While 2016 brought no firm decisions, residents in and around Springbank are hopeful to hear good news in 2017.

At this point the Government of Alberta is continuing its environmental review, while county and community members are continuing the fight, opposing the Springbank Dam.

Lee Drewry, a landowner impacted by the proposed Springbank Dam, says there've been opportunities both at the Federal and Provincial level for the public to provide input.

"One was probably a year and a half ago, that was the Alberta Government opportunity, and the most recent opportunity for the public to input was the Federal environmental review process, that was for the Canadian Environmental Agency to determine if they needed to do their own review. Over 1000 submissions were given to the Federal environmental agency."

Drewry adds a whopping 97% of the submissions were against the Springbank project.

"The headwinds against the Springbank project continue to grow. There is a mistaken belief that there is just a few landowners that are impacted, the opposition is really broad based. I think the whole community of Springbank thinks this is a really bad idea and most of the community of Rocky View thinks this is a bad idea."

If you are unsure of the magnitude of the proposed dam, Drewry says the impact will be devastating.

"It impacts about 7000 acres of land in Springbank, the Government estimates it is about $280 million dollars (the costs are likely to be about three times that) road costs alone have increased by ten times what they estimated. They have not provided a cost update, so I think the public is being kept in the dark about the escalating costs."

Drewry says the biggest challenge is making sure the public near and far are aware and understand the proposed design.

"I wouldn't say there is a high level of knowledge; I think the Government likes to keep it that because the more people that hear about it the more they scratch their heads and say why would you do that? When you have another alternative at McLean Creek that's on crown land that would protect Bragg Creek, Redwood Meadows, and Calgary." 

The community will continue to fight, and Drewry hopes to find some resolve.

"Ideally 2017 would be the year the government goes back to what it promised during the election and that was to do McLean Creek over Springbank, and they start the process to get McLean Creek built. It gets to the right project and gets moving on flood mitigation for Bragg Creek, Redwood Meadows, and Calgary."

If you would like your opinion heard you can send a message to the Premier or Minister of Transportation at Don't Damn Springbank.

 

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