James Bay Project

The James Bay Project is an enormous hydroelectric-power development on the east coast of James Bay. The project was initiated in 1971 by Hydro-Québec, the third largest utility in North America, and the Québec government.

The $13.7-billion Phase I of the project required huge diversions of water from the Eastmain, Opinaca and Caniapiscau rivers to dammed reservoirs on La Grande Rivière. The average flow of La Grande Rivière was increased from 1700 to 3300 m³/s. A tiered spillway, 3 times the height of Niagara Falls, was blasted from the bedrock. La Grande-2 (LG-2), which was completed in 1982, has the world's largest underground powerhouse, generating 5328 MW of electric power. The completion of LG-3 (Feb 1984) and LG-4 (May 1984), which ended Phase I, increased Hydro-Québec's generating capacity to 10,300 MW, enough to serve a city of 5 million people. Phase II of the project began in 1989 with the development of LG-1 at the mouth of La Grande R where it empties into James Bay, but remains unfinished. James Bay II consists of the Grande Baleine (Great Whale) Complex and other dams on the Great Whale, Nottaway, and Rupert Rivers. Together, James Bay I and II would divert and dam 9 free-flowing rivers and flood an area the size of Belgium. The entire project is planned to have a capacity of 27,000 MW and is estimated to cost $63 billion.

The project has raised controversy for its effect on native people and the environment. The project flooded 11,500 km2 of wilderness land that is home to Cree and Inuit. Although the Cree agreed initially to the project, receiving compensation for being re-located, they have since changed their minds. They consider the environmental and cultural costs to be too high. For example, an unexpected consequence of the flooding has been the creation of mercury contamination in fish, released from rotting vegetation in the reservoirs.

Much of the power from James Bay II was to be sold to the states of New York, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont in the United States. In 1992, under pressure from environmentalists, the then-governor Mario Cuomo of New York directed the New York Power Authority to cancel its contract with Hydro-Québec in favour of energy conservation and purchase power from other sources. Due to the lack of a market for its hydropower, completion of the Great Whale Complex has been suspended.