned owls.

If Site C dam goes ahead it would flood over 100 kilometres of river valley, drowning a land area equal to 14 Stanley Parks, and causing landslides as the banks of the reservoir erode over time. Gone would be the lush island chains that moose and other animals depend on for predator-free areas to raise their young. Gone would be the oldest boreal forests in the region, the critical life support for the region’s biodiversity.

Gone would be the tributaries and the migratory routes that aquatic species like arctic grayling depend on.

Site C would also flood over 11,000 acres of prime agricultural land, capable of growing enough garden vegetables to feed all of northern B.C. and the Yukon. In the era of climate change, food security is only going to become more important. There are only so many places in B.C. that can grow food like the Peace can, but there are many ways to meet our energy demands.

The B.C. government keeps portraying Site C as a “green” source for energy, but the reality is anything but green. What we all stand to lose if this project goes ahead will never be replaced.

Tria Donaldson is the Pacific coast campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. As a youth climate activist, she has been involved with the goBeyond project, the Sierra Youth Coalition, and the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition.