In the Times Colonist, Les Leyne reacted to a recent BC Hydro report about Site C:

B.C. Hydro has written the blandest, most blameless account possible. When it comes to burying a compelling story in 250 pages of stupefying technical explanations, it is a literary doublespeak masterpiece.

They poured as much obfuscating verbiage over the budget disaster as they did concrete in the Peace River.

The Victoria journalist has been a political columnist for 30 years and a reporter longer than that. Leyne reminds us that utility management designed ineffective oversight of their largest-ever spending project. When independent observers were put in place, they were ignored or handicapped by senior executives.

One of the lessons BC Hydro learned was to improve its communications when a megaproject is going badly. The company understands that secrecy and misinformation can be effective tools for navigating difficult situations. Used correctly, these can minimize damage and ensure survival of a company’s executives.

Overall, Les Leyne’s article is accurate, but he is credulous when accepting BC Hydro’s assertion that $1.6 billion of the massive cost overrun is attributable to COVID-19. Even the gentle BCUC wasn’t prepared to accept that claim without evidence.

Leyne describes Site C as a “brilliant engineering success.” We need to wait at least 20 years before we start thinking like that.

“If the landslide hits the structure of the dam, it will get damaged,” said Vernon Ruskin, who was part of the design team for Site C as well as the W.A.C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams under the old BC Electric company, which later became BC Hydro.

“It’s fairly flat land, and there’s a lot of people downriver from there. That’s really what I worry about.”

BC Hydro says Site C dam safe from landslides, but engineer calls for review