page_title: Hydro-Québec
section_title: Environment
hierarchical_section_title: Hydro-Québec / Environment
caption_attribution_description: English: Northern pike Français&#160;: grand brochet
context_page_description: Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
  It was established by the Government of Quebec in 1944 from the expropriation of private firms. This was followed by massive investment in hydro-electric projects like the James Bay Project. Today, with 63 hydroelectric power stations, the combined output capacity is 37,370 megawatts. Extra power is exported from the province and Hydro-Québec supplies 10 per cent of New England's power requirements.
  Hydro-Québec is a Crown corporation based in Montreal. In 2018, it paid CAD$2.39 billion in dividends to its sole shareholder, the Government of Québec. Its residential power rates are among the lowest in North America.
  More than 40 percent of Canada’s water resources are in Québec and Hydro-Québec is the fourth largest hydropower producer in the world.
  The company logo, a stylized "Q" fashioned out of a circle and a lightning bolt, was designed by Montreal-based design agency Gagnon/Valkus in 1960.
context_section_description: The construction and operation of electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities has environmental effects and Hydro-Québec's activities are no exception. Hydroelectric development affects the natural environment where facilities are built and on the people living in the area. For instance, the development of new reservoirs increases the level of mercury in lakes and rivers, which works up the food chain. It temporarily increases the emission of greenhouse gases from reservoirs and contributes to shoreline erosion.
  In addition, hydroelectric facilities transform the human environment. They create new obstacles to navigation, flood traditional hunting and trapping grounds, force people to change their eating habits due to the elevated mercury content of some species of fish, destroy invaluable artifacts that would help trace the human presence on the territory, and disrupt the society and culture of Aboriginal people living near the facilities.
  Since the early 1970s, Hydro-Québec has been aware of the environmental externalities of its operations. The adoption of a Quebec statute on environmental quality in 1972, the cancellation of Champigny Project, a planned pumped storage plant in the Jacques-Cartier River valley in 1973, and the James Bay negotiations leading to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975, forced the company to reconsider its practices.
  To address environmental concerns, Hydro-Québec established an environmental protection committee in 1970 and an Environmental Management unit in September 1973. Its mandate is to study and measure the environmental effects of the company, prepare impact assessment, and develop mitigation strategies for new and existing facilities, while conducting research projects in these areas, in cooperation with the scientific community.
caption: The northern pike (Esox lucius) is more prevalent today in the Robert-Bourassa Reservoir than it was before the flooding of the reservoir. The increase of this population has been counterbalanced by a decline in the walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) population.[99]
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