Privatized Hydro in BC

I've recently been doing some research (feel free to do your own at any of the 15 websites I've listed at the end of this email) and I cannot for the life of me figure out why my government is quietly giving away the rights to our public rivers for private power production to corporations through EPAs? I hereby ask that the government cancel the BC Energy Plan and its restrictions on public power development. I also request that you cancel private power water licenses, and cancel the BC Hydro-Accenture contract (which saw 1500 public employees outsourced to a private multi-national consulting firm along with some 'housecleaning' at BC Hydro).

Not only is new private river power significantly driving up our power bills, but this policy (that I've never been given the chance to debate thanks to Bill 30 ('the Ashlu Bill' which was pushed through provincial parliament after the local government heeded public outcry about the privatization of the Ashlu River) which strips local municipalities of their zoning authority over independent private power) threatens our environment, economy and society as a whole.

In case you happen to be in the dark (or in denial) about this issue, here's what I have discovered... The BC Energy Plan of 2003 is such: The BC government gives away the rights to our rivers for virtually nothing (a paltry $5-10 thousand dollars a river), and gets the public to finance (through our taxes) the private facilities and commit to purchase the power from the private companies at exorbitant rates and at the end of that process (20-40 years) the private company owns the river rights and the infrastructure and can sell their power to whomever they want for whatever price they want... forever (IPPs do need to renew the river license after the EPA contract is over, but by owning the infrastructure it is highly likely that successive governments would have to renew the IPP's licenses). The approval of these projects through government contracts is called an EPA or Energy Purchase Agreement. After the EPA's process is complete in 20- 40 years, BC Hydro has no guaranteed access to the power produced by the independent power projects or IPP's. Essentially saying that in 20-40 years California could be deciding how much we pay for our power {currently power in California is five times more expensive than what we pay here in BC [due to their enthusiasm for privatization (for-profit resources)]} from the power plants on our rivers, which they will then own! How could we possibly let this be!?

The trend toward private power appears to bear no benefit for us citizens of BC or the rest of Canada besides limited access to new short term jobs in construction and road building and very few long term jobs (these power projects will be highly automated, creating as little as one permanent job at some IPPs) as well as slightly raising our GDP. According to Carol James of the NDP there also “may be some independent power projects that actually make sense where it's a real partnership, where the resources are going to first nations communities, not to an independent company that's making a profit for their shareholders and takes those resources out of British Columbia" (Voice of B.C., 2 Oct. 2008) . Why are we doing this!? The BC Energy Plan has forbidden our profitable public utility - BC Hydro - from doing its job of growing our green power assets and instead forced our utility to write extraordinarily overpriced purchase orders to buy power from private hands making power with our money and our rivers. Currently BC Power produces power at about $5 per megawatt hour. It sells it back to us the consumers at $65/mwh, and sells to large industry at $35mwh (everybody gets a good deal here, while BC power still makes a significant profit). Through EPAs and their IPPs, BC power now has to buy power at up to $85/mwh (an incredible amount more than the $5 they can create it for themselves and significantly more than they sell it back to us (at the present moment that is)). I just don't get it; I don't see a single justifiable reason to do this? Does this have to do with TILMA, NAFTA, or SPP obligations? If that is so, get us out of those agreements!

These rivers are ours, not corporations, not property of any other country, but our own! What are you doing!? BC hydro has been doing a great job of providing sustainable green power to us all since BC's first Premier W.A.C. Bennett created BC Hydro in the 50's. Furthermore, as we have all seen before, when things get privatized (for profit), accountability seems to go out the window in exchange for profits (which will profit corporations, not Canadian citizens).

What we have been told by our government about our energy supply has now also been proven to be untrue. We import small amounts of power because we can, not because we have to! We buy it from our neighbors when the deals are good, and then because of our big dams and excess power we can sell it back to them at higher prices when their demand is high. We choose to do this because it is profitable! These profits bring hundreds of millions of dollars a year to our province for health care and education. Our public power is virtually perfect and has been working just fine for years, why destroy it!?

While private river power is promoted as "green", the reality is these projects cause massive damage to BC's watersheds and wilderness: cutting carbon-absorbing trees for power lines and roads, and diverting up to 90% of a river's flow through miles of pipe (where is the so called 'run of the river'!?). These small private river projects are destroying numerous rivers throughout our province, while there is an excess of the power that we already produce!

Tourism is a growing industry in our province. Destroying our creeks and rivers used for canoeing and kayaking as well as endangering many animals through deforestation and habitat encroachment is only going to hurt this industry and our reputation around the world. In this era of global warming and conflict over shrinking natural resources, maintaining control of these natural resources is now the most important challenge facing most countries of the world! Eliminate private renewable energy licenses NOW and keep our power public and 'green'!

The people of BC are currently the owners of one of the finest, greenest, most profitable public electricity systems in the world. Save our rivers and our renewable energy assets! You are not accountable to the rich multinational corporations who are trying to steal our natural resources! You, the elected people of our democratic country must be accountable to us, the very people who put you in power!

Sincerely,

Craig Cooper
Golden, BC



A List of some of the ongoing Hydro-electric IPPs in BC:
1. Big Silver Creek Waterworks project
2. Bute Inlet Hydroelectric Project
3. Cascade Heritage Power Project
4. East Toba River Montrose Creek Hydroelectric project
5. Europa Creek Hydroelectric
6. Forest Kerr Hydroelectric project
7. Glacier/Howser project
8. Hawkeye Energy Corporation Green Energy Grid Project
9. Klinaklini Hydroelectric project
10. Kwoiek Creek hydroelectric project
11. McGregor/Herrick Hydroelectric project
12. Nascall River Hydroelectric Project
13. Pingston Creek Hydroelectric project
14. Ryan River Hydro Project
15. Shovel Creek Waterpower Project
16. Statlu Creek Waterpower Project
17. Stl'ixwim Renewable Energy Initiative
18. Tretheway Creek Waterpower Project
19. Upper Harrison Water Power project
20. Upper Pitt River Power project
21. Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project

List of BC groups working on this issue:

BC Citizens for Public Power: www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
BC Creek Protection Society: www.bc-creeks.org
Canoe Kayak BC: www.canoekayakbc.ca/index.php
COPE 378 - Take Back the Power Campaign: www.publicpowerbc.ca
Burke Mountain Naturalists: www.bmn.bc.ca
Private Power Watch: www.privatepowerwatch.com
Outdoor Recreation Council of BC: www.orcbc.ca
RainCoast Conservation Foundation: http://raincoast.org
Save Our Rivers Society: http://saveourrivers.ca
T. Buck Suzuki Foundation: http://bucksuzuki.org
Watershed Watch Salmon Society: www.watershed-watch.org
West Kootenay Ecosociety: http://eco.kics.bc.ca/campaigns.html
Wilderness Commitee: www.wildernesscommittee.org
White Water Kayaking Association of BC: www.whitewater.org
The Council of Canadians: http://www.canadians.org