“The Kemano River winds ‘its a aquamarine, glacier-fed_ path through a narrow’ ‘valley walled by" steep, | ‘close-set. mountains . .. - and-empties into the Gardiner * Canal,-a‘blifid marine’ offshoot ' of the Douglas Channel. At one . time ‘the valléy was inhabited ‘by the Haisla people, but there has - béen no permanent village there for many decades ‘now, From spring to fall they still set up fish : camps, and the river is especially valued: for its prolific run of ‘eulachon, the small oil-rich fish. thatthe, Haisla render. down’ for. “oil. and dry; providing a.year- - round . source: of concentrated nutrition: ‘Around a point at the _ mouth of the river, the: wood-" frame buildings. of ‘the® ‘main: - - camp’ face. eastward actoss the. : . will: connect with the tunnel... ® The opening phase of. ‘work ‘on the extra transmission lines to. Gardiner Canal. When ‘Alcan. finished | ‘its original: power project in’ 1954: _ the: Kemano townsite was-built.. . Itisnow home to about 280 peo- ple, ‘and: its ‘sole purpose is to. maintain the powerhouse hidden deep. in the: foundations of Mount Dubose. It. is.a quiet, isolated community in‘an almost -- inhumanly’ spectacular setting; but in- ‘January of this year the : “quiet ended. . The first stage of the Kemano Completion Project began: with the establishment of a 2)-man | construction “‘beach head’’ camp on the banks of Seekwyakin Creek, two miles. down the Kemano River from. the townsite. It was the begin- ning ofa ‘power-generation pro- ject that will take five years, cost © $800 million and result in a 540-megawatt expansion of the ~ «“Kemano. ‘cottiplex, Which : ‘cure - rently generates 896 megawatts; © Alcanis projecting the follow- ing -. schedule’: of. ‘events.” for Kemano Completion:: e@ The construction. presently: underway: is for the. establish- ment of temporary: camps. and: : ‘facilities that will be home to the (average). 400-member — work- force during the life of the five- year project. This part of the work will be finished i in the third ‘quarter of 1990; ‘There: will be three separate camps: a main camp on the present site, 3 camp: on ‘Horetzky Creek halfway: up. the mountain, which will house _ the crew that does the ‘tunnel “drilling; ‘and-a camp at the.west™ au: €.the. water. intake from the’ reservoir. ‘end. of Tahtsa Laké, Ww “Kitimat has started — the lines - have to be twinned along the en- - tire §0-kilometer route (with the exception of Kildala Pass, where - ‘they’re already twinned as security _ against. “avalanche damage). to .carry “the extra. capacity. Scheduled completion date is the third quarter of 1992. @ In the third quarter” of this year work begins in earnest as _ drilking of the second tunnel and . excavation of the underground powerhouse begins. The tunnel- boring: crew starts from the Horetzky ‘camp with a vertical entry adit into the mountain. They © point of origin and go another eight. kilometers to the east, con: The new powerhouse. at Kemano will be similar to the ex- isting one, carved out ot solid rock Into the base of Mount Dubose. When it’s finished In 1994, the project will Increase Alcan’s generating capacity by ‘about 60 percent. Company representatives say there will not be a significant increase : required: An: the Kemano workforce. _ “@ Work on. the reservoir, high ii ‘above and across the mountains _§ from Kemano, mid-1990, The Kenney dam will water.into the Nechako River at a controlled - temperature, the Lake: will be dredged out, : wid- ened, and” despened, and. the “commence in the ane quarter -- of 1990 on the water intake that connects, to the main tunnel, scheduled for the first quarter of will then bore eight " kilometers westward, and hav- ing finished that return to the - ; TS “‘Tahtsa water ‘intake. ‘The ‘work _will go. on: around: the clock until the. third. quarter; "208. 1993, Blasting a.-cavern~ for’ -the , underground powerhouse begins ‘ at the same time, with comple- tion set for the second quarter of 1994, . starts in be ‘modified to. allow release of narrows “leading “into .Tahtsa @ Vertical . boring for the penstock- that will carry the water from the main tunnel to the powerhouse also starts. in: mid-1990, with completion 1993. @:Changes ‘to.’ the “electrical switchyards at both Kemano and Kitimat start in early 1991 and will take about 18 months. — @ Power generation begins with the completion of the new powerhouse, scheduled for mid-1994. Activity on the Kemano Completion: Project is currently. - concentrated on establishing a permanent camp to house. 400 workers for five years. The resistance continues — Although an agreement is in place between Alcan and the provincial and federal govern- - : merits regarding Kemano Com- pletion and’construction ‘on the five-year project is under way, two interest groups are still challenging Alcan’s right to go - ahead with it. The primary environmental . impact of the project will be in ~ the Nechako River valley east of the reservoir. When the Kenney dam was built in the early 1950’s . it took three years for the reser- “yoir to fill, and during that time water flows into the Nechako - were virtually. zero. Fisheries “records from that period: are sketchy, but there-is evidence that a resident population of chinook salmon were decimated. The chinook have recovered somewhat in the intervening decades, but Kemano Comple- tion will. again reduce water flows. Alcan says’ the original project diverted about one-third of the Nechako’s -volume as - measured where it flows into the Fraser River at Prince George; Kemano Completion will raise - the diverted volume to one-half. The Rivers Defense Coalition, a federation of B.C. Wildlife Federation, Canadian Associa- tion of Smelter and Allied Workers, Gulf Trollers Associa- tion, Nechako Neyenkut Socie- ty, Save the Bulkley Society, Steelhead Society and United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union, has undertaken a court action to stop the. project. Representative Pat Moss, a Smithers resident, says the coali- tion is challenging the tripartite agreement signed in September 1987 on the grounds that the federal Minister of Fisheries transferred his authority to con- trol fisheries to a non-elected committee, a transfer the coali- tion argues is unconstitutional. Moss expects the case to be heard in federal court by the fall of this year and hopes for a deci- sion before Kemano Completion begins in earnest. . ‘Alcan has been granted stand- ing in the case. The powerhouse end of the Kemano project falls within the - boundaries of the Haisla people’s comprehensive land. . claims, and the Haisla have said they seek an injunction to stop the project unless the federal government -begins negotiating the claims with them. -_ The Haisla land claims were accepted for negotiation more than a decade ago, but talks have not begun and no date has been set for them to begin. Statements have indicated that. . the Haisla are concerned about additional warm water release from the new tailrace into the Kemano River and its impact on the eulachon run — one of the three remaining major runs on the west coast — but the primary _ objective of a court action” would be leverage to bring the federal government to the land | claims table. Alcan says ‘‘...it would be un- fortunate if a project as impor-— tant to the region and indeed to the province as a whole became ‘the meat in the land claims sandwich’.”’ This spare turbine in the e shop at the Kemano nowerhouse Is isa solid steal casting welghing 13 tons. The turbines are manufactured in Switzerland.