As of August 28, 2024, TransAlta has confirmed that they are blocking maintenance of Kananaskis Whitewater in September 2024. The Alberta Government has said they are working on the issue but so far nothing has happened. Blocking river construction is in addition to refusing to provide flows that would allow a Lower Kananaskis River recreation economy to exist. We have done construction with TransAlta for 40 years with no issues until 2024. We need to do construction to maintain and improve the Kananaskis Whitewater.
Support for the Mountain and Kananaskis Whitewater improvement project includes hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from Albertan individuals, not for profits, companies, and government grants. Additionally, we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in donated services and material. Major project partners include the Alberta Government, LaFarge Canada, the Calgary Foundation, and Able Demolition.
TransAlta was notified of the project in 2023 and we submitted our construction flow request on July 10 2024. We got the TransAlta refusal to cooperate on August 28 2024. Construction is planned for September 16 2024. We have all permits, money, machines, material, and people ready to go.
The only project blocker is TransAlta’s refusal to lock off the Barrier Dam when it is not operating. Locking off the dam makes the river safe during construction for people, machines, and environment. Construction would happen outside of TransAlta typical dam operation hours. The dam only operates three hours a day currently and during the fall. We have done this work with TransAlta every 4 to 5 years for 40 years since 1984 and have never had a problem until 2024.
Without the ability to maintain and improve Kananaskis Whitewater, the river will become unsafe and all the features, will be lost. By blocking construction and continuing to be hostile to river recreation, TransAlta will destroy the Kananaskis Whitewater, the $30M river recreation economy, and the major cultural and environmental benefits provided by the public asset.
Our understanding is that the Alberta Government can tell TransAlta to operate the dam to support river recreation. The Alberta Government already forced TransAlta to provide reasonable recreational river flows from July 31 till Sept 15, 2024.
We will also be working with the Province to find long-term solutions to the new flow issues that TransAlta has created this summer.
Please email:
Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, Rebecca Schulz
epa.minister@gov.ab.ca
Minister of Tourism and Sport, Joseph Schow
ts.minister@gov.ab.ca
Your MLA
https://streetkey.elections.ab.ca/
Items to include are:
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Ask the Alberta Government to force TransAlta to make the Lower Kananaskis River safe for in-river construction in September 2024 for the Kananaskis Whitewater maintenance project.
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What does the Kananaskis mean to you?
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How the loss of the Mountain and Kananaskis Whitewater would affect you?
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Pictures and or video of you enjoying the river.
Please cc the Alberta River Surfing Association and Alberta Whitewater Association at president@albertariversurfing.com and admin@albertawhitewater.ca, so we can add letters to our growing pile.
This joint message is going out to other river communities as well. We are preparing a public relations campaign for the media.
Alberta Whitewater Association & Alberta River Surfing Association
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