On Wednesday morning’s CBC Eyeopener, Greg Clark, MLA for Calgary-Elbow, responded to the news that Rocky View County will formally oppose the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir project (SR1) and its plan to ask the Province to reconsider the project.
You can listen to Greg’s full interview here and we’ve captured the key messages below (with additional resources included by us):
1) Under the current regulatory review process, it is difficult to get large-scaled projects built. It seems to be set up to allow people to continually oppose and delay projects, rather than evaluating the pros and cons and making the decision and moving on.
2) SR1 is the better choice because it is further downstream (closest to Calgary) and it is capable of handling a flood event similar to that of 2013 (large snowpack + lots of rain over a short period of time) as well as an event similar to the 2005 flood (cumulative effect with lots of rain over a period of days).
3) The McLean Creek project (MC1) is not a simple and easy solution. Far from it. The on-stream flooding of ecologically sensitive forest habitat will invite controversy, opposition, and regulatory challenges.
4) Flood mitigation projects are planned for Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows in the form of berms. This infrastructure will be built as part of the comprehensive flood mitigation plan for the Elbow (and paid for as part of the overall Springbank Project cost). Also, the Bragg Creek mitigation is scheduled for completion before SR1.
5) The SR1 project was originally supported by the PC government in 2014. The subsequent NDP government ran on a platform of supporting the MC1 project but, after reviewing the work that had been done and conducting their own studies, they changed their tune in Fall 2015 to conclude that Springbank was actually the better project.
6) The province has the money set aside to build this project. The money is in the budget because there is a positive cost-benefit. It is actually less expensive for taxpayers to pay this and do this project than it is to not do it, because we know there is another flood coming. The direct impact to downtown Calgary would be at least $3B cost.
If we would have received 6 more hours of rain, our downtown would have been further decimated (Enmax infrastructure, etc). You think vacancy rates are bad now? (reported at 23% vacancy in Q1 2018) Imagine if another flood were to hit our unprotected city (remember there were previous floods that were 30% worse than in 2013, which would see the entirety of the downtown under water. It’s not “if”, but “when”). There would be a huge financial impact on property tax-paying citizens, on businesses, and overall confidence and ability for Calgary to recover. Another flood will impact everyone, not just residents living on the river.
7) We have not yet heard from the UCP or Jason Kenney definitively on whether they do or do not support the Springbank Project; although, given the volume of study that has been done, it would be surprising if they did not support the project. We continue to wait…
In reference to the CEAA information request that is currently being compiled by Alberta Transportation, Greg emphasized that “the current regulatory process is deeply evaluating McLean Creek,” and adds “I’ve got a big study under my right arm that already evaluated McLean Creek; they did a cost-benefit and Springbank is clearly more cost-effective.”
Additionally, Greg attended the RV council meeting on Tuesday, with 1,000+ pages of flood studies in-hand, to remind them that they have indeed been consulted and involved throughout the process. In fact, Rocky View County has made three filings with CEAA; on May 30, 2016, July 25, 2016, and June 15, 2018. They’ve known about this project from the beginning and they’re playing politics with the lives of Albertans.
See more in the brief video he published online: https://www.facebook.com/greg.clark.3766/videos/10156734993063815/
For more answers to FAQ’s read: The Springbank Project: Best Choice or Only Choice?
Regards,
Your CRCAG Board