Right On Rafe

This whole IPP venture brought forth by Campbell has nothing to do with creating extra needed electric power by BC. It's all about greasing the palms of those that support the BC Liberal Party monetarily at the expense of not only the citizenry of this province, but also any companies that use great amounts of electricity to produce goods for export.

The run of the river projects are by far the most ludicrous. They will only produce power when we least need it as our dams will be at full production. Their impact on the ecosystem cannot be truly determined until many years after they are up and running. We are having enough of a problem trying to figure out why the sockeye salmon are disappearing, and now we want to mess with the the water that feeds their breeding grounds. What effects will run of the river have on bypassed nutrients created by rerouting these waterways, not to mention the possible effects on water temperature? No one can say for certain at present, and by the time these questions can be answered it will be too late.

On another front, what will the impact of the construction of these energy plants have on the flora and fauna in the areas they are built?

As they say for every action there is a reaction, and in most cases the reaction is at best unpredictable. Nature is a very complicated system, and as such should be disturbed as little as possible.

Gordon Campbell has stated on many occaisions that we should not leave our children and granchildren in debt to pay for our extravagancies. In that vain, should we not also leave them a province that is still functioning as it was designed to do? Or will we leave them the carnage that is left behind? Will our children and grandchildren be relegated to find out about the sockeye salmon and many other species of animals from history, or will they still be able to observe them first hand?

There comes a time where money must give way to the land and its ecosystem. Money is only a system developed by man to enable commerce amongst man. The ecosystem has evolved over many, many years to sustain life. No ecosystem equals no life which leads to no use for money!

Double our rates

According to BC Hydro's 2009 annual report it spent $1.2 billion on domestic purchases $540 million from IPP's and $700 million in water rental agreements and miscellaneous costs. In the same report, it has owned up to contracting for 14,400 gwh for fiscal 2012 an increase of 6600 gwh over 2008.

Now energy minister Lekstrom with his high school diploma has overruled the engineers at BCUC to accept BCHydros additional 3000 gwh buy at 12 cents a kwh adding $360 million to BCHydro's annual cost. Now we hear its back up to 5000 gwh.

Assuming no increase in water rentals and such, that 2009 $1.2 billion will increase to $2.3 billion - $1.6 billion of it in IPP purchases - by 2013 or so doubling our rates.

Altogether Canwest/Gordo will have contracted for $45 billion to buy 10200 Gwh annually of new extremely expensive springtime power roughly one gigawatt baseload equivalent worth maybe $7 billion on the current springtime spot market. The power will be worthless in a little as ten years - 30 years yet to go on the contracts - with new nuclear fusion and nuclear waste burning Gen IV reactors coming on line.

Now there's Gordonomics.

This is one of the most expensive “renewable” purchases made anyway in the world and is ten times the cost of the nuclear equivalent that our competitors in Alberta and Washington state will be using.

Plutonics massive Bute Inlet project $4 billion or $16 billion to the taxpayer over 40 years, 12 cents a kwh average, 3300 GWh annually of useless sprintime power that BCHydro can't use and must sell at a huge loss, 45000 hectares of forest and BC rivers destroyed. If BCHydro built it would cost $3 billion with more experienced, real engineers, and a far better credit rating - cost to the taxpayer 4.5 cents a kwh.

Note that Bute project is the energy equivalent of five of those hot tub size Hyperion nuclear units that our Washington State competitors are buying for 2013 service. They'd cost $150 million 1% of what we are paying the Pirates. They'd all fit in the grounds of the BCHydro's substations next door to the loads , destroying no land, requiring no transmission lines, with 24/7 steady on extremely valuable power.

Sure Plutonic might have to pay some taxes but with the Canwest/Gordo at the helm, you can be sure it will be minimal. You know - the old tax dodge scam. Likely campaign donations will be enough.

If the Neocon nitwits that voted for Gordo and his fascist team think there was a lot of people moving to Alberta during the NDP years, just wait for the exodus of all BC Business's that use electricity to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Washington. Alaska and Montana. The only ones left will be Gordo and his group of BCLiberal party hacks with their Pirate Power fortunes and the remaining great unwashed as their servants. BCHydro and the province will be bankrupt.

We live in an age...............

........where confidence tricksters become honourable (?) politicians.

We have let the foxes rule the hen-house.

next step

The price our Mother Earth is paying for 'progress' is far beyond the limits of sustainable.

Look at the 'sustainable development'. Since when was it natural for man to live in communities so dense that we are living on top of each other. Since when was it natural for a man to move my mechanized means. Since when did milk last for more than 3 days. Since when did man start giving away the resources he needs to sustain himself. Since when did man loose respect for the bounty of nature. Since when did man loose touch with realty and consciousness.

The people who recognize (and there are a lot of us) the harm being done by 'progress' in every area need a leader. We need someone to represent us. We are the people born on this land. We have a right to clean, healthy resources to sustain ourselves.

There needs to be a whole new look at the way we have 'progressed'. Was it really progress if for the last 40-50 years everything we have done has damaged not only our natural resources but also 'the fabric of our society'?

The only way out of this mess is to have one organization with as many committees as we need to protect our people and resources from 'progress'. We must return to having respect for each other and the land.

There are so many organizations right now and every one is doing the best they can. All these people need to unite under one umbrella and present their research, suggestions and support for each other and mankind.

The next thing that needs to happen is to let the people know this organization is out there and watching. Marketing - check in to how Obama's campaign was run, follow Coke's campaign, Microsoft, etc. All these campaigns are successful in achieving world wide recognition and support.

Next step - organize
Next step - campaign for support
Next step - implement safeguards to protect people and nature
Next step - grow and spread the message and procedures to the rest of the world.

Step by step

However, if people don't organize it will be too late. It already is. Suzuki says 'we are in the last minute of the last hour'. You have to hear the words before this statement but it is true. We need to stop first. Just stop. Stop anything and everything that is damaging to our Earth. Start finding practical sustainable ways of providing the same services we have had to stop. Rebuild our societies in natural sustainable ways.

I hope somebody somewhere listens and does something to see that people who care about life not money are represented somewhere in this world.

Tzaporah Berman

How do we get Ms. Berman to quit being a mouthpiece for Gordo and his IPP buddies? I was just looking at the list of ex-Liberal cabinet ministers on the boards of IPP's. And they all just paid alot of money to have Ms. Berman come and speak to them about what a wonderful green bunch they are at some kind of astro turf "Green Business" conference. If I hear one more "environmentalist" praising Gordo for his absolutely ineffective and greenwashing carbon tax while he's cut funding for Transit down to life support levels, but cut taxes for big oil,I'm going to jam their bike chain with their own Berkenstocks.

I agree with you Rafe and

I agree with you Rafe and all the comments that have been made on this subject. All these questions have been asked before and the trouble is that no one is answering them. Gordo and his gang just keep on doing what they're doing and say squat to the legit questions. Oh sure, Gordo will appear on the Bill Good program occasionally and gives a real spin on some soft questions. Bill doesn't have the gonads to ask real questions or follow-up ones. Before you know it the time-slot is and up NW98 is onto some other topic. Isn't it strange that Gordo doesn't appear on any other broadcast unless he controls the topic.

Well done Rafe!

It is very clear why there aren't any good talk show hosts left in BC. The media could not be controlled as long as one of these free-thinking individuals had access to the air waves. We sure could use a few now. Campbell will go down as the most "expensive" Premier we have ever had. The cost to BC's future is immense. I can only hope that he leaves before BC is completely sold off and ruined.

The thin edge of the wedge

With the vast array of other energy production methods being considered by other provinces and our southern neighbour, I can’t believe that a few weeks of an abundant supply of electricity is what the private power producers are after. I also don’t think that having hydro as a cornered purchaser of this power is the golden egg they are after either.

With our relatively abundant supply of fresh, clean water, at least in comparison to many other areas of the world - including our southern neighbour - can privatization of our watersheds for the production of water be far behind once these corporations get their foot in the door?

Corporate greed is encroaching ever closer to ‘commodifying’ things we need to have in order to live. I would much prefer to have the status of ‘citizen’ than the status of ‘consumer’ when it comes to the basics of life, such as water, or even the basics of contemporary life, such as electricity, because the failings and foibles of our governments are pale in comparison to what can be dished out by corporations in their scramble to keep their bottom line profitable.

Fraser Institute Continues to Set Policy

Right on Rafe. We are witnessing the roll out of the continuing right wind policy objectives of the non-elected business elites.

"The purpose of the conservative movement is to change public opinion and public policy, not solely to elect a party to office with a particular name" Tom Flanagan & Stephen Harper

"The Fraser Institute...held its 30th anniversary gala celbration in Calgary, signifying the importance...of the Alberta oil patch's support."

"The scene was the glitzy Imperial Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency, where 1200 adoring libertarians and conservatives paid...to hear conservative politicians Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Mike Harris and Preston Manning, pay tribute to the Fraser Institute."

The FI acheivements were celebrated, not only in the hotel ballroom, but in the pages of the CanWestGlobal papers owned by the Asper family. David Asper was a Fraser Institute trustee until he took over as a publisher of the National Post...Several CanWest papers went over the top in lionizing the Fraser. The Province proclaimed that "we're all 'right wing' now" and ended by contratulating the Institute for 'daring to dissent. May it do so for another 30 years'.

"And Mike Harris concluded the evening with a lamentation that he should have gone further and faster in Ontario with Fraser Institute ideas. Health care should be privatized, he urged his audience."

All quotes from Donald Gutstein's Not a Conspiracy Theory.

http://www.straight.com/article-266343/gutsteins-theory-pries-lid-think-tanks

What great bunch of social do-gooders!

Oh well. Nothing we can do

Oh well. Nothing we can do about it. Most people don't care and have very short memories (unless it is something to do with NDP) from BC Rail to cost over runs of convention centre to carbon tax to HST. people make a stink and within weeks the stink is gone. The so called big media plays a part, especially CKNW with their so called hosts and soft questions, to Canwest-Gordo that owns the two biggest papers, most weeklys and Global tv are just hacks for Campbell.

And what is so pathetic is with all the Campbell shenanigans, mis spent money, over runs people still bitch about the fast ferries which was peanuts to Campbell but when you have all the media on your side the truth does not get out. If the NDP were in power the Vancouver province and Sun would have huge front page headlines, global BC would have it as top stories and create a scandal to get the people revved up, but with Gordo they are so quiet...if there was an election tomorrow Campbell would probably win again..

Baaa to the majority of people in BC who are sheeple baa baa baa

Real cost of run-of the -river

Rafe knows better. Wind that is being forced on Canadians at costs about 22¢ with the feds providing a 10¢ subsidy to make the cost the same as run of the river.

Also, BC Hydro destroy millions of acres of pristine rivers and valleys in the Columbia, Kootenay and Peace basins while the run of the river will not even be noticeable. And during the spring, BC Hydro reservoirs are at their minimum levels and are beginning to fill. The run-or-the-river plants will allow BC Hydro to fill their reservoirs more quickly and at an earlier date, say late July instead of mid to late August. Rafe knows all this, but he is looking for reaction.

Count yourself lucky. Imagine if Gordo was proposing legislation like Ontario's Green Energy where placement of solar plants and wind mills cannot be challenged by locals. Only Toronto proper can deny a wind mill's location.

Hey "worried", Berman seems to think she has this figured out

Berman has stated in the past that it is a trade off for her between "green IPP's" and "very brown Tar Sands". That by supporting the industries desires to develop IPP's in BC, the environmental movement stands a chance in shutting down the incredibly polluting Tar Sands.

As you may have noticed a year or more ago, the US enviro movement started noticing the damage our Tar Sands were doing to the environment and that they are the main users of the Tar Sands oil. Just like most american organizations, the US enviros do not tend to consult with BC's grassroots enviros. Why should they, more than 90% of funding for Berman's related enviro groups, DSF and the Pembina Institute comes from american sources.

I have not seen any concrete figures or bullet proof reasoning that convinces me to side with Bermans approach and destroy BC rivers in a trade off with the US environmental movement's desires. But her approach with the Great Bear Rainforest deal was similar. In that if you don't make concessions, the IPP's may happen anyway and then no pressure will have been brought to bear on the Tar Sands.

A small case in point. In the 1990's there was a logger who bought 1/3 of all the land on Denman Island in order to log it. The residents fought tooth & nail to stop the logging without making any concessions. In the end, the logger said to hell with you all and just logged everything. It was reported afterward that the logger had every intention of making some significant concessions, but when the residents wouldn't budge, he used his legally given right to log his land. Some of the residents said to me afterwards that they would have made concessions too, but that they played their cards wrong.

zaniez - next step

All your "since whens" should also include since when were humans to live beyond 30 years of age! Many of the Inuit elders worry when a girl doesn't have a child by the time she is 16 since they remember the 1950s when many Inuit starved and died young. They needed lots of children so some of them might survive and help them hunt. Many Africans still think someone in their 40s is old.

Wealthy countries take better care of their citizens than poor countries, and wealth grows as it takes less time to meet basic needs so they can do other thing. Also, crowded cities used less resources per capita than the ones living on acreages. Few people on Acreages produce anything yet take a lot of land out of production or for use as habitat. Wealthy countries also take better care, for the most part, of the environment for similar reasons. They protect the environment because they can afford to.

where to begin...

Rafe, this article sucks.

You have questions... great, we all have questions. Isn't it someone's journalistic responsibility to answer the questions before writing about them? This whole thing, top to bottom, is just drippy-eyed conjecture full of hand-wringing and questions, questions, questions instead of even just a couple of facts or, god forbid, some answers.

Whenever I hear people use their questions as proof, instead of using their questions to get to answers to use as proof, I can't help but think they skipped a rather important step.

I won't even bother detailing how much of the conjecture here is either baseless or simply wrong. It's sad, because there are some very important issues here that could use some real investigation... but it sure ain't coming from you.

Apollo overthrows Hyperion

Apollo working today :
http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/YuSQ1234

Apollo working today in poor countries:
http://apollosolar.com/Applications/DevelopingCountryGridBackup/tabid/96/Default.aspx

Apollo working today in rich countries:
http://en.tys66.com/

Blazing Hyperion on his orbed fire
Still sits, still snuffs the incense teeming up
From man to the sun's God: yet unsecure,
For as upon the earth dire prodigies
Fright and perplex, so also shudders he:
Upon the first toll of his passing bell
Make great Hyperion ache:
Savour of poisonous brass and metals sick.

Anon rush'd by the bright Hyperion;

His flaming robes stream'd out beyond his heels,

And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,
On he flared.
Apollo is once more the golden theme!

[apologies to John Keats 'The Fall of Hyperion' 1819]

Sask Wind

... at SIAST:
http://www.siast.sk.ca/marketing/documents/palliserturbine2009release.pdf

... at home :
http://www.raumenergy.com/resources_2.html

Lands of Windy-Green Skies:
http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/

Crash II

And the first thing you start with is a question. Yes, isn't it someone's responsibility? Why are they not doing it? Now ask yousrelf the important question. Where in the blazes is the whole useless Canwest media? Answer: In Campbell's back pocket. Oh I forgot, you think that is drippy-eyed conjecture. Right?

Gordo's latest vision for "GREEN ENERGY"

Gordo wants to cut the sacred BC forests up for firewood ... he's worse than the Mountain Pine Beetle ...

.
WILDERNESS COMMITTEE CONDEMNS POWER GIVE-AWAY TO PRIVATE
Wilderness Committee
Terrace Online News - Nov 4, 2009

The Wilderness Committee accused BC Premier Gordon Campbell of sinking to new lows today, when he announced that the burning of “forest fibre” would be considered as a way for private power producers to make “green energy” that BC Hydro would be forced to purchase.

Premier Campbell had been speaking at the annual conference of the Independent Power Producers association of BC when he announced his energy policy review. Wilderness Committee activists picketed the meeting outside, and handed out literature calling attention to the hundreds of rivers at risk in the province because of the BC government’s river privatization policy.

“I thought things couldn’t get worse with more than 800 wild rivers now staked by companies like General Electric. Publicly-owned BC Hydro has already been forced by the BC government to sign secret long-term energy-purchase-agreements with private power producers at rates far above market value, and now totaling over $31 billion. But things have gotten much worse. Now the Premier wants to let the private power corporations burn our forests,” said Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee National Campaign Director.

“It was bad enough that Premier Campbell has said that the damming and diversion of our rivers and streams by private companies to feed their power plants results in the production of ‘green power’,” said Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee Policy Director.

“Amazingly, now Premier Campbell’s latest announcement seems to be suggesting that if private companies are given the go-ahead to cut down and burn BC’s forests to produce electricity that would be called green power too. Well, we say that subsidizing corporations and giving them the right to dam up rivers into huge pipes and burn forests is the exact opposite of green power: it’s greed power,” said Foy.

“There is a right way and a wrong way to do green energy. The Wilderness Committee calls for new green energy projects to be regionally planned, publicly-owned, acceptable to First Nations, and environmentally appropriate. Subsidizing companies to wreck wild rivers and burn wild forests is certainly not the right way forward,” said Foy.

http://www.terracedaily.ca/show4988a/WILDERNESS_COMMITTEE_CONDEMNS_POWER_GIVE-AWAY_TO_PRIVATE

Did anyone actually make it through this article?

Rafe, I appreciate your fervent opposition to IPPs. You have made this much clear. We don't need 1000 more words of hyperbole with no substance to understand this.

Why don't you start talking about solutions? We are faced with an increasing demand for electricity and a motivation to get off oil and gas dependence - see climate change and GHGs. So what are the alternatives? - surely none are without tradeoffs.

Instead of increasing polarisation over IPP development with ideological blabber, please begin exploring some of the facts that citizens concerned with conservation and climate change mitigation need to understand to assess the tradeoffs.

Your rants serve only to entrench opinions, inhibiting the ability for informed decisions. Please begin supporting informed dialogue. My suspicion is you will find a lot of common ground.

Ther biggest part of the

Ther biggest part of the "increased demand for electricity" comes from industry to replace a few workers with huge inputs of other forms of energy, and call it "efficiency", because they don't have to pay for the consequences and reactions.

Ed Deak.

Worse to come (Segway for Rafe)

The fishfarms just launched a huge attack on "salmon ranching" (Which basically includes taking eggs from wild pacific salmon to the hatcherys and releasing the fry into the sea later).
Half a billion fry in bc are produced that way!
They are blaming the salmon released in that way in alaska for our salmon problems. People will question the wild salmon from alaska now and they will lose market share(to farmed atlantic salmon). But clearly that is only part of their game plan.
They have put a huge question mark against the wild salmon here in bc too. Once they are in the sea, you cannot tell the difference.
http://alaskasalmonranching.wordpress.com/ shows that it is a MAJOR marketing attack by the atlantic farmed fish boys. "Today, Canadian journalist Tom Fletcher has released an article in OVER 70 NEWSPAPERS ) marketing of U.S. salmon. "
It's a hatchet job and the environmental organizations and the wild bc salmon are targeted too.

Campbell and Energy

Well Rafe, I must say thank you for your continuing efforts to make politicos hang their heads and themselves. Cannot imagine BC Hydro going off to the private sector after all this time. Not surprising as the Neo-conservatism of Campbell and cronies is almost too much to stomach.Public Utilities are no longer for the benefit of the public, nor have they been for many years. Witness New Brunswick's proposed sell off to Hydro Quebec; big bucks for the powers that be, nothing for Jill Public who is paying increased costs. One day, just one day, of curtailing payment of BC Hyrdo bills by the public might make them take notice. Nothing short of a mass cut off of payments will stop this group. Most BCers have the guts to do it too. Good luck from the witless East Coast.

First Nations IPP Development Corporations

If opposing the privatization of BC's watersheds is mere "ideological blabber" that must be dispensed with in order to address the climate change crisis one must also conclude that if this "crisis" is just anther money-grubbing fraud as more and more people are coming to understand, then there is no need to do so.

The Wilderness Committee should also drop the "acceptable to First Nations" criteria to any proposed IPP development because, so far, there have been no proposals that have not been acceptable to them once they've been cut in for a share. Let's face it. Buying off 5% of the population in the name of justice and native rights is a cheap shortcut to ownership of lands and resources that actually belong to all of us.

Even though the Chiefs have now rejected the so-called New Relationship, Indian bands have already used the $100 million they took from BC taxpayers to implement it to redesign themselves as "development corporations" with band members as shareholders.

My local paper is currently running expensive display ads for a Chief Executive Officer and a Project/Construction Manager who can "oversee the development and management of general service contracts with BC Hydro" and "potential independent power projects" for the Seton Lake Indian Band.