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The James Bay project is the dream -- some say obsession -- of Quebec's Premier, Robert Bourassa, who seems to see every free-flowing drop of water in Quebec's big rivers as a wasted kilowatt. From the beginning, 20 years ago, Bourassa envisioned a power network that would ensure his province's economic independence and boost the fortunes of its French-speaking majority. At first, the only serious opponents were the Crees, who claimed aboriginal rights to the land. In 1973 the Indians lost a major battle: a Quebec appeals court decided that construction on the project was too far along to stop and that the needs of millions of the province's residents outweighed the concerns of a few thousand natives. In 1975 the Crees grudgingly ceded rights to lands affected by the power project in return for an agreement that gave them cash compensation (which will eventually total more than $300 million), exclusive hunting and fishing rights to 75,000 sq km (29,000 sq. mi.) of land and the right to have a say in future projects. The Crees now have a strong legal claim that this last part of the deal is being broken.
Because Hydro-Quebec launched the project before completing any kind of < environmental-impact assessment, problems such as mercury pollution came as a surprise. The mercury lay dormant in rocks until the dammed La Grande River began flooding forest land. When drowned trees began decomposing, bacteria transformed the mercury into a form that could enter the food chain. The problem should disappear when the trees have decomposed completely, but that process may take 20 to 50 years.
The Crees claim that by drying some rivers and inundating others, the hydroelectric project is affecting everything from the health of moose herds to the eelgrasses that are vital to migratory birds. Says Ian Goodman, a Boston-based environmental consultant who has advised the Crees: "It's like a giant science experiment to see what happens to an area as large as New England, New York and Pennsylvania combined."
Gaetan Guertin, who directs Hydro-Quebec's environmental-impact studies, admits that the company started with very little knowledge but asserts that the utility has since spent tens of millions of dollars examining the affected ecosystems. Moreover, Guertin says, the hydro project has had positive effects on populations of beavers, ducks and such fish as walleye pike and sturgeon.
The agreement that the Crees signed in 1975 may give the tribe the tools it needs to prevail in court. The utility is trying to separate road building from the parts of the project subject to environmental review, so that construction can begin this summer. As in 1973, it would become much more difficult for the Crees to halt work once it has begun. The Crees, however, are arguing that the $1 billion road-construction program, in the region of the Great Whale River, is an integral part of the project and that the 1975 agreement requires both Grand Council consent and environmental review before any work can go forward.