Opinion

Our Soulless Government

Its war on nature speaks of a spiritual void.

By Rafe Mair, 6 Apr 2009, TheTyee.ca

Nature

Are we prepared to sacrifice our fish and water?

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What I predicted some years ago to then Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister John Van Dongen has come to pass.

The environment, quite apart from global warming, has become an election issue -- big time.

When I spoke to this spiritually challenged minister in a spiritually challenged government -- I'll explain the phrase a little later -- I was talking only about fish farming and this was before the sainted Alexandra Morton began her investigations into the death of hundreds of thousands of pink and chum salmon smolts from sea lice from fish farms. At the time of the interview with Van Dongen, the big issue with fish farms was escaping Atlantic salmon getting into our rivers and disturbing the spawning beds and even beginning to establish themselves.

That problem remains but the more serious question is the sea lice.

The Campbell government's handling of this issue has been appalling. Morton presented compelling evidence piled upon more compelling evidence and the government paid attention only to brush aside her findings and those of one fisheries biologist after another. Indeed, the autocrat Campbell only would say "all the science is on our side."

On it would go. Scientific paper after scientific paper hammered the point home. Indeed, as Professor John Volpe of the University of Victoria said, "The scientific arguments are over." A legislative committee went around the province and confirmed the scientific findings. Then the "autocrat" appointed former federal fisheries minister and one-time Speaker of the House of Commons, John Fraser, to head up a committee containing fish farm supporters, and even they confirmed the evidence.

While this was all going on, the Campbell government kept handing out more licenses and giving expanded licenses to existing farmers.

Sell the rivers, too

The arrogant "up yours" from the government displayed a hubris that has become obvious to people who never had paid much attention to fisheries issues.

It's become such an issue that even the Campbell-loving CanWest media empire can no longer ignore it, although they're doing all they can to tamp it down.

Now we have the huge private power issue. The government and industry call it "run of river," which it is not. "Run of river" means that the flow of the river involved is not interfered with -- like the "old mill stream" in song. Instead, these projects divert rivers for up to 20 kilometres and can do enormous permanent environmental harm.

I've written and spoken a great deal about these issues but today I want to simply deal with the issue that should put paid to the entire matter.

I can easily demonstrate the li... sorry... "terminological inexactitudes" of the government and industry when they make believe we have a great and pressing need for more power.

Let us assume, for sake of argument, that British Columbia, an exporter of power according to the National Energy Board, is indeed in need of power.

The very last place you would go for help is to private water schemes for this excellent reason -- they can only produce energy in any quantity during the spring run-off when BC Hydro's reservoirs are full to overflowing.

It must be understood that you can't "store electricity," other than small amounts in batteries, so the term storage of power refers to how much water is available in the reservoir behind the dam for use to generate electricity.

In short, the difficult time for a hydro-electric scheme comes as the level of the supporting river(s) lowers, meaning that in the fall, winter and most of the spring private power simply cannot be generated in any quantity to matter. To all intents and purposes, private power plants do not store water. So the flows must be sufficient to turn the generators, which in nearly all cases are confined to the run-off period.

(This raises an interesting aside -- private power companies in their water license cannot allow the flow to drop below specified minimums. The incentive, of course, is to exceed those minimums and I wonder who will enforce this minimum? The same folks who enforce fish farm rules?)

No power backup for British Columbians

In any case, the conclusion is obvious. This government is prepared to maim our environment while killing off BC Hydro and the dividends it pays our provincial treasury, sending them instead to shareholders of the likes of General Electric.

We will lose our sovereignty to NAFTA without adding anything to meet any B.C. needs!

From this one can see the main point. If BC Hydro collapsed and all its dams broke, B.C. would not and could not turn to private operators because they can't provide power for most of the year.

I'm telling the story non-stop around the province. As you read this, I'm coming to the end of eight speeches in seven days, first in the Sea-To-Sky region then in the Okanagan.

But I tell another story too.

We're not just dealing with money here. If we were, we'd put an end to all this and dam the Fraser (which, when Alcan finally finishes off the sockeye runs through the Nechako will be bruited about -- bet on it). There is a much, much bigger issue here. And it is spiritual. I think the word fits: spiritual.

What profiteth a man?

These waters and the fish they contain don't belong to Marine Harvest and their fish farms. Nor do they belong to General Electric, empowered to do as they wish with our rivers. They don't belong to the autocrat Campbell either. They belong to us, our children and grandchildren to generations unborn. We have in our piece of the earth the most beautiful and bountiful region. We're known the world over for this. Our rivers and our salmon are what identify us. Jesus, speaking wisdom for everyone asked, "What profiteth a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

What indeed?

This is what the Campbell government asks us to overlook. He doesn't even have the decency to ask our forgiveness. The question is not, Do you fish? Or do you hunt? Or hike?

The question is, are you prepared to sacrifice that which not only identifies us to the world but more importantly to ourselves, by literally selling not just the fish and water but what they mean to our community, our society.

In so doing, are you willing to sacrifice the spiritual values we're taught as children, values that we try to pass on?

Is that corny? Old fashioned? Sloppy sentiment?

Perhaps. And if it is, we have just the government we deserve.

Related Tyee stories:

[Tyee]

Rafe Mair writes a Monday column for The Tyee. Read previous columns by Rafe Mair here. He also acts as a spokesperson for the Save Our Rivers Society.

25 Comments:

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  • Campbellwearsatutu

    2 years ago

    Hundreds come out in Nanaimo.......

    To protest Private Power(Plutonic/GE)....

    Thanks RAFE,thank you for speaking out,but it`s time to start shouting,Scott Simpson had a great piece in the Vancouver Sun that proves all this NEW POWER is for export,even if we produce 60% more power by 2016 it`s all schedualled for export.

    The cat is out of the bag,Campbell/Penner/Leckstrom can`t deny it anymore,Plutonic now have Patrick Kinsella lobbying for them,so we know how this is going to end up.

    Here are 2 links to stories--Scott Simpsons piece and the protest in Nanaimo today.

    http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/California+rejects+green+power+claims/1453593/story.html

    http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=ece5b54c-3a86-4b5f-a279-090f9063d425

  • Campbellwearsatutu

    2 years ago

    More on that protest in Nanaimo...

    From the Times Colonist,complete with passionate comments.........

    Canwest can`t ignore this Rafe........

    Even BC Liberal voters are sickened by these Plutonic salmon killing,habitat destroying private for American profits projects!
    From the TIMES

    http://www.timescolonist.com/Technology/Protesters+lash+river+hydro+project+plans+Nanaimo/1466973/story.html

  • gaulois

    2 years ago

    Outstanding article

    Thank you Rafe Mair (&The Tyee).

  • Grumpy

    2 years ago

    Gordon Campbell and his acolytes.......

    ....... are nothing more than puppets, controlled by who ever pays the price. Donate to the Liberal party and....viola, you get a railway; donate to the Liberal party and ...... viola you are allowed to farm fish; donate the Liberal Party and......... viola you can build 'run of the river' power projects; and so on.

    We do not live in a democracy where the 'people' have a say, rather we live in an autocracy, where the the government can do as it wants, without censure.

    Our elections are merely 'showcase election', pretending to be democratic and have as much validity as old Soviet style 'showcase elections'.

    This 'resident evil' called Gordon Campbell is like a puss filled cancer and must be eradicated and fast or we will loose the patient.

  • seth

    2 years ago

    Worse than you think

    As we all now know by the time the election happens Gordo and gang will have us signed up for 40 billion in power over the next forty years or so at an average cost of 12 cents a kwh. If these thugs, their mainstream media cronies, and those Green Party fools get them reelected that could easily grow to 80 billion.

    Up to this point I've been telling you about generation 3.5 nukes at 2 cents a kwh, solar power at 3 cents and 10 years down the road pulse fusion at .5 cents, Now we can add a new solar PV technology from Nanosolar coming in at $500 a kw or about 1 cent a kwh (calculated using 4% 30 year bonds las vegas desert location).

    http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=plan-b-for-energy-8-ideas

    Virtually all that 80 billion or so of taxpayer money Gordo has and will commit us to will be flushed down the the pirate power toilet.

    If the NDP can't use this to show Gordo and his pack are the most incompetent financial managers in Western Democracy history, then maybe they need to hire Patrick Kinsella too.

  • seth

    2 years ago

    Greenies hate Salmon

    As Rafe so eloquently shows us we need to fight on all fronts to stop Gordo's demons from reproducing for another 4 or 5 years.

    That means we have to show the Greenies for what they are

    This weekend on chicken dub the Greenies leader repeated the rather silly mantra used in mainstream media that Greenies siphon as many Liberal votes as they do NDP. Actually this data came from federal liberals not our provincial pack who are really Neoconservative far right thugs sharing philosophies in lock step with Stephen Harper and his gang. Our BC Greenies have a radical left wing agenda. What Liberal (ie Neocon) voter would support ending taser use, legalizing ganga, shutting down pirate power and salmon farms - none or close to it.

    I however have no doubt that many BC Liberal party insiders send the Greenies buckets of campaign donations. A dollar spent on the Green campaign is a far more effective way of ensuring a BC neocon victory than a dollar spent on the Liberal campaign itself.

    BC Greenies are well aware they will not win a single seat and don't give a rat's ass about starving, children, destroyed pristine rivers, lost salmon runs, and a eighty billion in taypayer dollars flushed down the pirate power toilet. Like Ralph Nader the American Greenie who's 5% vote gave us the first 21 century depression and one million dead Iraq's they have no apologies, they are going for it.

    The Greenies despite their left progressive agenda have never tried to stack a even single NDP constituency meeting by having supporters buy memberships - electing a new board. Stephen Harper was able to turn a progressive centre left conservative party into a Neocon evangelical one almost overnight. These fools could have greened the NDP the same way.

    The Greenie politicians are in it just plain and simple to get a platform for their agendas. They could care less about the environment, the people of BC and the damage they are doing.

  • puppyg

    2 years ago

    And the people were given

    And the people were given one more chance to save themselves, save the forests, save the fishes, and again they did not listen.

    "He who hath destroyed, let us vote him in!",
    they cried.

    And so they did. And the world was ended.

  • Urbanismo

    2 years ago

    Our soulless government

    Rafe,

    I took my sail boat up to Desolation Sound last August. White net buoys supporting open net fish pens were all over Humfray and Waddington. I know you are concerned about the Broughton Archipelago but waters up to Toba are probably just as bad now.

    A long gone couple set up Wilderness Marina behind Doubt Island with a power supply. Evidently they had harnessed a small creek that generates power, hot water and limited amenities for a small set up that welcomes sailors: nothing on the scale of Campbell's dreams

    Keep up the good work . . . Ojala

  • Bailey

    2 years ago

    A puzzling malady

    This spiritual malaise that plagues mankind seems to proceed from the success of our technological sciences.

    Since the invention of repeating weapons in the 1800s the petty evils that are part of human makeup have gained the ascendancy over the loving kindness and compassion which is our best spiritual quality.
    '
    Since then, greed, hatred and deadness have been able to use mass production to pursue means of expression that are closed to the compassionate. Compassion is still an individual quality, but death can be mass produced, and it is.

    But the makeup of individual humans is still the same, at least in children. Mostly good, with some regrettable lapses into stupidity and meanness.

    As we grow, though, something seems to be acting to kill compassion. What is it? It shows up as a lack of empathy, a willingness to just disregard the needs of others. These Objectivists don't even seem to consider the hope that their own grandchildren might survive.

    They act in ways that seem calculated to prevent that. Consistently.

    What is it? What is the nature of this insanity? It doesn't proceed from any enemy, since all groups are displaying it, all cultures are suffering. Any individuals anywhere who are not are soon victimised.

    The cause, the nature of it just escapes me.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Terrific Column Rafe

    Well DONE....let's all keep it rolling - BC is doomed if these characters are re-elected.

  • Van Isle

    2 years ago

    Just came in from doing

    Just came in from doing errands around town and heard David Susuki on the Bill Good program. Long story short; David Susuki said that RoR's are ok but added on "that's if they're done right". but of course he didn't explain that part. Go figure, even the 'well informed' enviromentalist doesn't even know what's going on.

  • Hugh

    2 years ago

    Not ok

    Private run-of-river power is not ok. We have 40-50 of these now in BC. Where will it end? What are the costs of all this private power?

  • Alexandra Morton

    2 years ago

    Wild Salmon

    11,310 people have signed my letter to Gordon Campbell and the federal Minister of Fisheries asking that the Fisheries Act be applied to the salmon feedlots fair and square as it is applied to us. Neither of them have even acknowledged us.

    How many will it take?

    you can sign at www.adopt-a-fry.org

  • southdeltawalker

    2 years ago

    Corky Evans On Taking back Our Rivers

    Great new video of Corky Evans on why we need to keep our rivers public. Filmed beside a dam we own.

    http://saveourrivers.ca:80/video-library-mainmenu-29/334-corky-evans-video

  • Grumpy

    2 years ago

    Ms. Morton, et al.....

    ...... it is now time for direct action, a step above civil disobedience, if those same 11,300 petition signers blockaded the opening of the Olympics, the world will know.

    We do not live in a democratic country anymore, but a bland autocracy and we must do more, even harsh acts, to teach the ruling cabals a lesson. They must be reminded that BC is not theirs alone to do with as they like.

    International embarrassment is what is needed - a swift sharp poke in the eye!

  • carfreed

    2 years ago

    rafe and sidekick

    These 2 warriors were on SaltSpring with a talk and video.
    Although I would have preferred on a fFriday night to attend the jazz performance or the poetry night or another show, duty led me to this.
    It was well worth attending.
    Saturday,I attended the Save our Rivers Rally in Nanaimo.
    The speakers were awesome. The singing was rousing and it was one of those best ever rallies.
    This IS the year to take back our government.
    I do believe the Greens need to make a sacrifice this year. I support them but this year they need to bow out gracefully where necessary, which is pretty much the whole province.

  • Birch

    2 years ago

    One point of disagreement

    I generally agree with Rafe on these issues, with the exception of one claim he makes: that WE own the rivers (and the rest of the natural world).

    It's true that we've put ourselves in charge because we have the power to do so. (In the same way, a runaway infection could be seen to be in charge of a human body, because it has demonstrated the power to run away...).
    If power = ownership, then I'd have to concede that he's right.

    But the word "own" suggests the right to do with as we will. No matter how much of an ass Campbell is, as elected premier in a system that confers ownership on us and management of what is owned on the government, Campbell is the "rightful" manager.

    I simply don't think we "own" it all. "Own" suggests rights that I don't think we really have (except that we have appropriated them). It suggests legitimacy of a moral, spiritual kind, to use Rafe's own words. It is precisely because we DO NOT own all of nature within the obviously artificial boundaries of British Columbia that we must be more careful with it. Our de facto power forces us to be the trustees of all of it on behalf of our human successors and also on behalf of the natural beings that currently inhabit it (and whose successors will also, it is to be hoped, inhabit it).

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Soulless is exactly the word.

    The Campbell government has declared war on the environment. Their attitudes belong in the distant past. Everything is for sale. The run-of-river projects are exactly the wrong way to generate hydro power. They would work in the spring freshet when BC Hydro has a surplus anyway. These projects do not even serve the export market, since they cannot supply the product when the demand is high. They are simply duds. They would destroy rivers and salmon runs with no benefit to the community.

    They would require extreme fine tuning on a daily basis, by local on the ground experts, to use only the surplus water. What will happen - has already happened - is that creeks will be alternately completely dewatered and flooded by remote control by people who never see the effects. These projects are a nightmare waiting to happen, the product of a mind that is still driving as drunk as it was in Hawaii years ago.

    It is time the voters of BC took a sober look at the so-called Liberal party and gave them a DUI ticket. The NDP are only marginally better, but they are at least socially responsible.

    When we change government, we should also demand that the new legislation look at the way the province is policed. The RCMP are doing such a bad job that they have become a joke. BC needs its own police force, like Ontario and Quebec. When the police get away with murder, it is an open invitation to criminals to follow suit.

  • Umslopogaas

    2 years ago

    Civil disobedience or violence?

    Even if the majority decide it is okay to destroy our world for profit it will be the duty of the minority to oppose them with whatever means we have at hand?

    We will now all have to make some very hard choices in order to survive.

    Yeats said it best:

    "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

    The best lack all conviction, while the worst

    Are full of passionate intensity."

  • BC Mary

    2 years ago

    A huge choice to make ...

    What I like about Rafe's column today is that it goes beyond the facts and enters the territory of deep personal feelings about this province.

    Now and then, we get glimpses of the sacred domain on the West Coast. For me, I sometimes catch hold of the spiritual B.C. when a YouTube lets me see and hear the BC Rail train whistle echoing off the canyon walls, as the train sidled along the edges of a rushing river. Our train. Our stuff. Our river.

    It's good that others have shown on this thread that they understand this spiritual element. Like the smell of warm summer rain on cedar. It's important.

    Rafe is also telling us, I think, that the time for nit-picking is over; we are staring at a moment in B.C. history where things can change.

    Be done with the anguished philosophizing and, if you blame Campbell (as I do) for authorizing and pushing the sell-out of B.C., you have a decision to make. How will you vote?

    For those who still think it's OK to plunder paradise, there's a huge choice to make and Rafe's column should help.

    For those who think that the Loyal Opposition is made up of nice people who don't do much ... well, that sounds like an improvement to me.

    And then ... after May 12, 2009 ... what's equally important is for us to continue being our own best guardians of the province.

    I figure the citizens can prod the New Democrats into action. But we obviously haven't had any success trying to stop the BC Liberals from their devastating secret decisions.

    Maybe we can follow Rafe's example and be brave enough to say, right out loud, how sacred this province is to us.

  • michael maser

    2 years ago

    Want real green solutions? Vote Green!

    Carfreed sez: "This IS the year to take back our government. ... I do believe the Greens need to make a sacrifice this year. I support them but this year they need to bow out gracefully where necessary, which is pretty much the whole province."

    Sorry, not a chance. Won't Get Fooled Again. Ever.

    What planet do you live on? NDP leadership has been AWOL on every significant enviro and sustainability-related issue in 8 years. And when you were in office ... Enviros were (wait for it) ... "Enemies of BC" according to then-premier Glen Clark. Why on earth would I park my vote with a political party that doesn't have an Environmental policy?!

    The Green Party of BC has, by a long shot, the most clearly spelled out and mature platform for conserving habitat, species protection, seeding renewable energy (that doesn't include supporting Site C like the NDippers) and sustainability initiatives that aren't merely election blather.

  • TYRONE

    2 years ago

    Souls and what they are!

    Rafe, I would vote for you right away, if you were a candidate, which I would propose you to be, for you have matured really well!

    Indeed, most of humanity is greedy to the Nth degree and don't even know about "SOUL".

    Soul is the overlord of all creation and is within each and everyone of us including the 'greedy bunch'.
    I have figured out why we live way past our biological purpose in life (procreation). It is to have time to contemplate and MATURE!

    Since time immemorial, the human mind has sought answers to questions as to the purpose of life and I would say, this is part of it.

    Let us dump this government, because as you, Rafe, I have made the same observation about these 'suits', the last of which really upset me - the minister in charge of family matters' smiling face, when he told the journalist it would take "months" for a couple to have a court appearance, where the fate of their very own children gets decided by unfeeling bureaucrats and courts!!!

    This couple was wrongly accused of having harmed the baby.

    Keep up the 'feet to the fire' action, Rafe!

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Rider Pride

    "What planet do you live on? NDP leadership has been AWOL on every significant enviro and sustainability-related issue in 8 years."

    Oh sure, like the carbon tax and "run of river"? Support for a tax that hits the poor and won't even be noticed by the rich is pretty enlightening. Why don't the Greens simply declare we can fix the climate by euthanizing poor people?

    As for run of river you support habitat destruction and foreign ownership. Do Greens own a lot of shares in General Electric perhaps?

    "The Green Party of BC has, by a long shot, the most clearly spelled out and mature platform for ..."

    Beating up on the poor, selling off resources, privatizing the public sector and bulldozing habitat.

  • HydroGreen

    2 years ago

    Spiritual rhetoric meets the hard material facts

    Independent Power Producer (IPP) Run-of-the-River Technology FACTs:

    Independent Power Producers pay 3 times more social benefits to government than BC Hydro does.

    Private power IPPs pay $25 per MWh in taxes, water license rental fees, and community benefits to the government. About half of that is paid to the local government as property tax (while BC Hydro pays no local property taxes for 25 billion dollars of assets that it owns).

    BC Hydro, on the other hand, pays only $8 per MWh as dividend and taxes to the government (2008) while most of that power is produced by dams that have permanently altered the Columbia River and Peace River basins with cumulative environmental impacts. To meet our current energy shortage, BC Hydro wants to build yet another dam (Site C) at 3 times the cost per MW, compared to low-cost low-impact private run-of-the-river technology.

    A small 10 MW run of river IPP plant pays about $1,400,000 a year to various levels of government, most of it to the local government. BC Hydro pays only $420,000 for the same amount of power to the Province, and none of it to the local government.

    No IPP run-of-the-river project is on a salmon bearing reach of a stream, and the environmental impact is minor and can be compensated. Run-of-the-river technology can co-exist and share the habitat with fish and other wildlife. IPPs do not build dams – but low weirs or taps on generally a steep stream that has little or no resident fish. The impact is far less than dams built by BC Hydro, logging, mining, oil and gas, coal, real estate development, transportation, pulp and paper, pipelines, utility telephone and cable poles, etc. And unlike mining, oil and gas, coal, transportation and real estate – run of river technology is sustainable, renewable, clean and significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

  • HydroGreen

    2 years ago

    Spiritual rhetoric meets the hard material facts

    IPPs using ROR technology can produce green renewable electrical energy at about half the cost of BC Hydro.

    IPPs generate power at about $50 to $85 a MWh. Ashlu Creek IPP is selling its power to BC Hydro for $55 for the next 40 years (term of the BC Hydro contract). IPPs pay $25 a MWh in taxes, water license rental fees, and first nation royalty to governments – mostly to the local government. BC Hydro pays only $8 a MWh in dividend and taxes to the gov.

    On the other hand, BC Hydro is a very high cost producer - $110 a MWh, from its own Aberfeldie run-of-the-river project that it has just completed. The cost of production at the proposed Site C mega-dam on the Peace River will be about $160 a MWh.

    BC Hydro has extremely high internal overhead and costs. Although BC Hydro can produce some power at less than $6 a MWh from our gigantic heritage dams paid by BC citizens (in the 1960s) with no interest expense remaining – BC Hydro then sells this power at 13 times the cost ($80 a MWh) to BC citizens who own these dams. The average salary and benefits at BC Hydro is $100,000 per employee per year. This is 2.5 times the average private salary in the province of $40,000. The average salary at BCTC, a unit of BC Hydro is $130,000 per employee.

    BC Hydro charges the ratepayers and taxpayers $1.4 million per GWh in costs to produce non-green power (Site C). Due to high costs, BC Hydro is unable to produce power if the project is less than 50 MW.

    On the other hand, private power IPPs can produce green and clean power at $0.6 million per GWh, none of that charged to ratepayers - and less than half the cost that BC Hydro charges ratepayers. Private power producers can produce power from projects as small as 5 MW by using local talent and labour.

    The cost saving by IPPs is passed on to the consumer when large number of IPPs compete for the few power purchase contracts offered by BC Hydro. 17,000 GWh of power is being offered by about 150 competing IPP projects to a single buyer, BC Hydro – which will only purchase 3,000 GWh. BC Hydro offers on the average only 3 buildable power purchase agreements a year and no more than 2 or 3 IPP projects can be built in a year. Without a power purchase agreement from BC Hydro, no IPP run-of-river project can get built. There are 12,000 major streams and 280,000 minor streams and creeks in BC and only 40 IPP plants in all of BC (10 under construction). The water license held by an IPP terminates in about 25 years and it is up to the government to renew it.

    It is not possible to export power to the US without the authorization of BC Hydro. And BC Hydro-BCTC demand a cut of at least 25% of the sales to allow exports. The price of power in Washington State is generally same as in BC, and the lines to California are all congested.

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