“Producing energy surpluses by building new dams is all very well, but economising on energy already produced is even more profitable,” thinks an energy expert.

Quebec is swimming in surplus energy.  So why build a new dam, the environmentalists ask.  Especially since the cost of production of a kw/hour for the Romaine is estimated by Hydro-Quebec at 9.2 cents, one of the most expensive tariffs in the grid where the average is 2 cents.

According to Hydro-Quebec, these surpluses are due to localised circumstances and the project is necessary to supply the long term demands of the people of Quebec.

For Jean-François Blain, an independent energy expert who has worked with the Rivers Foundation in the past, this is an argument that doesn’t hold water.

“The subsidiary Hydro-Quebec Production is obliged to supply 179 terrawatts/hour per year to the people of Quebec.  It has no obligation to supply more, and it can dispose of surpluses as it thinks best”, explains the analyst.

At the present time Hydro-Quebec produces 200 terrawatts/hour per year, and its capacity, and likewise its profits, increases proportionally as new authorised projects like Péribonka or Eastman go onstream.

These profits, about 3 billion last year, benefit everyone in Quebec.  But other options should be considered,” thinks the analyst, summing up the statements made by Roy Dupuis about the Romaine.

“The most profitable energy for exporting is that which we are already using, produced at 2 cents per kw/hr, which we could save and resell at 10 cents.  We must aim for energy savings before overproduction.”

Informed opposition

The SOS River Romaine team that travelled down the river were seeking to document the environmental impact of building hydro-electric dams and to strengthen their scientific arguments to improve the defence of their cause.

“Experience has shown us never to trust the data we’re given, so we’ve decided to come and take our own samples so we can compare the data,” says Daniel Green of the Society to Conquer Pollution.

He used a sterile spoon to extract a sample from deep in the soil of the boreal forest which will be analysed by a certified laboratory to measure the level of mercury.

“It’s an investigation that the environmentalists must carry out, otherwise we are as disconnected from reality as the politicians who study rivers from their offices on the 20^th floor,” says Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny, director of the Rivers Foundation.

Going to the location in the company of biologists and experts allowed them in particular to establish that the forest that will be flooded is even more ancient than was thought.  Yet another argument that was not revealed in Hydro-Quebec’s impact study.

For Roy Dupuis, in charge of the GPS and the machete for cutting a path through the woods, these two days devoted to sampling have proven difficult but of major importance.

“I have a scientific mind and this is entirely in line with my approach.  The people who convinced me of the importance of stopping the damming of our rivers did so by quoting facts and figures.  If it worked for me, there’s a good chance that it’ll work for other people.

“We have been able to exchange a lot of information, which is going to be useful when the time comes to defend our river in front of the BAPE (Office of Public Hearings on the Environment).”

The BAPE information sessions will be held on the 16^th and 17^th September at Havre-Saint-Pierre and Sept-Îles.