Elbow river residents frustrated by threat of more delays to Springbank project
Posted Dec 11, 2018 11:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Advocates of the proposed Springbank dam are expressing surprise and frustration over the possibility of even more delays.
Rocky View council is considering a motion Tuesday to formally oppose the project.
A spokesperson with Calgary River Communities Action Group said the motion comes as a surprise.
Brenda Leeds-Binder points to an environmental assessment review that has already compiled more than 4,000 pages.
“To think that with that level of rigour there’s going to be a stone unturned is…absolutely ludicrous,” Leeds-Binder said.
The province has collected feedback from residents but the project still faces some opposition from rural landowners who have expressed concerns about being displaced.
Leeds-Binder suggested the motion is politically motivated and considers only a few dozen affected residents in the Lower Springbank area.
“Well, there’s really no other explanation for it because if you look at it from a logical science-based approach it makes absolutely no sense, so I can only speculate it is highly political.”
The project is already about one-year behind schedule.
The site, located west of Calgary, is designed to prevent potentially catastrophic flooding along the Elbow River.
The $432-million reservoir will require about 3,870 acres of land, and impact 87 residential properties and a summer camp.
Proponents of the dam argue it could benefit thousands of residents who live downstream.
