Dozens of organizations across the province have signed a letter opposing run of river projects in British Columbia, casting a social rights lens on issue that has been all about the environment.
There are 61 signatories so far that represent a variety of interests. They include, not just the unions and conservation groups that have already emerged as vocal opponents, but also faith-based and social justice groups like the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy and St. James Anglican Church.
The Council of Canadians (CoC) drafted the letter with the help of the Wilderness Committee, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union and B.C. Citizens for Public Power, CoC spokesperson Harjap Crewel said.
"In the press, the environmental issues have been played up so much. The social justice aspect is just as important," he said. "It was circulated broadly, I think a lot of the organizations understand the issue regardless of whether they're an environmental organization, or whether they weighed in on public-private debates in the past,"
The letter, which does not call specifically for a moratorium on new power development, states:
We, the undersigned organizations and community groups, believe in achieving green energy policy by promoting a vision of a sustainable community that includes democracy, accountability, conservation and community based public power. Therefore, we oppose the development of private power projects (also known as "independent power projects" or IPPs or "run of the river") on BC rivers."
Colleen Kimmett reports for The Hook.
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seth
2 years ago
Pirate Power - New Numbers just in
The NDP has no better issue than IPP's to show that Gordon Campbell may actually have the record for the worst financial manager in Canadian history beating even Joey Smallwood for stupidity by throwing away as much as 50 billion dollars in taxpayers money. That's four convention centre cost overruns every year for forty years.
Check this out for details.
http://publicpowerissues.blogspot.com/
To start we have Plutonic's $4 billion Bute inlet project which produces 3000 Gwh annually at an average annual cost of to ratepayers of 400 million dollars. Running that $4 billion at BC Governments 4% 30 year bond issue rate comes out to 200 million a year - half the cost.
Campbell's innovative Buy High Sell Low power policies buying power at 12 cents a kwh and selling it at 2 cents will force our power rates to almost triple over the next three years to cover BCHydro's up to 50 billion in IPP losses. And Gordo promises to keep buying. Will that be 50 billion be 100 billion by the next election?
BCHydro sells its own surplus power during the spring freshette and buys during in the off peak markets at low rates. Now it has to dump up to 15000 gwh of IPP power that it buys at as much as 12 cents a kwh and must sell at 2 cents or less for an estimated loss of $1400 million every year.
During the forty year IPP contract period keeping spot prices low, we have solar PV power in the California desert at 1.7 cent a kwh dropping to .8 within a few years, nuclear power at 2 cents dropping to one cent in five to ten years, and to a tiny fraction of a cent when nuclear fusion might just rear its ugly head in the ten to fifteen years.
Today the spot market reflects fuel saving energy producers can realize by buying off the sport market and slowing or shutting down coal and natural gas generators. With a nuclear/wind/solar environment in the US there are no fuel savings so producers will be a lot less likely to buy off the spot market. Prices will drop to almost nothing over the near/long term making it unlikely BCHydro will be able to use any of its IPP power in the five to ten year time frame of its 40 year contracts.
So in the last days "Get on it" Start shouting these numbers from the rooftops, in political speeches, in newspaper, radio and TV ads.
SharingIsGood
2 years ago
Great article
Yes, the social justice issue related to the ROR nightmare is huge.
I can't wait for Luke with some meaningles bit of deflection to try to turn the topic away from Colleen's wonderful scoop. While I'm on the topic of annoying deflections, PAB employee deflections are likewise a spit in the face to social justice. Why should BC citizens be paying to have people collect our thought so that they can be both overtly and covertly manipulated by a spiteful government that does not share the information its citizens want?
The taxpayers/citizens are the province's shareholders. Our cheif executive officer and his board of directors is guilty of with-holding information that rightfully belongs to the shareholders. Campbell in contempt of this province. If he were a businessman in the private sector (which, BTW, he failed at miserably), he'd have been hauled before the courts long ago for keeping the shareholders in the dark while he divvied up and sold the company for a loss to the shareholders in backroom deals. All the while, he pushed through a payraise for himself and his Board of Directors - hush money, I call it!
PAB personnel reading this can begin to think about how they are going to put food on the table once their jobs are gone on the 12th. If I were a PAB employee, I wouldn't show up for work for the next few days, I'd be out pounding the pavement, trying to get a jump on all of the other PABsters and CanWest brothers and sisters who will also be looking for work. Once the election is over, here and in NS, Canada will be an NDP sandwich.
WHAT
2 years ago
SharingIsGood Seth
SharingIsGod
The tyee should look at it incoming IP list. I agree with you...
Seth, thanks for the info!
Energy Recruiter
2 years ago
Bitter complaining gets us nowhere
They participation of environmental and public interest groups in the emergence of a viable private power industry in this province is welcome. Hopefully it will become part of the oversight that helps lead to effective best-practices and expertise in these and related clean energy projects (wind, ROR etc).
The fact is that right now 1,100 people are employed by BC's private clean energy developments, doing work that they can feel relatively good about. Facts please: Private sector proponents LEASE the water licenses to generate power. Of the 700 applications made in the past 10 years, about 1/10 have actually received permits to do not much more than measure water rate of flow and other aspects of the resource. This is leagues away from anything resembling theft, that the anti-IPP lobby has rather irresponsibly called it.
So much of the contempt for these relatively low-impact power projects, that could put tradespeople and science professionals to work and build capacity, seems to not necessarily be aimed at the technology, or proponents. Its aimed at Gordon Campbell. It would be appreciated by the skilled workers of this province, I one of them, if the anti-IPP lobby would please stop confusing these two parties, and endangering a potential climate-friendly bread-winner for BC'ers.
Janie Jones
2 years ago
IPP jobs in BC not going to British Columbians
Unfortunately Energy Recruiter if you are indeed one of the skilled workers of this province who wants to work on the IPPs you have to work for US mammoth Kiewit or petroleum industry giant industry Ledcor neither of which is a BC based company. As a result the 1000+ jobs you're bragging about are not going to British Columbias but to out of province workers flying back and forth across Canada to work 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week for 28 days in a row.
I know that for a fact because I worked for Kiewit and took information from every incoming employee that included their home address and approx 80% are not from here.
You are acting the corporate stooge if you don't know that and lying if you do.
Frank
2 years ago
Energy Recruiter
The CBC has already reported damage being done. Damage that can't be undone.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/05/06/bc-environmental-inspections-private-power-projects.html
And even the picture they use, which looks pretty nice compared to many I've seen, shows the rivers will never be the same again.
And as for the power, we, the people of BC, don't own it nor do we benefit from it.
The already partially privatized BC Hydro is being forced to support private companies producing power for the USA.