I have been talking to some friends within the Cree Nation. They were devastated because of the recent decision favoring the exploiters working to drown the land.
I am as usual referring to Hydro-Quebec and their plans for the Rupert and Great Whale, as well as other Aboriginal lands and rivers.
The continued fight to save Cree and First Nations land is wearing out people. This recent decision was a hard one to take. It concerns the United States regulatory body, FERC, and their ruling on Hydro-Quebec. FERC stands for the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The FERC ruling stated that Hydro-Quebec could sell power in the U.S. without any problems.
But cheer up, every quarter, there is a FERQ review in which Hydro-Quebec has to tell how much power they are selling. I can see the beautifully detailed list auditing how much they sell and to whom. Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it? Bill Namagoose, Executive Director of the Grand Council of the Crees, said that Hydro-Quebec could be assured that the Crees will scrutinize Hydro-Quebec’s quarterly reports.
In essence this means that no U.S. electric company, which is a customer of Hydro-Quebec power, is secret. Crees and their supporters can target each individual company and wage an unrelenting war against them. No violence, of course. After all, we aren’t barbarians.
The other point I would make is that this decision really changes nothing. Hydro-Quebec has been selling power like crazy to the States anyhow. They have, since they announced the suspension of the proposed Great Whale River hydro-electric project, tripled their electricity exports to the U.S.
So what has really changed? Nothing. Nothing except we lost this round that might have put the mega-corp. out of action. At least as far as stopping them from increasing their U.S. exports even more.
The first fight was won by having individuals in Canada and the U.S. decry the situation and putting pressure on their legislative assemblies and the power companies. This is what is going to have to happen again.
We’ll all have to roll up our sleeves and get back to work again. Protecting the land is a full-time occupation and one that is worthwhile. I fully support it and all those who practice that value of protecting and preserving the land.
Nothing has changed when the protectors and preservers of the land are still in conflict with the exploiters of the land. Only when we give up and join the exploiters will things change. On the other hand we could change all the exploiters into protectors and preservers, then that
would truly be a change.
