Proposal to relicense Whitehorse dam clears review hurdle, conservationist calls foul

The hydroelectric dam in Whitehorse should be relicensed, but only if Yukon Energy meets a raft of checks and balances, most of which focus on salmon, according to a new report from the Yukon and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB). 

But at least one conservationist is coming down on the assessment, saying the recommendations aren't mitigations at all, and that YESAB is just asking the Crown corporation to draw up plans for some, without any timelines.

Still, the board's evaluation report states the dam's ongoing operation will likely have significant adverse impacts on the environment and people "in or outside Yukon" — but also suggests those can be mitigated by the licence's terms and conditions.

"Adverse effects stemming from the project are likely to further deteriorate the already serious state of Yukon River chinook salmon and are likely to have much longer lasting effects," the report states, adding that examples could include the extinction of the species, loss of First Nations' ceremonies and transfer of traditional knowledge.

About a year ago, Yukon Energy submitted to the board its proposal to relicense the facility for the next 25 years. Until now, the dam has never been scrutinized by YESAB, which didn't exist in 2000 when the facility's licence last came up for renewal.

The process comes at a time when chinook salmon have been in precipitous decline in the Yukon River watershed, with conservationists and First Nations saying more needs to be done to ensure the dam isn't killing or maiming the largest salmon on earth, and at a time when "every fish counts."

Built in 1958, the Whitehorse dam is a crucial piece of infrastructure for the territory, generating enough power to supply on-grid residents with roughly 80 per cent of their electricity during the summer. When the weather turns frigid, demand always escalates, to the degree a fleet of diesel generators must also be used to meet it.

Original negotiations to build the dam excluded Yukon First Nations. The construction of the dam has displaced generations of families from Yukon River shores, which once bore fish camps, replete with chinook salmon once flush in the watershed.

Michael Muller, vice president of planning, environment, health and safety at Yukon Energy, told CBC News the Crown corporation can — and will — make changes to how it operates the facility.

"This is our chance to do things in a different way," he said.

The dam, Muller added, "is just producing power that we need right now. This isn't even looking forward, right?

"We're very actively looking at how we are going to continue to produce enough electricity that all Yukoners need, and [the Whitehorse dam] is a key part of this — and we need to keep focused on making sure there's a licence in place by the end of May."

Yukon Energy's current operating licence expires in May.

It's now up to the Yukon and federal governments to figure out whether to approve YESAB's recommendations. It's not clear how long it'll take them to issue a decision. 

What is YESAB recommending?

The 39 recommendations from the assessment board include coming up with plans to redesign the dam's fish ladder and how to make it more effective. 

Some focus on the Lewes control structure, upstream from the dam, which is used to regulate flows out of Marsh Lake and supply the dam with more water, geared to demand. YESAB recommends Yukon Energy develop a system to monitor fish passage there.

Then there's entrainment, where fish are inadvertently sucked into the dam's heavy turbines. The turbines are killing some migrating fish.

YESAB is calling on Yukon Energy to create a plan to deal with this problem and consider how the dam could be retooled so that the salmon could safely clear the facility.

The recommendations don't just focus on wildlife. YESAB also calls on Yukon Energy to launch a study into how the dam has long affected how First Nations people use the land in the project area. 

'We're not seeing mitigations here'

Sebastian Jones, with the Yukon Conservation Society, said none of the recommendations include protections.

"They're recommendations for plans to come up with ways to mitigate the effects," he said. "They do not mitigate the effects of the dam, or the associated infrastructure, on fish and fish habitat."

There also aren't any timelines associated with drawing up those plans during the 25-year lifespan of the licence, Jones added.

About a year ago, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said there are "substantial gaps" in the proposal, to the degree they would impede a scrupulous review of the project. A letter from the department states the full impact of the dam is "unknown."

Asked why mitigations haven't been recommended, Kent Bretzlaff, the executive director of YESAB, said it's circumstantial. 

"We're dealing with a historic, legacy project, so I think, right there, that establishes a gap in data, and not pointing any fingers at anyone," he said. "It's just kind of the fact of the matter for projects like this."

Rigorous review needed

Jones also believes there's something inherently wrong with how the assessment process was carried out.

One of YESAB's designated offices conducted the review of the dam. Those offices are responsible for conducting lower-level assessments.

Jones argues that the dam is a major infrastructure project and has been a fixture on the landscape for decades, and should therefore have a more thorough review, such as by YESAB's better-resourced executive committee. 

The dam and its impacts are complex, Jones said.

"This project has been operating for half a century already," he said. "It's been blocking and/or impeding the passage of fish and it's also been killing fish for all of these years.

"You know, [the Yukon Conservation Society] fully understands the climate crisis, and that the relatively-clean electricity provided by legacy hydro dams is important if we want to decarbonize our economy. But, at the same time, we also have a biodiversity crisis, and more specifically, we have a Yukon River Chinook salmon crisis. That's arguably as important as our energy and climate crisis."

Jones warns this assessment could be indicative of systemic problems, with territory-wide implications.

"What we think we are seeing here is a short-circuiting of the rigourous environmental assessments, of which Yukon is rightly proud — and that we are setting a very dangerous precedent."

Bretzlaff, with YESAB, said the complexity of the project likely warranted a review conducted by an executive committee, even a panel review, the territory's most rigourous form of environmental assessment. The proposed Casino mine is the only project to be referred to that level.

"Based on what was proposed, it [the Whitehorse dam project] fell within the designated office realm," Bretzlaff said. "There are ways to move it to [an executive committee screening], but none of those were triggered during this assessment."