Who's Behind 'BC Citizens For Green Energy'?
Group with BC Liberal ties slams gov't critics, pushes private power, nuclear.
BCCGE's Bruce Sanderson and Gene Vickers.
A bold new voice emerged in the provincial discussion about B.C. energy policy last spring, right around the time public outrage was peaking against private hydro development in the Pitt River watershed.
The B.C. Citizens for Green Energy (BCCGE) -- whose name is an apparent take on the B.C. Citizens for Public Power -- launched a website in March, containing articles and press releases aggressively attacking environmentalists, the B.C. Citizens for Public Power, and the organized labour groups that support them.
From its inception, the BCCGP displayed hallmarks of an "Astroturf" group -- a fake grass-roots organization designed to both promote industry-friendly messages and marginalize critics. Over the last year, the group has taken its fight to the editorial pages of B.C. newspapers big and small, and has attempted to publicly discredit two university academics and at least one prominent B.C. journalist.
Unlike its arch nemesis, B.C. Citizens For Public Power, the group does not have non-profit society status, and the website offers scant details about where publicly solicited donations go or on whose behalf the BCCGE's aggressive lobbying and attacks are made.
BCCGP co-spokesman Gene Vickers says his group is just a bunch of passionate, right-of-centre British Columbians who strongly agree with industry and government on energy policy. He acknowledges that the opposition to the Pitt River developments was a motivating factor in the group going public, but insists that they receive no money or direction from industry or government.
"If I was being paid by Gordon Campbell to say what I'm saying, and I was saying the right thing, it would probably be OK," says the ex-BC Liberal activist and former cop turned amateur clown, motivational speaker, car salesman, and energy policy co-spokesman. "But I'm not being paid by anybody."
Who Are They?
The BC Citizens For Green Energy take direction from a steering committee, which, according to co-spokesman Bruce Sanderson, contributes intelligence and general direction to the organization.
Committee member Mark MacDonald ran unsuccessfully for the BC Liberal nomination in 2005 for Nanaimo-Parksville, and is a fixture on the Liberal Nanaimo riding constituency board. BC Liberal supporter Pamela Gardner was appointed to the BC Liberal's Women's Commission on March 6 of this year -- an organization tasked with empowering women and "encourage[ing] them to get actively involved in policy development and party initiatives." Since 2005, she has donated more than $1000 to the BC Liberal party, on behalf of both her business and herself.
Then there is Robert Ruf, a registrar at Okanagan College in Kelowna, who was appointed on Sept. 24 to Gordon Campbell's Citizens' Conservation Council on Climate Action for the Thompson Okanagan. The members of the council will advise government on the "best ways to encourage individuals, groups and communities in their regions to learn more about climate change, participate in climate action initiatives, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
Co-spokesman Sanderson is the president of IT company Galaxy Multimedia Corp., whose former president and controller both recently left the company to take top executive posts at independent power producer Max Power Corporation (since renamed Syntaris Power). Syntarus is currently proposing run of river projects near Chilliwack, Squamish, and Stewart. Sanderson told The Tyee that both executives left before his time, and that he has no personal connection with either of them.
Vickers was formerly active with the BC Liberals in Port Moody, where he ran twice (unsuccessfully) for Port Moody municipal council. His aspirations for political office ended in 2004 when he was caught failing to disclose election campaign expenses.
Letters to the editor
While the traffic to the website has been modest, the BCCGE's greatest success has been its ability to place letters in the editorial pages of weekly and daily newspapers across British Columbia.
Between March and November of this year, Sanderson and Vickers placed over 20 letters in B.C. newspapers, including the Vancouver Sun, the Province, and Victoria Times Colonist.
Vickers has placed letters in response to articles about electric cars, plans to power cruise ships) by plug in electrical power at ports, and the Vancouver underground electrical fire and black-out.
The persistent BCCGE message is that opposition to private power development comes from a narrow cross section of BC society: environmentalists such as the Wilderness Committee, well-financed unions ideologically opposed to private industry, and the decent, well-meaning folks who are misled by the propaganda of the former two.
"These guys have got a whack of money and they like to go out guns-a-blazin' and shoot at anything that smells of private sector," says Sanderson of labour in a scathing editorial critical of BC energy policy opposition that ran in at least three Black Press media outlets between June 2 and 24, 2008.
The group has also been quoted as energy experts by journalists writing about B.C. energy with little apparent scrutiny of their energy policy credentials: in July, Vickers appeared in a Victoria Times Colonist article about the Vancouver electrical fire and blackout, where he decries the sorry state of BC Hydro's electrical infrastructure. The same day, the same piece appeared in the Vancouver Sun under the headline "Power Outages Reveal Aging Infrastructure: Experts."
A month earlier, Vickers was featured in the Lake Windermere Valley Echo in advance of an anti-IPP rally featuring local MLA Norm Macdonald and Rafe Mair, a spokesperson for Save Our Rivers Society who also is a regular Tyee columnist. In the article, Vicker's group, which is described by the journalist as "a mostly West Coast-based volunteer organization," attacked the credentials of rally participants COPE, the Wilderness Committee and Save Our Rivers Society.
Regarding the latter, Vickers rhetorically asked who was behind the Save Our Rivers Society (SORS). "Until recently it was entirely anonymous."
But Vickers and company are equally anonymous -- they are neither a formal society or registered charity ("we're too small to even bother with registration as a non profit," Sanderson told The Tyee), and they actively solicit online donations without providing any information about where or to whom the money goes.
Attacking journalists and academics
Broadcast journalist and radio commentator Keith Baldrey was the target of BCCGE mudslinging in October when he agreed to appear at a Vancouver meeting organized by the B.C. Citizens For Public Power.
"...it's fair to ask if Baldrey will be helping them push misinformation and scare tactics," said Vickers in a widely-distributed July 14 press release entitled "Veteran Journalist's anti-IPP activity Raises Concerns."
Most recently the group has been aggressively promoting) the work of Mark Jaccard, who was hired by the Independent Power Producers' association to critique the work of two prominent SFU-academics on the subject of B.C. energy policy.
Says Vickers of SFU academic and author John Calvert's research: "This nonsense comes up everywhere from confused letters in newspapers to angry speeches delivered to partisan mobs. Now they've been thoroughly discredited -- demolished, in fact. But not before they've scared a lot of well-intentioned people."
IT, green power and nuclear reactors
Co-spokesman Sanderson has also found novel opportunities to lobby for green power. On Sept. 29, he appeared before the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services -- a process intended to solicit public input on the priorities for the upcoming February 2009 provincial budget.
"I would also like to say that we have enjoyed and applauded the changes that this current government has made since coming to power and sincerely hope that it continues for many years to come," he said.
Although he was appearing on behalf of Galaxy Multimedia Corp., Sanderson soon changed tracks.
"In the upcoming budget there needs to be a much greater effort to promote independent development of alternative forms of energy such as wind, geothermal, run-of-the-river, solar, as well as exploration into the new thorium nuclear reactors..."
Related Tyee stories:
- Private River Power Draws Diverse Foes
'Green' claims disputed. - Another Side to Private Power
First Nations, municipalities explore controversial energy source. - BC's Billion-Dollar Wind Power Giveaway
We're heavily subsidizing private power developers. Will Californians profit big?
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
zalm
18-12-2008
'S'funny, I can't say I'm
'S'funny, I can't say I'm opposed to the principle of run-of-river power. But I am opposed to the way it found its way into provincial policy. Exempting its projects from environmental review and handing out licences to insiders isn't how I thought it would be most advantageous to the province to do this.
And articles like this do nothing to change my mind in either direction. I pity those people who only get their information from the print press....
Jeffrey J.
18-12-2008
Right Wing Think Tank Mania
Sadly, the phenomena of expanding "think tank" and astroturf organizations has crept across the border from the US and is now in BC. This organization is a perfect example. Unregistered, unaccountable, attacking rational interest in public policy. Led by a used car dealer! Good grief. Great coverage, as always.
Fiat lux
18-12-2008
What nobody is talking about
What nobody is talking about is the sordid fact that, while the public is urged to "save power" by pulling the cords on appliances, etc., the real reason for all this increase in power generation is for more automation, to replace human labour with huge inputs of other forms of energy, as "efficiency".
The plans are for the total exploitation of our resources with automated equipment and slave labour imported from Mexico under the planned SPP treaty.
When we look at the real figures of how much electric, or oil energy is needed to replace humans, we can see the real causes of ecological and human destruction all over the world.
And all this has been made possible through the deregulation of the money creating powers of the banks, permitting and making gross overcapitalization possible, resulting in inflation to the public, loss of employment opprtunities, covered up with fraudulent statistics and the ultimate, inevitable crash.
But, economists and pimp politicians will tell us that all this is "efficient", because the multinational corporate mafia can rake in huge profits.
Adam Smith said so over 200 years ago and who could argue with the prophets of "economic efficiency" ?
Ask our university economics departments.
Ed Deak.
reallife
18-12-2008
BCCGE unsuccessful
If the BCCGE's goal is to counter misinformation circulated by enviro groups, they have not been very successful. Evidence this post by zalm:
"Exempting its projects from environmental review and handing out licences to insiders"
Hydro projects that meet the longstanding thresholds set under the Environmental Assessment Act are subject to review. Water licences are available to all applicants.
BCCPP
18-12-2008
Citizens for Green Energy - Exposed at last!
Many thanks to Christopher Pollon, on behalf of BC Citizens for Public Power, for an informative article that, at last, exposes the group BC Citizens for Green Energy for what it is.
When this astroturf group appeared on the scene--a deliberate attempt to undermine the work of the BCCPP--we were initially concerned about its potential impact on our thousands of donors and supporters across BC.
But, frankly, in spite of this group's efforts to promote private power under the pretence of "green" energy, the rhetoric of BC Citizens for Green Energy is so transparent as IPP industry promotion and provincial Liberal government energy policy that very little confusion emerged.
Similarly, BC Citizens for Green Energy's criticisms of the numerous groups and citizens who oppose the privatization of BC's electricity sector are so unsophistocated that their remarks rarely merit a response from the groups that they target.
The reality is, our non-profit organization is far too busy working to save our publicly owned electricity sector and our province's pristine rivers, creeks, and land from economic and environmental ruin that we have neither the time nor the inclination to respond to astroturf groups like BC Citizens for Green Energy.
The movement to protect public power and the environment in BC is increasing. And our organization will soon be launching a new campaign, with support and participation from numerous citizens and community groups, environmental organizations, First Nations, labour organizations.
Check our website in the new year for details: www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
Melissa Davis, Executive Director
BC Citizens for Public Power
dave49
18-12-2008
Nukes
The last things we need is a bunch of car salesman pushing things like nuclear power. CANDU has been the biggest money pit in Canada's history. Over $80 billion in cumulative investment since the early 1950s and little to show for it.
dave49
18-12-2008
The root of our problem - economic paradigm
Ed,
There was a point when several economic theories were competing for adoption by the Western nations. One was an ecological model which looked at material, energy and waste flows. However, it lost out to the Keynesian model, which reduces everything to “aggregate demand”. Aggregate demand is an abstract concept and we live in a real, physical world. Our planet is powered by the sun and the only real growth is by biological resources: plants and trees, animals and fish, insects, and microorganisms. All we do is convert and consume resources (and produces feces and urine).
Many times I have wondered where we would be if we had adopted that ecological paradigm. We might not be as ‘advanced’, but at least we would have a more sustainable society.
The market is a similar abstract construct. There is a whole body of ‘scarcity’ economics which looks at non-renewable resources. However, since the concepts do not integrate into supply-demand market mechanism, they are primarily the domain of academics and students. Further, there is the well-established concept of market failures, which the Fraser Institute types will vehemently deny since fixing those failures involves the dreaded government intervention. Even Milton Friedman acknowledges these and says there are points where the state must step in.
At at recent talk, "Population Bomb" author and biologist Paul Ehrlich told of being asked by an economist why the earth could not support an infinite population. Economics is a field divorced from physical reality and taught that way. By definition, working economists are right wing. The only place for left wing economists is academia where they can toil away hoping to at least enlighten a few students. But those students graduate to a world view that see growth (population, economic, etc.) as both good and necessary.
quarry bay
18-12-2008
Does it matter?
Does it really matter who they are? We know it is the BC Liberal goverment either directly or indirectly.
I posted before,even if you don`t care about fish getting chopped up by turbines or a spiders web of transmission lines through out the province.
How wise is it to give away for NOTHING, these revenue sources,here we are in a global recession/depression and who knows if the forestry industry in BC will ever recover?
Only a fool would give these money makers away to private equity firms,to big American firms,BC Hydro can build run of river cheaper and it is simple technology,BC needs all the revenue sources it can get,we are a province with a billion dollar year over year deficit and tens of billions in future debt!
If we are going to ruin our natural beauty,destroy our river and creeks,should we not destroy them for the good of BCers? That is the question.
On a final note,the Pitt river project is only dead until after the election, if Campbell wins in may all bets are off,every river,mountain,stream,everything is for sale at fire sale prices.
The Pitt river will be revived,here is the story
http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_maple_ridge/mapleridgenews/news/35575269.html
quarry bay
18-12-2008
here is that link
http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/mapleridgenews/news/35575269.html
Pitt river isn`t dead yet
quarry bay
18-12-2008
Andy Ross link
http://www.canada.com/burnabynow/news/community/story.html?id=ea3379d6-d965-4eb3-b083-9740cc33d7ac
lynn
18-12-2008
River rights
Good article.
I agree, kootenay, this is all about the massive amount of money to be made in ROR projects - projects that will dam and divert and destroy our finest rivers and the eco-culture that depends on them....rivers that belong to all the people of this province...more importantly rivers that should be allowed to exist and thrive in the timescape that is the natural world ....and not for the benefit and profit of short-sighted private and foreign interests.
GE began its "partnering" investment with Plutonic Power Toba Inlet run-of-river with an "oh-so-unobtrusively" off-the-public-radar mere one million dollar investment that has since escalated to a massive FOUR BILLION DOLLAR one....with yet more to come.
That is the real ugly insidiousness of these supposed small "green" projects...their sly morphing into monsters.... and there are massive amounts of run-of-river applications presently under consideration in BC as well....an exploding truly massive footprint that is intrusively stomping on our wilderness areas....and all coyly marketed as "green energy".
They presently, and for some time now, have had work crews working in rotating twelve hour shifts on the Toba River project....the corporate guys can't get their hands on the money fast enough.
I also agree, kootenay...yes, good on Danny Williams. He's a rare and rather noble breed these days - especially considering the arrogant corporate crew of corrupt political yokels presently at the helm who are running our province, our country and our democratic process - straight into the ground.
C Hatch
18-12-2008
environmentalists against climate solutions
The real question for me is why run-of-river needs an astroturf outfit to make the green case?
Where are the traditional enviro groups? They've been sounding the alarm for deacades. Now its clear we at at the brink of global warming disaster, and "environmentalists" are fighting renewable energy companies?!
This is a honest to god crisis. Enviros need to move to triage mode. We gotta get wind, hydro, solar, geothermal etc built at breakneck speed.
I think about how wrong it was to fight big hydro back in the day. Today BC would be burning coal if those dams weren't built.
To be fair, David Suzuki and Pembina have voiced their support for run-of-river as part of the solution. But the ideological fights about state ownership and opposition to wilderness encroachment are much more sustained campaigns.
Its way past time for environmentalists to prioritize runaway global warming and get out of the way of solutions.
lynn
18-12-2008
well said, quarry bay
well said, quarry bay.
And just as an afterthought to C Hatch:
Rivers do not exist purely for man's existence or profit...to forget that...the reverence for and interconnectivity between all things in nature...is exactly why the world finds itself in such dire environmental and economic straits.
If you think those two things (our environmental and economic choices) are not related, think again.
Aroo
18-12-2008
My 2 cents
@reallife: Projects under 50 MW are subject only to the federal Environmental Assessment, kind of an EA-lite (less rigour, still tastes great!). And there have been recent rumblings of further 'streamlining' to the federal process to encourage development in these tough economic times... And the lauded safeguard that is the provincial Environmental Assessment? I refer interested parties to this document: http://www.wcel.org/deregulation/bill38.pdf
@C Hatch: Suzuki also wrote in one of his books about a publicly owned utility being more responsive to the public good and a better champion and enforcer of conservation than private corps.
There is no doubt that climate change is the biggest challenge we will face in the coming years (and I bet me more'n you, 'cos I also bet I'm younger). But I'm getting pretty tired this urgency being used to foist greenwashing and corporate money grabs on people, instead of seeking out real, multilayered solutions that are economically healthy in the long term and respectful of communities.
C Hatch
18-12-2008
reverence
I'm all for reverence of the interconnectedness. It pains me that "undeveloped" rivers will have run-of-river.
But we have a real world crisis with tradeoffs here and we are minutes to midnight (if not too late already).
What about reverence for the billions of people soon displaced, starving and without water as the tropics and sub-tropics become unlivable?
What about reverence for the 50% of species which are doomed without a transition to low carbon energy?
I think the choices are miserable but that is no excuse -- we live in the real world at this awful juncture and have to make miserable choices.
Let's look to Germany and other places that are having success. They are incentivizing private individuals and companies to get low carbon energy up and running. They are making the tough social/ecological decisions to site wind farms etc.
Thanks to existing hydro, BC has much better options that most. I suggest reading today's clean break post on going 100% renewables -- that's what BC could do by building out green energy:
http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2008/12/18/scheer-ontario-could-go-100-per-cent-renewable/
G West
18-12-2008
Once again
The real question here is 'need'. We don't need the 'extra' power - we need conservation.
Have a look at Hydro's own projections for the next 20 years if you don't believe me.
Damming rivers here to create power to sell to Americans and create profits for Campbell's friends and financiers is insane.
You want to know who's behind this misinformation push? Have a look at the list of registered lobbyists
Follow up on your own time, if you wish:
https://eservice.ag.gov.bc.ca/lra/public_reports.jsp
foobar
18-12-2008
quarry bay
I fail to see how any person who claims to be even vaguely interested in environmental issues, and who takes issue with a policy to expand electricity generation, can be against the two-tier BC Hydro rate plan.
It's absolutely the most effective way to get people to conserve electricity. It's the most fair way to make electricity hogs pay more.
Anyone who is even remotely interested in "saving the planet" would be applauding the rate plan. The fact that people whine about it exposes them as environmental posers.
lynn
18-12-2008
One trade-off after another
That's the problem, C Hatch, always another trade-off....over a "manufactured urgency" that could be prevented.....except there are BIG profits for the private sector to be made in war... and crisis....and shortages.
BC Hydro was doing just great until the Campbell government intentionally disabled it....all for the benefit of their IPP friends...and against the common good of the citizens of this province..
And I doubt the displaced and the starving will be the first to benefit from IPP's....don't worry, this energy and water already has a "special" someone's name on it. ( btw... private corporate culture has caused much of the suffering of displacement and starvation and water shortages....mostly due to those infamous "trade-offs" that our history as human beings.)
As G West notes it is about conservation.
It's simple.
We have to live our lives differently.
For us as citizens, the privatization of our resources is devastating. It results in loss of control over our own valuable resources, over our economy....and thus over our own lives.
I'll tell you one thing.... as someone who has hiked often in Desolation Sound, private citizens will not be allowed anywhere near Toba and now Bute Inlet's ROR's. We won't have access any longer....and we won't know what is really happening behind "the closed doors" of
so-called green ROR energy.
There are many imaginative solutions to energy that do not involve destroying our rivers, our wilderness and our autonomy over our public resources.
quarry bay
18-12-2008
2 teir power
Have ridiculous levels at which 2 teir power rates kick in,the money being charged is funneled from BCers to bloated contracts with private power profiteers,punish all the rural BCers who don`t have access to natural gas, natural gas has a carbon footprint,hydro doesn`t.
I have replaced all my light bulbs,I turn off everything I can and I still get whacked with a 2 teir rate,My house is small,I am not an energy hog.
I am now burning more wood because of high hydro rates, yet big polluting industry gets hydro cheaper than ever, I recycle,I don`t pollute,why should I subsidize big industry?
Foobar(fubar) Everyone was sold a bill of goods and BC Hydro marketed electric products at us with the lure of stable electric rates.
Hydro rates have gone 33% since april of this year,guess what, the base rate for EVERYONE IS GOING UP ANOTHER 11% across the board for everyone at the end of this month.
You have to understand the reason for the increases,the increases are going to private profiteers,increases are going to run power lines to the USA at our expense.
These latest increases are only the tip of the iceberg,Campbell has signed 55 billion dollars worth of private contracts to private profiteers and more are being signed everyday, if the increase was for hospitals,schools,transit,food for children I wouldn`t care but it`s not,the money is leaving the country.
quarry bay
18-12-2008
Anyone who doubts what I say
Should read this from the Vancouver sun
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=be4c05c2-444b-4624-afbb-fb98ac8b799e
The story does not include tens of billions more in contracts to private profiteers in the last year and a half
Fiat lux
18-12-2008
One of these days humanity
One of these days humanity will have to come to grip with the ages old physical law that costs can not be cut, only transferred on other sectors, the environment and the future.
The main purpose of economic theories and ideologies has always been to set up ruling sectors who will benefit from the spread of the real costs, while making others pay.
This has always been so, in the past ordained by priesthoods, now by the pseudo priesthood of economists.
Privatization and PPPs are the biggest rackets, increasing real and monetary costs and making the public pay through the nose, either in monetary terms, or through the loss of control, services and
democratic decision making powers.
It makes no difference who puts up the investment, if and when the public has to pay for it, and in the case of privatized services, high interests on the principal plus on the interests and service charges.
Ed Deak. Big Lake.
Fish-counter
18-12-2008
Thorium reactors.....
Bruce Sanderson can explore the new thorium reactors to his heart's content - as long as does it at his own expense and in his very privately-owned country on the other side of the world.
BC does need to overhaul its power grid, but we need nuclear energy in the same way Whistler needs another collapsed ski tower.
UnCivilizedEngineer
18-12-2008
Need?
There is no way to replace fossil fuels on a widespread basis without replacing them with another form of energy - this will be electricity.
Plug in hybrids and heat pumps/geothermal energy are going mainstream at a rapid pace - they will have a serious presence in 5 years time. BC's energy plan includes neither of these technologies in its projections - let's hope those billion-dollars of smart meters work. That coupled with the eventual mothballing of the dinosaur, Burrard Thermal, we will need a lot more electrical power.
We should be thankful that we have an almost unlimited supply of renewable energy in BC, especially because everyone shares the the fossil fuel supply and emissions. If we can develop an export market for renewable energy we should be commended for helping the US curb its GHGs and charge them out the ass for it at the border.
The key point is we have an opportunity to develop not just an export market for energy, but the expertise of developing it in a responsible manner. That goes for hydro, wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, tidal and wave. Are we really expecting our public electricity company to master every single one of these technologies in a non-market environment?
Market forces help to innovate better solutions over time by punishing poor decisions. Governments can seldom pull this off because good technical decisions are often sideswiped by political interference, then when bad decisions become white elephants it costs even more money to fix it (seems to dog every gov't). Participation from the private sector is essential to BCs continued reputation as a renewable energy leader. That means owning a small stake in order to continue to fund innovation.
G West
18-12-2008
Un civilized engineer
Have you seen BC Hydro's own projected energy needs estimates for the next 2o years?
If you have, you'll know that they anticipate energy requirements in 2027 to be virtually the same as productive capacity today.
Private firms are only interested in profits and that's not what a public utility should be enabling.
We've just been witnessing the effects of turning the financial and business sectors into a market driven mayhem. Why would anyone support MORE of this criminal nonsense?
Instead of 'creating value' and serving public needs and interests, the record of this government and its monomania for market solutions has been destroying value, not creating it. The lure of the vast and largely unearned profits that private interests promote - using taxpayer's money in the cases of a company like Hydro and alos BC Ferries hava achieved little more than handicapping public service and corrupting society as a whole.
Let's end it now before our own Bernard Madoff walks away with all the jewellery.
These masters of the universe haven't managed to master anything but the art of the ponzi scheme.
It's time to wake up!
zalm
19-12-2008
Uncivilized Engineer
"Market forces help to innovate better solutions over time by punishing poor decisions. Governments can seldom pull this off because good technical decisions are often sideswiped by political interference, then when bad decisions become white elephants it costs even more money to fix it (seems to dog every gov't). Participation from the private sector is essential to BCs continued reputation as a renewable energy leader. That means owning a small stake in order to continue to fund innovation."
I'd like to believe that, but what I find is that market forces have conspired to raise consumption to unsustainable levels in just over twenty years.
In the 1950s, the average family house was built on the same city lots today, but comprised 1350 square feet, no more than two bathrooms, and low-demand heating appliances to go with its low-tech insulation and wasteful appliances.
Now, thanks to the miracle of insulation and technology, energy use per household is up 45% over those days, mostly due to houses being built to the standard of 3100 square feet "because anything less would not extract the full value from the land" (Bob Ransford) regardless of whether today's much smaller family (1.78 children) can make use of all that space or not.
The solution to this problem isn't more technology. That got us into this mess. mor innovation won't get us out. IT will only continue to allow us to fool ourselves that we're doing something when we're not.
panamajack
19-12-2008
Where does the BCSEA stand?
Great article.
I'm curious what the BCCGE thinks of the BC Sustainable Energy Association? (BCSEA), which looks to be the non-profit least connected with any other contingency group.
The Guy Duancey led group seems to be the only other prominent group not targeted by these Liberal shills; astroturfers might be too strong ... I can honestly believe that these folks actually believe the rhetoric their projecting.
Dr Alexander
19-12-2008
fiat lux! How can you contradict so many Nobel Prize Economists
Simple I would say. Their theories are as fake and contrived as their "Nobel Prize".
There is "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel" that is handed out annually. This is what "they" call the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Alfred Nobel founded the Nobel Prizes in Literature, Medicine, Chemistry, Physics and Peace. Alfred was a pretty smart guy and he did not see fit to include Economics as a discipline/field/study worth awarding.
It is a good thing that the "Nobel Prize in Economics" is not handed out in Canada. The potential winners would have to answer a time-limited skill testing question.
BTW, when people say "I am not an economist, I will leave that up to the experts etc etc..." I say B.S. Everyone who earns money and spends it is an economist. The difference is you and I know that 1+1=2. An economist will say the 1+1=3 and their cut is 1.
Fiat lux
19-12-2008
Of course, you're correct
Of course, you're correct Dr.A. I've been hit with the same claim about "Nobel Prize winning economists" for many years and most people are surprised when I tell them the facts.
The Bank of Sweden Prize was set up in 1968 basically to spread and legitimize the then upcoming neoclassical theory for the conquest of the world by the biggest crime wave.
Hence, like the theory they're pushing, the name of the prize is also a fraud.
The committee that decides who will get the prize remind me of a bunch of drug addicts sitting in a circle, giving shots to each other.
Galbraith, Tobin, or Daly never got it, because they've been trying to uncover the fraud that now enslaves the world. I was surprised to see Stiglitz getting it, but they too must make token gestures to look legit.
Here's an interesting site worth taking part in:
Contribute your video message to the WEF Davos (January 2009):
http://www.youtube.com/davos
Ed Deak, Big Lake.
quarry bay
19-12-2008
I am disappointed
Where are the enviromenalists? Do you really think it`s wise to dam and run transmission lines from a 1000 rivers and streams,what ever happened to super natural BC?
California and Washington state don`t want run of river in their backyard,we should ask why?
Where does it end,where will will the wildlife live? The fish? Birds?
And all of this power generation won`t put one dollar into BCs pocket,it is all private,Campbell made it illegal for BC Hydro to produce this power.
This will be the death blow to wild salmon,there for commercial fishing industry will end(its not a very large industry anymore)
We are already going to lose massive tracts of land to the pine beetle,once all the transmission lines are built and there is no more salmon we might as well dam every river,every stream,every ditch and you know what,even if we dam everything there still won`t be enough power for the USA.
What benefit to BCers? Nothing,cheaper rates? No, higher rates.
One of the few remaining super natural areas in the world, Stanely park is not super natural,what do you think will happen with thousands of access roads?
Hunting,poaching,development,sprawl.
Do any of you realize that 70 years ago almost every stream in the US had fish,game and wildlife was everywhere.
So is BC next to lose it`s wildlife,what land or country will be left for nature.
cghzd
19-12-2008
private power
This private power thing is better than a gold mine and is essentially a licence to print money for those who are now damming up our rivers and selling us back the power at hugely inflated prices.
As an example, Alcan and the Nechacko power project sells us, we the people, thru BC hydro,electricity at $71.00 to $78.00 per megawatt while their cost to produce is $5.00 per megawatt hour!
In any ones books this is out and out theft.
BC hydro has a small hydro plant at Seaton Portage that was built in the late 1940's.
WE THE PEOPLE GET $120 million a year from this site that we are able to put into schools, roads, bridges and other infrastructure that make our society livable.
This money, if this was privately owned, would go to some gated community in Florida to buy another fur coat,Rolls Royce or to finance a insurection in some banana republic.
Hydro and all forms of electric generation,
communications, and water should always be in the public realm.These are far too important to be left in the hands of the boys that has brought western civilization to its knees with the financial debacle we are now about to endure.
North of Hope
19-12-2008
ED quotes,
"The textbook definition of economics is: "The science for the management and distribution of scarce resources."" I believe Ed and I both agree that economics is not a science. It is the manipulation of ideas, just like mathematics. Except math doesn't want to take advantage of you, the mathematician just wishes to advance your thinking.
North of Hope
20-12-2008
Energy sustainability
Recently there has been a lot of talk about Global Warming and Climate Change. These are worthy of a lot of thought and action but they are only the beginning of the process to take care of the environment. We must remember plants, as well as animals and people, are part of the environment.
We need to be concerned about environmental alteration, not just climate change. We must be concerned about all pollutants, not just green house gases (GHG’s.) No chemicals should be used unless they are studied and tested for damage to animals, plants and the environment. These studies must be made public.
Three things we all need are housing, food and energy. We must get these without damaging the environment too much. Any activity we do will alter the environment. We must be able to get these in such a way so all forms of life can continue to live. We must become sustainable in obtaining all of these three things. We may want more things than the big 3 but sustainability is the key. If we are not sustainable in these, then we will run out of them and we may perish.
To reduce energy wrt food, we should use local foods as much as possible. We must grow them without harmful chemicals. BC and Canada should be self-sufficient wrt food. We may import food from other places but at no net cost to the environment.
BC and Canada should be self sufficient and sustainable in energy as well. We have to look at how we are going to get our energy. We must do a complete and thorough study of all ways we can generate energy, whether it be hydro, coal, solar, geothermal, wind, nuclear, wood, biofuels, gas or any other source of energy. All methods must be examined and these results must be public. Only after such a study can we use an energy source. We must do this so our energy sources are sustainable and not harmful to the environment.
For example, with the Site C Dam project, we would look at the costs to the environment, people displaced, farmland lost, water use downstream and the generation of energy without producing GHG’s.
No undertaking such as mining, housing developments, highways, etc. can be done without an environmental and sustainability analysis. We must be careful not to remove too many plants or trees, as we need them to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Other wastes must be recycled rather than thrown into landfills or oceans. Recycling must become a major activity in our sustainable culture.
We must develop a national and provincial energy plan so we can look forward and know we can have a healthy life for future generations.
These people are in for their own good, not the environment nor the public's. It must be stopped now.
Steelyjan
22-12-2008
The real 411 on the BCCGE
My thanks to Christopher Pollon for taking the time to research this and share his findings on who this group is, and more importantly, who they are NOT! There is an obvious need for discredit to be put where it should be, not on the shouders of experts and scientists but on the shoulders of BCCGE representatives who call themselves "experts" without the certification, education or experience to back up such a designation.
Mainstream media should also be discredited for their blatant mis-use of supoprt for projects they do not begin to understand and articles and responses being posted without any homework being done on their own end in order to provide both sides of the story only resulting in more misinformation out there. As if we need anymore of that after the year we have had!
Good on you Christopher and keep up the great work!