Engineering consulting firm Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. (KWL) is suing Bluestem Wildlife Services and the Ministry of Environment for indemnity in a lawsuit arising from the design, construction and operation of the Tyson Creek Hydro-Electric Power Plant.
Kerr Wood Leidal Associates filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on November 22. The company provided engineering consulting services to Tyson Creek Hydro Corp. on the facility, which was forced to briefly cease operations because Tyson didn’t get a revised water-use licence after changing the design of the facility. The design changes upped the storage capacity of the power plant and increased the drawdown amount on Tyson Lake.
Tyson Creek Hydro Corp. named KWL and others in a lawsuit in January 2012, claiming negligence and misrepresentation because it couldn’t operate the facility as planned due to the discharge of sediment-laden water into Tyson Creek and the Tzoonie River, both of which are home to fish spawning activities.
KWL denies liability in the action and claims that environmental consulting firm Bluestem Wildlife Services and the Ministry of Environment should have known when reviewing and approving the project that the increased drawdown of Tyson Lake would cause shoreline erosion and greater sedimentation.
KWL seeks indemnity and a declaration that if Tyson Creek Hydro’s action is successful, any “loss, damage or expense was caused in whole or in part by the negligence, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and/or breach of duty to warn of Bluestem and the [Ministry of Environment].”
None of the allegations has been proven in court and the defendants had not filed a response to the suit by press time.
