Report and recommendations of the Pingston Hydroelectric Project Committee with respect to the issuance of a project approval certificate pursuant to the Environmental Assessment Act, R.S.B.C. 1966, c.119 and fulfilling the requirements for a screening report pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 1992 c.37, V.1

A final application was submitted in March 1998 by Canadian Hydro Developers (CHD) with the intent of obtaining a Project Approval certificate under the Act for development of the Project. The purpose of the project committee report is to summarize the application and project report, to describe the potential environmental, economic, social, cultural, heritage and health effects of the project and measures required to mitigate significant adverse effects and to document the recommendations of the committee. The Project is composed of five main parts including the headworks, tunnel, penstock, powerhouse and transmission line. The potential environmental effects of the Project relate mainly to fisheries resources including entrainment at the intake, instream flow needs downstream from the headworks, alteration of fish habitat, sedimentation, and blockage of fish passage. CHD expects to minimize these effects through facility design modifications, operational changes and monitoring programs as required. Other concerns such as alteration of creek temperature, generation of methyl mercury in reservoirs, greenhouse gas flux in reservoirs and total gas pressures have been examined in light of the Project's size and operational schenarios, and the proponent expects these effects to be of minor concern. The Project Committee concluded that the project, with successful implementation and compliance of mitigation and compensation strategies, is not expected to cause significant adverse effects