favoured the construction of wind turbines. Hydro-electric installations The hydro-electric stations in the La Grande watershed are: La Grande-1 generating station Robert-Bourassa generating station (formerly La Grande-2) La Grande-2-A generating station La Grande-3 generating station La Grande-4 generating station Laforge-1 generating station Laforge-2 generating station Brisay generating station Eastmain-1 generating station Eastmain-1-A generating station Sarcelle generating station Environmental impacts Although there was no environmental impact assessment legislation before the James Bay Project's initial construction phase in the 1970s, a major environmental research program was conducted before Phase I began. The environmental impacts of the James Bay Project largely stem from the creation of a complex chain reservoir through the integration of all the watersheds of the eastern shores of the Hudson Bay, from the southern tip of James Bay to Ungava Bay in the north. This has had the consequence of diverting the flow of water from four major rivers into a large body of water, ultimately changing the dynamics of the land, an environmental political phenomenon labelled by some critics as a "first build, then paint green" policy. Mercury pollution Two of these main diverted rivers are the Caniapiscau River and the Eastmain River into which the James Bay Project submerged about 11,000 km² of boreal forest (taiga). Consequently, the flooded vegetation's stored mercury (Hg) was released into the aquatic ecosystem, and due to the diversion of the water flow to contained reservoirs, the sudden abundance of mercury in the James Bay area in 1979 was unable to be dispersed and diluted as would have been the case in natural waters. Because the James Bay Cree (East Cree) live a mostly traditional lifestyle including a diet rich in fish and sea mammals, there is a possibility that the damming project has contributed to northern Quebec's Cree having the highest measured methyl-mercury concentration of all Canadian First Nations. Because of the simultaneous mercury contamination in James Bay from other activities in the area, including paper milling, the direct effect of the project on mercury levels has been difficult to ascertain. A clear correlation is, however, evident. From 1981-1982, a few years after the flooding of La Grande River, mercury levels in lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) increased up to fourfold their pre-flooding levels, while those in northern pike (Esox lucius) rose up to sevenfold during the same period. In natural lakes, these concentrations are five to six times less than in