Disputed dam slowly nears completion

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The dam threatening Napi's River is slowly nearing completion despite opposition from environmentalist and Native groups.

The dam is located about 10 km west of the Peigan reserve, just past the point where the three rivers join to become the Oldman River.

The dam will cost about $335 million, most of which comes from the Heritage Trust Fund, a fund set up by former premier Peter Lougheed to channel funds from oil production into diversifying the Alberta economy.

However, Peigan researcher Albert Yellowhorn says the dam will deprive his reserve not only of the water but also any economic development the river might provide within the reserve.

"Indian shave no damned business to be on welfare . . . it is because they (the government) excluded them from the natural resources," says Yellowhorn in an interview in his Peigan band office.

Recently, members of the Peigan and nearby Blood reserves met to bless the river and to call upon Napi, the Blackfoot prophet, to assert his influence and prevent the completion of the dam.

Peigan spiritual Elder Joe Crowshoe, along with the Blood Elder Harry Shade performed several ceremonies with the sacred waterpipes and a whistle made from the bones of an eagle.

Meanwhile, overhead a golden eagle circled the campfire and after the ceremony Crowshoe said he felt the eagle was a sign that the prayers had been heard.

A week after the ceremony environmentalist groups announced they would be heading back to court to fight the government's construction licence.

Late last year a judge ruled the licence had been improperly issued because the government hadn't given sufficient public notice nor had it notified local officials and authorities in the area.

The government originally planned to appeal that judgment but instead issued itself a new licence, again, says the environmentalist group, Friends of the Oldman River Society, without public notice.

The society, and other environmentalist groups are also upset over remarks made by Environment Minister Ken Kowalski when he charged they had ticks in their hair and wear shoddy looking clothing.

During a recent meeting of the Pincher Creek Crowsnest Progressive Conservative Association Kowalski said those who really "love the air we breathe and the water we drink are not those with patches on their blue jeans and long hair with ticks, but people like yourselves who come out to meetings wearing suits."

This comes soon after Kowalski's comments last fall that environmentalists to oppose the dam are anarchists who get high on more than thin mountain air.

Author Andy Russell, who recently released a book on the Oldman River, said he was surprised by the ministers "outlandish" comments.

"I think his (Kowalski) remarks show bad taste and a real lack of responsibility," he said in an interview after the river blessing.

Russell had been blessed by Crowshoe during an effigy ceremony for his work to save the river.

Peigan Chief Peter Yellowhorn says he and the band oppose the construction of the dam and are puzzled as to why the government would want to dam a river that only runs deep for three weeks of the year.

"Only during the spring runoff does this river flood, then the whole valley is covered with water. But after that it runs shallow again," he said.

Yellowhorn explains the band considers the river the backbone of the world and to dam it would kill Napi's river and deprive future generations of the blessings of the river.

However, a bid to hold a public hearing into the dam was quashed last week by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board.

The Friends of the Oldman River Society had applied for a hearing saying that although the dam is being built for irrigation, plans have been made to allow electrical generation turbines to be installed.

Peigan officials say they are watching the situation carefully, and will be taking action. However, they refuse to give details at this time.

The dam is expected to be operational wthin two years.