Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
In an effort to help prevent flooding in the Southern Lakes area, Yukon Energy was given the green light to lower the level of Marsh Lake by an additional 10 centimetres. The Yukon Water Board granted the utility permission to lower the levels last week. Marsh Lake, a 30-kilometre long glacier-fed lake, is the northernmost of several lakes that make up the Southern Lakes district.
Yukon Energy is again asking for permission this year to lower the level of Marsh Lake, in anticipation of possible flooding this summer. The company has submitted an "urgent" application to the Yukon Water Board to amend its licence for this year. If approved, Yukon Energy would open a downstream dam this spring to allow Marsh Lake to drop by up to 10 centimetres below what's normally allowed.
Yukon Energy has entered into an agreement with Atlin, B.C.'s Tlingit Homeland Energy Limited Partnership to buy renewable energy from its proposed $206-million hydro expansion project for 40 years beginning in late 2024. "It's a pretty significant deal for us," said Andrew Hall, president and CEO of Yukon Energy. "[It] gives us certainty around the details of how we would purchase the power, what price we pay." He said Yukon Energy will pay less or the same amount it would otherwise pay for electricity generated using liquefied natural gas and diesel.
