[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

dam-l article from the Village Voice (NYC) (fwd)



From the Moisie river list.

-cdm

Forwarded message:
From energie@netaxis.qc.ca Thu Sep 18 01:32:04 1997
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 00:55:51 -0400
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970918005933.1977254c@mailhost.netaxis.qc.ca>
X-Sender: energie@mailhost.netaxis.qc.ca (Unverified)
X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
To: liste Moisie <energie@netaxis.qc.ca>
From: Tom Holzinger <energie@netaxis.qc.ca>
Subject: article from the Village Voice (NYC)

Friends,
The Moisie diversions were mentioned in the influential Village 
Voice weekly newspaper in New York City, in their issue of 26 August.
I believe M. Paul Bégin had already been Minister of Environment 
and Wildlife for one day, something the Voice could not have 
known. Rick Hornung of Connecticut wrote the story and John Clark 
of Vermont forwarded the published text to Montréal.
Tom

                        *  *  *  *  *

132.198.151.28
The Village Voice, August 26, 1997


Fish Out of Water?

   An ambitious plan to export electricity from Northern
Quebec to New York and New England now threatens one of the
great salmon-fishing rivers, the Moisie. Hoping to take
advantage of the newly deregulated electricity markets in 
America, Hydro-Québec has recently submitted plans to divert 
the Moisie's tributaries, the Carheil and Aux Pékans rivers,
into a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric station that will
only become profitable by selling a large portion of its 
power in the U.S.
   By rerouting the Carheil and Aux Pékans, Hydro-Québec
will dry up the Moisie, a beautiful stream that tumbles out
of the rose-tinted granite of the Laurentian shield. For 
thousands of years, Algonkian oarsmen spun their canoes
through the eddies, netting or spearing 14- to 18-inch
silver-scaled fish as they jumped through a series of falls.
Since the beginning of industrial development in the 19th
century, Jesuits, American entrepreneurs, and Canadian
industrialists have undertaken a wide array of special
measures to protect the salmon. The Astors, for example,
began a tradition of vacations to elaborately stocked
fishing camps. In the 1950s, when the Hanna Mining Company
of Cleveland financed a railway along the Moisie, a special
spillway was constructed to make sure there was enough water
for the salmon. Now, the government-run utility of Quebec
seeks to sidestep its own procedures and regulations to
maximize cash flow from the export of electricity.
   Should the diversions proceed, says Tom Holzinger of the
Coalition Contre la Dénationalisation de l'Electricité,
Americans can help save the Moisie by making sure that no
American customer buys Hydro-Québec energy.
   To voice your protest, write Minister David Cliche,
Minister of Environment and Wildlife, Quebec City, Quebec.

                        *  *  *  *  *