) =

pow

Wi _ | eenneee an! eee a AUK) TL)

~ Columbia’s
er needed

ee the ‘next few days
met talks will get un-
aay between Ottawa and
Hayton which will have
i RS bearing on the future
bike wtish Columbia. These
bydp Will decide whether the
hatie noe? of B.C. rivers —
like tly the Columbia and
Nay ta will be ‘bartered
4 dover the U.S, or be used
Trop B.C.

ep

he re * .
al °
Wwheth underlying issue

4
ifs wil | our national inter-
8 the be further betrayed
lita e Were on the St. Law-
Canad faway and the Trans-
8 pipeline; whether the
lntiat Sus hydro-electric po-
tens of B.C. and Yukon
thesg, tl be added to the
a Imposing list of U.S.

Neny IS the question before
8 anadian today.
Oh 4 ie Should be no illusions
Klay SCOKE. The record of
‘Nays 4 §overnment give-
Many the U.S. should dis-
Mong Y Notion that anything
Cay Bo, an aroused public
Youig P a secret deal which
The ss 88ain betray Canada.
Ot °-U.S. men at the helm
 4,V@ have not abandon-
log on Policy of “integra-
this Ith the U.S. and as long
ling Policy is continued the
Wing, Of another givaway re-

egy Warning signal is al-
eng) >: The fact that the
‘ego 60vernment lifted the
Ge tOBS out of the hands
ing i A. L. McNaughton
Coty i International Joint
nduoe LOD and. decided to

talks on the political

i

By MAURICE RUSH

level. should not be passed
over lightly.

It is widely known that the
Canadian representatives on
the commission, headed by
McNaughton, insisted on plans
to use B.C. rivers for Canadian
benefit. The U.S. represen-
tatives on the commission
were unable to overcome this
stand, with the result that
strong U.S. pressure was
brought to bear on the federal
government to take the nego-
tiations out of the hands of
the commission and put them
on the level of direct talks be-
tween top political figures
from the two countries.

In conceding to this pres-
sure Ottawa has already shown
it is prepared to make con-

cessions.
@

At the heart of the problem
is the Columbia River and
what use is to be made of the
vast runoffs in spring and
summer months. The extent
of this runoff between May
and August is so great that

the volume of water carried.

by the Columbia at Trail, B:G;
igs three times more: than be-
tween the months of October
and May. ‘These waters are
now for the most part wast-
ed — in fact they often cause
serious flood damage.

The U.S. has insisted that
Canada build dams to store
the water and release it to go
down the Columbia during the
slack months to maintain an
even flow to dams on the USS.
side of the line. If this were
done, the output of American

ig : -
Map shows the proposed Columbia-Fraser diversion

power plants on the Colum-
bia would be nearly doubled
— that is close to 9,500,000
horsepower would be added
without another wheel being
built on present power instal-
lations. A rich prize indeed,
but at Canada’s expense!
Since the American attitude
is that Canada should remain
primarily a vast natural re-
sources reservoir for U.S. in-
dustry — and in this it has
been helped by the federal
government — the U.S. has
offered very little in return.
Indicative of this attitude was
the American proposal that
B.C. provide a third of the
storage area on the Kootenay
River for the Libby’ Dam in
Montana, in return for which
the U.S. “offered to pay only
for physical damage in -flood-

ed areas.
@

As against the U.S. demand
that Columbia waters be stor-
ed in B.C. for U.S. use, Cana-
dian engineers, headed by
McNaughton, have put for-
ward a breath-taking plan to
utilize these waters for Can-
adian development.

The main features of this
plan are that the Kootenay
and Columbia rivers be join-
ed by a diversion near Canal
Flats where the two rivers
are only a short distance
apart, and that a second di-
version in the form of*a 16-
mile tunnel be created near
Revelstoke to enable the flood-
waters of the Columbia and
Kootenay rivers to enter the
Fraser and Thompson systems
and thus flow through the
most heavily populated and
industrial areas to Vancouver.

To control these waters the
plan calls for the building of
a huge dam at Mica Creek
which would create an 80-mile
lake storing 15 million acre
feet of water. This dam, which
would take- seven to -eight
years to build, would also be
able to develop 1.5 million
horsepower on Site, which is
more than the Canadian share
of power on the international
section of the St, Lawrence.

In this way a portion of the
waters of the Kootenay and
Columbia rivers would be
turned into the Fraser system
and its energy retained in
Canada. ;

General McNaughton esti-
mates that if this were done
more than six million horse-
power could be developed on
the Thompson and Fraser be-
low Lytton, which is equal to
all the power available in the
St. Lawrence, between Mon-
treal and Lake Ontario.

The major problem which
must be-solved if the Fraser
and Thompson are to be fully
utilized for power develop-
ment is that of saving the
great Fraser salmon run. Any

hydro-electric development on
the Fraser which obstructs the
salmon runs will reduce Brit-
ish Columbia’s $50 million
salmon fisheries to a minor
industry unless ways can be
found to get the fish up to the
spawning grounds and _ the
fingerlings back down to the
sea.

(The United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union takes
the stand that the Columbia
and other non-salmon rivers
should be fully developed first
and that no dams should be
built on the Fraser until the
problem of safeguarding the
salmon runs has been over-
come.

(The union maintains that
northern rivers: like the Peace
and the Liard can be harness-
ed to. supply British Colum-
bia’s power needs if a grid
system of power distribution
is created. And this, it says,
means public ownership of
hydro-electric power because
private utilities cannot do ‘the
job.)

As yet, the problem remains
unsolved, but scientists are
optimistic that a solution can
be found provided adequate
funds and facilities are made
available. They are convinc-
ed that it need not be a mat-
ter of fish versus power but
fish and power.

So far the federal govern-
ment has- set aside limited
funds for scientific research.
Perhaps the reason is that it
doesn’t intend to carry through
the conversion but-is banking
on. a deal with the U.S. by
which only the dams built on
the Canadian side of the Col-

This is the site of the proposed Mica Creek dam

umbia would be those that
suited American purposes,
with the surplus water being
sold to the U.S.

Such a deal would deny to
Canada the full benefit to he
derived from these rivers,

British Columbia is now
reaching the limit of its de-
veloped hydro-electric power.
Unless a plan for large scale
development of power is un-
dertaken soon B.C. may face
a shortage. And unless that
plan includes reserving hydro
potential for future B.C. use
we shall face a power famine
before .many years.

According to the Financial
Post the demand for power in
B.C. is rising faster than any-
where in North America, per-
haps in the world.

This growing demand was
illustrated in a brief recently
drawn up by a special com-
mittee of the Vancouver City
Council. This study showed
that power requirements in
the Vancouver area alone be-
tween 1960 and 1980 will be
more than 5 million kilowatts
of new generating capacity.

The committee drew this
conclusion: “The great poten-
tial of the Columbia should
meet the needs of this area
(Vancouver) for possibly the
next 15 years but not much
longer than that. The period
will be reduced by any ‘sub-
stantial demands for energy
that may develop in the Koot-
enay country itself.”

Is it any wonder, then, that
the Vancouver City Council

Continued on next page.

OCTOBER 19, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE Iii