>>1402624Since 1971, the government of Quebec has built hydroelectric dams on rivers in the James Bay watershed, notably La Grande and Eastmain rivers. Built between 1974 and 1996, the James Bay Project now has a combined generating capacity of 16,021 MW and produces about 83 billion kWh of electricity each year, about half of Quebec's consumption. Power is also exported to the United States via a direct transmission high voltage line. The James Bay Project continues to expand, with work that began in 2010 on a new phase that involves the diversion of the Rupert River.
The project covers an area of the size of the State of New York and is one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world. It has cost upwards of US$20 billion to build[citation needed] and has an installed generating capacity of 16,527 megawatts. If fully expanded to include all of the original planned dams, as well as the additional James Bay II projects, the system would generate a total of 27,000 MW,[citation needed] making it the largest hydroelectric system in the world.
Located in a region inhabited by Cree and Inuit 1,000 km (620 mi) north of Montreal, the La Grande River watershed stretches over 177,000 km2 (68,000 sq mi) or approximately 11% of the total area of Quebec, an area larger than the state of Florida or twice the size of Scotland.
The development of the James Bay Project led to an acrimonious conflict with the 5,000 Crees and 4,000 Inuit of Northern Quebec over land rights, lifestyle and environmental issues. A ruling against the Quebec government in 1973 forced the Robert Bourassa government to negotiate a far-reaching agreement, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, involving the Cree, the Naskapi First Nations, the Quebec and Canadian governments, Hydro-Québec and the SEBJ. In the 1990s, forceful opposition by the Crees and their environmental allies caused the cancellation of the Great Whale Project, a proposed 3,000 MW complex north of La Grande River.
