BC Hydro has submitted its Site C environmental impact statement today for the proposed $7.9 billion hydroelectric dam in northeastern British Columbia.

The massive five volume, 40-section submission to a federal and provincial review panel is the result of five years of studying the potential effects of the dam and proposed measures to avoid or mitigate the impacts.

David Conway, with Hydro's Site C community relations, says the plan also includes the benefits the dam would provide to customers, First Nations, northern communities and British Columbians.

Hydro's Site C Clean Energy Project would be the third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in B.C.'s northeast.

Conway says the study concludes the project will affect about 100 area land holdings to varying degrees, with up to 20 property owners forced to move, with compensation.

Conway says public environmental review hearings about a year away and if the project goes ahead it will start generating electricity in 2021.

For more from the Canadian Press, click here or scroll down The Tyee's main page.