|
July 20, 2001
|
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2001 NWC endorses NEEFMC’s decision for a cold water release facility Kitimat, B.C. – The Nechako Watershed Council (NWC) gathered in Kitimat, B.C., on July 13 and 14, 2001 to review the recently released Nechako Environmental Enhancement Fund Management Committee (NEEFMC) Report. Jim Mattison, Government of B.C. representative to the NEEF and David Marshall, Fraser Basin Council attended this meeting to give the NWC a presentation on the report and how the decisions and recommendations were concluded. After reviewing the two decisions and five recommendations in the NEEFMC report, the NWC endorses the primary decision that a Cold Water Release Facility (CWRF) be constructed at Kenney Dam. “The release of the NEEFMC report on June 7, 2001 is a historic day for the NWC, a day that we have been anticipating for a few years. We were pleased to see that our Third Report recommendation of a water release facility was accepted,” said Henry Klassen, Chair of the NWC. Some benefits of a cold water release facility are (but not limited to) the restoration of the Murray-Cheslatta watershed, year round flows from Kenney Dam, protection of fish resources and social, economic and environmental sustainability. Over its next three meetings (September, October and November) the NWC will review in detail the other decisions and recommendations to determine if they coincide with research completed by the NWC and its third report to the NEEFMC. The work that the NWC has been doing developing a revised flow regime for the Nechako River that can be used when a water release facility is built at Kenney Dam is reaching its final stages. Criteria is being determined for the NWC’s identified issues and will give the ability to see how each will be affected by a cold water release facility at Kenney Dam. The next meeting of the NWC will be in Smithers, B.C., on September 14 and 15, 2001. For further information, please contact: Henry Klassen, Chair (250) 567-4254
|
|
|