TBST POM MM Me TU od A shadow hangs over the future of British Columbia’s richest natural resource, water power. The staggering possibilities offer- ed by development of the Colum- bia River are threatened by Am- erican veto. The great potential of the Yukon River in north- western British Columbia is the stake in a battle between two giant contenders, the Aluminum Company of America and Vent- ures, Ltd. : The issue being decided is whether our hydro-electric is g0- ing to be used for industrial ex- pansion here in British Colum- bia or whether it is going to be exported, like our iron ore, to satisfy the needs of the power- hungry United States. Premier W. A. C. Bennett, after a secret meeting with representa- tives of the Aluminum Company of America, a Mellon.trust, has al- ready indicated that he is prepar- ing to sell out to the American corporation. He should remem- ber that the same discredited policy pursued by: the now de- funct Liberal-Conservative Coali- tion helped to bring about the collapse after 12 years in office. British Columbia has the great- ‘est potential hydro-electric cap- acity of any province in Canada. The largest source is the Col- umbia River, which ranks third among North American rivers in water flow. Its calculated poten- tial on both sides of the border is about 35 million h.p., an almost unbelievable figure. The second largest source is the B.C..Yukon border area with an estimated potential of about five million h.p. Then follow the Fraser, the Alcan development on the Nechako, the Peace River, and the Homathko-Chilco at Bute Inlet. : Indissolubly connected with the ‘ problem of developing these re- sources of water power is our re- lationship with the United States. In 1909 the Boundary Waters Agreement was signed. Under this agreement an International Joint Commission was establish- ed to deal with problems arising out of boundary waters or rivers flowing across or adjoining to the boundaries between Canadian and American territory. nee The most important project affecting British Columbia. to come before the commission was the proposed Libby Dam on, the Columbia River. This would have developed storage of about 45 million acre-feet, of which one million would have been wholly in B.C. The reservoir would have extended 42 miles in- to the province. Of a total head of 366 feet, 149 feet would have been provided by the B.C. side. Yet the U.S. interests would not permit sharing of the hydro-elec- tric power produced, but wanted instead to make a cash settlement for the Canadian share! Is this what Thomas Ingledow,: vice-president and chief engineer of the B.C. Electric, meant, when, speaking to 700 delegates of the ° . American Institute of Electrical ‘Engineers in Hotel Vancouver last September, he said, “Canada and the U.S. should share in the per- petuity of northwest power.” No less an authority than Gen- eral A. G. L. McNaughton, chair- man of the International Joint Commission, answered Ingledow in commenting on the Libby Dam: By SID ZLOTNIK “Tt soon became apparent that ,ideas current in the two coun- tries as to the distribution which should be made of benefits were vastly different : . . power-hun- gry interests in the U.S. would concede no power allocation whatever to B.C. and some have sought to buttress this position by new acts of Congress to for- _ bid the U.S. section of the Joint “Commission entering into any ar- rangement in which this feature might be involved.” (Vancouver Sun, July 30, 1953.) Answering those who harbor the illusion that we Canadians do not need the power, General Mc- Naughton went on to say: : “Please do not think there is going to be power in Canada which will be surplus and to spare. This is certainly not the case, for the most carefully made . predictions® show only a com- paratively short time remains until we may expect that all our economically available hydro power may be in use.” The U.S. interests temporarily dropped their application for the Libby site last April. Meanwhile Ottawa is reported to be “studying” a plan for all- Canadian development of the Col- umbia that would dwarf the St. Lawrence Seaway project in terms of hydro. This plan envisages the production of 40 billion kilowatt hours annually, the transforma- tion of the economy of the area by the development of mighty electro, metallurgical, chemical and petroleum industries, LT Uh he Too good to be true? You're right. The snag is that the U.S. must agree. The plan must be ratified by the American section of the International Joint Com- mission which has already refus- ed even to share the power from the proposed Libby Dam. In this setting two great corpo- rations are vying for control of the Yukon basin. Quebec Metal- lurgical Industries, a Frobisher subsidiary (in turn a subsidiary of Ventures Ltd., a Canadian min- ing company) proposes a multi- million dollar electro-metallurgi- cal plant at Tulsequah near the head of Taku Inlet in northern B.C. The total investment would be about $1 billion. Electric smelters would employ about 10,- 000 men to process cobalt and titanium from the Celebes and East Indies. — The proposed development would be all-Canadian, with Atlin Lake being drained south with a series of dams on the Sloko River. An area of 25,000 square miles would be involved, and about 4.5 million h.p. would be developed. The other company, the Alum- inum Company of America (which still controls the Aluminum Com- pany of Canada despite a court order issued in 1949), proposes to drain Atlin Lake north through the Yukon and down to a tide- water smelter near Skagway. This plan would prevent utiliza- tion of the Yukon hydro-electric resources,in the interests of Brit- ish Columbia and of Canada; the energy would be used entirely in the interests of Alaska and the United States. In describing his session with the Aluminum Company repre- sentatives as ‘aimed at securing the “best possible deal,” Premier Bennett is setting the stage for sag ae ge Water pours over the spillway on the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company’s new Waneta Dam on the Pend D’Orielle River. the worst betrayal of British Col- umbia and of Canada since our rights to our northern coastline, now the Alaska Panhandle, were surrendered ‘before the jingoistic Yankee threat, “54-40 or fight.” Bennett’s innocent - sounding statement that he was “quite pre- pared to seek cooperation of Ot- tawa and the U.S. government in permitting the Aluminum Com- pany of America to go into the area if it appears more to the ad- vantage (sic!) of B.C.” (as re- ported in the Vancouver Sun on January 13) is a poor mask for the reality.. $ - Not only will the U.S. get con- trol of our water power, in the words of General McNaughton, “more precious than the most precious of mines for the reason that the flow of water will go on for ever,” but it will be given rights to exploit the timber and ~ This map shows how the Aluminum Company of America plans to divert Canadian waters for its proposed Alaskan project. : “, ° mineral resources of this vast northern empire. ‘ This whole issue in the north Is aggravated by the fact that the natural coastline of B.C. for almost half its distance was long ago annexed by the U.S. and has become the Alaskan Panhandle. As a result B.C. does not have suitable port sites in the north. : The U.S. is utilising this situa- tion to talk about the need for cooperation, “You have the re- sources, we have access to the oe let’s get together.” ome Canadians are bein - oth e by ae talk of Sr coed TS are becomi ; deception. Eek Ae Roy Brown, editor of the Van- couver Sun, demonstrating the softened’ attitude of the US cites an example in the Financial Post of October 17, 1953. A B.C. mining company, Granby Consolidated, had just discovered a mountain of copper ore in the north. The Alaskan authorities indicated their willingness to per- mit the construction of some 12 miles of road through the Pan- handle to enable Granby to haul out the ores. What Roy Brown forgot to mention is that Granby is a U.S.-owned company operat- ing in B.C. This is precisely the kind of co- operation intended in the. case of Alcoa, which wants us to give it all our resources for the privilege of access to the sea, which it will use to haul out our wealth. - British Columbia and Canada should face up to the issues squarely. Our water power should be used for industrial develop- ment at home, and only after that should “sharing” be consid- ered. Our relations with the Unit- ed States should be reviewed both in connection with the Panhandle and the Boundary Waters Agree- ment. The Panhandle dispute settled long before Canada eg lished her independence—an in- dependence now sold to the U.S. by the St. Laurent government. Even as late as 1909 the Boun- dary Waters Agreement was sign- ed for Canada by the British ambassador to Washington. Our future industrial expansion hinges largely on hydro-electric development. To sell our water resources to the U.S. is to sell our birthright. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 12, 1954 — PAGE 9