Slave River hydro project nixed

Last Updated: Monday, October 18, 2010 | 5:39 PM CT

CBC News

A $1-billion hydroelectric project proposed for the Slave River will not go ahead, after proponents couldn't reach an agreement with a First Nation in Fort Smith, N.W.T.

Alberta-based ATCO and TransCanada were working on the dam proposal, but their efforts to reach an agreement with the Smith's Landing First Nation on feasibility studies came to a halt last week.

During a meeting with officials from both companies, Smith's Landing Chief Cheyenne Paulette announced he opposes a dam on the Slave River.

"We were very close to an agreement with them," Doug Tenney, ATCO's vice-president of hydro development, told CBC News.

"They'll probably have a different take on this, but I believed that we had reached an agreement with their negotiating team, so we were now at chief and council as to whether they wanted to ratify the agreement."

While a proposal to build a dam on the Slave River has existed since the late 1970s, ATCO and TransCanada began their own attempt in 2006.

Tenney said their proposed hydroelectric facility would have allowed water to flow through it and would not have created the huge reservoirs associated with traditional dams.

However, some reserve land belonging to the Smith Landing First Nation would have been flooded.

Paulette told the Slave River Journal newspaper that First Nation members indicated "an overall direction" against having any hydroelectric project on the Slave River.