British Columbia will proceed toward plans to build the controversial Site C hydroelectric project in the Peace River Valley.

"The Site C clean energy project will be moving to the third stage," Premier Gordon Campbell told a press conference in Hudson's Hope this morning.

Campbell's announcement marks the beginning of a formal Environmental Assessment process, as well as a yet-to-be-determined process of consultation and accommodation with the Treaty 8 First Nations whose territories would be affected by the massive project.

Detailed design work will also commence for the $6.6 billion Site C project, which will flood more than 5,340 hectares of mostly agricultural land in the Peace River Valley to create a reservoir.

Tyee contributor Max Fawcett sifted the government’s claims about the dam and presented a dam-free alternative in a five-part series entitled, Disturbing the Peace: The Case Against the Site C Dam.

This is the third effort to develop the Site C dam in less than 30 years. If built, it would be the third dam on the Peace River.