A hydroelectric power station in Quebec. Photo via Flickr user Axel Drainville
This post originally appeared on VICE Canada
Environmental scientists have known since the 1970s that there's a serious link between building dams and higher levels of toxic methylmercury in fish and mammals.
It's a pretty straightforward process.
Inorganic mercury is created by forest fires, volcanoes, mining gold, and burning coal, but benignly stored in soil and vegetation. That is, until the area is flooded with the damming of a river to create a reservoir, stimulating the now-underwater material to start decomposing and the chill mercury to be converted by bacteria into methylmercury, a dangerous neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in fish, birds, and larger mammals, including humans. That latter happens most often with Indigenous people in remote and Northern communities, many of whom rely on fish and other wildlife as a key part of their diet. This can result in many generations of increased chances of heart problems, nervous system abnormalities, kidney damage, and ADHD in children.
"It's beyond doubt now that there's a causal relationship because it's been observed so many times," said Ryan Calder, doctoral candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the paper published on November 9, "Future Impacts of Hydroelectric Power Development on Methylmercury Exposures of Canadian Indigenous Communities."
Yet Canadian government corporations keep building the dams without working to mitigate such problems.
Calder's team identified 22 proposed hydro projects in Canada's not-so-distant future, including Labrador's Muskrat Falls, British Columbia's Site C, Manitoba's Keeyask, and Quebec's four-part La Romaine project.
Most have varying levels of methylmercury contamination risk. Only ten percent have no significant risk of poisoning, due to the dams being "run-of-the-river" and not requiring large reservoirs. Another is exempt from risk due to the very low carbon content in the soil.
All 22 proposed projects are within 100 kilometers of Indigenous communities.
"When I did the pan-Canada analysis, I was surprised to see that in every case they're practically on top of Indigenous communities," Calder told VICE. "I don't think that's inevitable: I think there are ways to develop hydro resources that don't systematically contaminate the food used by Indigenous people."
Consider the example of Nalcor Energy's Muskrat Falls dam, located near the adorably named town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.
The project has been in the works for years. As with many other proposed dams, it's proceeding due to a combo of sunk costs and anticipated export potential to the United States.
But there's a huge risk of methylmercury contamination of fish and marine mammals; the recent Harvard study pegs the potential increase at ten times the levels in the river and 2.6-fold the levels in the estuary, which already features high levels due to freshwater discharges from the ocean. This will result in dangerously high concentrations of methylmercury for many species, for a very long time.
Nearby Inuit and Innu communities have staged massive opposition—including hunger strikes, blockades, and marches—in a push to clear the area of soil and vegetation prior to flooding, and independent monitoring with full Indigenous participation.
In response, Liberal MP Nick Whalen suggested that people who have relied on fishing for thousands of years should "eat less fish" to avoid methylmercury contamination, which he later apologized for. Since then, dozens of people have been named in court injunctions, including journalist Justin Brake and 96-year-old Dorothy Michelin.
Ossie Michelin—grandson of the latter and freelance journalist who's extensively covered the Muskrat Falls situation for APTN—said protesters have little trust in Nalcor given perceptions of the provincial Crown corporation acting "in bad faith" and failing to explain intentions to the public. A leak sprung in a temporary coffer on November 18, which Michelin explained has exacerbated concerns about the stability of the dam.
"It's hard to believe at face value when they say stuff," he told VICE. "That's one of the reasons why there needs to be more independent review that is transparent and thoroughly communicated and explained to the public. People are afraid they're literally going to get washed away in the night."
Harvard's Calder also hasn't had much success with Nalcor: he explained that the company has worked to undermine the conclusions of his recently published study, hiring consultants to undermine uncertainties in the work. In October, the company suggested that it had commissioned Harvard researchers to assess methylmercury levels, which Harvard officials said was not true.
"I think the consulting industry is very happy that we've released this paper because people are getting a lot of work out of it," Calder said, noting it reflects the trend in other industries such as tobacco and oil and gas to obfuscate scientific evidence.
Related: Watch 'Inside Germany's Most Harmful Energy Source'
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