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New Ideas About Life and Living in the Okanagan
Washington State seeks new dam for the Similkameen River
“Fortis proposal seems designed to avoid triggering any kind of regulatory review.”
With western North America experiencing drying conditions, Washington State is looking north into the Okanagan for solving water and hydroelectric shortages. This month the Sierra Club sent a letter to Gov. Inslee and Department Director Maia Bellon opposing Washington State funding a new dam in Canada. The state’s Office of Columbia River (OCR), the dam-building arm of the Department of Ecology, has proposed allocating $1.6 million to a private utility to study building a new dam on the Similkameen River in British Columbia. The Washington Legislature recently convened, and will vote on funding requests for the Office of Columbia River.
Province Moves Forward With New Building Code
It is uncertain as to how “alternative” and “off-the-grid” construction
will be dealt with under the centralized authoirty of the province.
This spring the provincial government will begin to phase in a new buiding code that will effect all construction in British Columbia. Last year the province began to write new legislation to govern building regulation and given the potential impact on local government operations, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) have joined in the legislative process that is underway.
