Following opposition at a public hearing, Canada's environment minister has blocked a run-of-river type hydro facility proposed to be built on the Upper Pitt river in the province of British Columbia.

Run-of-river hydro electric project divert water into pipes that make it flow through turbines, but do not use large dams or reservoirs to store water.

More than 1,000 people present at the public hearing, organized in Vancouver, opposed the facility, saying that the project plans to divert eight tributaries of the river, which would endanger salmon that breed in the waterway. They also opposed the plan to put transmission lines through a provincial park.