User:Normaromann/sandbox

intro:

The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. At 183 m (660 ft) high, it is one of the world’s highest earth fill dams and was built in the years from 1961 to 1968 (Loo 900, Stanley 1). [What if that previous sentence read: At 183 m (660 ft) high, it is one of the world’s highest earth fill dams. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and culminated in 1968 (Loo 900, Stanley 1)]--Tborto1 (talk) 22:43, 12 March 2012 (UTC) At the dam, the Finlay, Parsnip and Peace Rivers feed into the Williston Reservoir. The reservoir is the largest artificial lake in North America as well as the largest body of fresh water in British Columbia (Stanley 3). The Williston Reservoir runs 250 kilometers north-south and 150 kilometers east-west.

The construction of the dam and the reservoir provided lucrative economic opportunities for the province of British Columbia, for the newly found electric utility BC Hydro, and the large number of workers. These workers were involved in the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of the project. Considerable costs were involved as well, for example [perhaps we could drop the "for example" and reword the sentence as..."Considerable costs were involved in the government funded project, the clearing of the Trench alone cost $5 million dollars (Stanley 66)"]--Tborto1 (talk) 22:43, 12 March 2012 (UTC) and the clearing of the Trench (Trench... for the dam? for the reservoir? --Heatheralyse (talk) 05:42, 12 March 2012 (UTC)) alone cost $5 million dollars (Stanley 66). Sixteen lives were lost during the completion of the project (Stanley 57).

Here: I would insert the information recommended on the article's talk page on the Dam's generating station, its capacity and average output. --Heatheralyse (talk) 05:41, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

The building of the dam and the reservoir were not without its controversies. One such controversy was caused by the significant negative environmental effects the project had on the immediate environment. In the process of the creation [Maybe that could be changed to "In the process of creating the Williston Reservoir..."]--Tborto1 (talk) 22:43, 12 March 2012 (UTC)of the Williston Reservoir, 350,000 acres of forested land, called the Trench, was flooded. This caused the loss of plant and wildlife biodiversity as well as the loss of minerals and timber rights (Loo 901). In fact, 80% of the Trench was previously covered in timber (Stanley 66). (consider deleting this last sentence? I think this may information that would better fit in the body of the article --Heatheralyse (talk) 05:49, 12 March 2012 (UTC))

Another controversy was that the land had been inhabited prior to its flooding, therefore the flooding resulted in the displacement of the residents of the Trench (again, perhaps clarify exactly what Trench means --Heatheralyse (talk) 05:49, 12 March 2012 (UTC)). Among them were fifty members of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nations, then known as Ingenika (Loo 901?). The displacement had negative social impacts on the inhabitants as the loss of the land that had previously fed them meant loss of autonomy and resulted in isolation, alienation, and “social disorganization” (Loo 905, 906). A BC Hydro consultant admitted in 1977 that the ‘isolation imposed by the reservoir had severe impacts on Ingenika society and culture” (Loo 906).

Please note that I have not yet done the correct citations etc.

Normaromann (talk) 19:34, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

thanks for the comments! I will now go edit and post live tonight! Someone please send me some wikilove, I'd take a beer:-)Normaromann (talk) 00:41, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Economic investment and opportunity

The W.A.C. Bennett Dam was a $750 million project and the largest project of its kind in the province. The dam had been named after the premier whose vision played a major role in the project initiation, development and realization; the reservoir was named after premier’s trusted cabinet colleague .

Province of British Columbia

In the 1950s, as well as the decades before and after, the economy of British Columbia had largely been based on the extraction of natural resources and had therefore been susceptible to fluctuations in the world’s demand for the respective resources. Despite the potentially unreliable economy resulting from this susceptibility, BC was considered to be one of the most sought out Canadian provinces to live in due to the fact that it had the country’s highest real per capita income which resulted in high standards of living for residents of BC. It was not until W.A.C. Bennett’s premiership and vision for his province that BC saw the realization of the hydroelectric energy potential.. Bennett believed any natural resource that was not used was wasted, therefore he pushed for the development of ways to harness the enormous unrealized hydroelectric energy power potential of the Peace River. Today, the W.A.C. Bennett dam produces about 40% of British Columbia’s total electricity.

changes: susceptibleness to susceptibility. - "the fact that it had" I added the it. - "his province that BC saw the" I took out the 'though' out took fix an awkward sounding sentence, and a few other minor grammar edits. Heatheralyse (talk) 23:34, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

BC Hydro

The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority Act, introduced by Premier W.A.C. Bennett in March 1962, laid out the plan in which he would pursue his Two Rivers Policy. . The Act, Bill 84, also merged two existing crown corporations, BC Electric and the BC Power Commission, into the newly formed BC Hydro which was co-chaired by Gordon Shrum of BC Electric and Hugh Keenleyside of the BC Power Commission. BC Hydro would become responsible for the building of the dam and six powerhouses.

Changes: I took away the link on the BC Power Commission. Since it was red, it links to nowhere. I also made other minor grammar edits.--Heatheralyse (talk) 23:36, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Local community and workers

The building of the dam and the powerhouses and the creation of Williston Reservoir provided economic opportunities to the workers who found employment with BC Hydro or one of the subcontractors; these workers included members of the local first nations, non-native residents, non-residents, and immigrants. One of the subcontractors was the Forest Service Branch of the Department of Lands and Forests. BC Hydro paid them $5 million to clear the area, which was covered in timber to 80%, that would become the reservoir. At the peak of project it employed 3500 workers and many of them had moved to the area, at least temporarily. Hudson’s Hope, a frontier town, was one of the communities in which many of the non-resident workers found a home. During the project, the population of Hudson’s Hope rose from 800 to over 5000 in 1968 and then dropped to less than 1500 by the early 1980s. In addition, about 2000 workers lived at a camp in close proximity to the dam.

I made quite a few minor sentence structure edits. --Heatheralyse (talk) 23:46, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Please feel free to edit this, I will probably edit it a bit more too but I wanted to have something up so that it's not a huge drop at the end! Maybe we should do final edits by the end of next week? We should probably also chat about our presentation - maybe Thursday after class?

Normaromann (talk) 22:12, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Hi Norma, great work! I made some grammar changes, but think that the content is well presented and cited. The one sentence I'm not sure about it this one,

Bennett believed any natural resource that was not used was wasted, therefore he pushed for the development of ways to harness the enormous unrealized hydroelectric energy power potential of the Peace River.

I'm not sure it applies to economic investment and opportunity, maybe it would fit in one of the history sections? And I'm happy to meet about the presentation on Thursday! I may have already said that on your talk page... --Heatheralyse (talk) 23:54, 26 March 2012 (UTC)