"We Don't Just
Steal Railroads"
BC liaRs

Gordo's Fantasy
.......vs. the Real World

The idyllic image above is the way Lord Gord and his legions of minions at the Public Affairs Bureau would like to cultivate in the minds of the electorate about their Independent Power Production greed green initiative for British Columbians. The stream is hardly disturbed, and merrily grinds flour for the miller as almost an afterthought to the stream and the fish that live in the stream. However.........this rustic dream is actually more of a nightmare.

As ugly as the scar above, part of Plutonic's efforts at beautifying British Columbia, it doesn't begin to show the damage that these so-called green power projects inflict on our province. All we see here is a carved up mountainside, the typical scar of any new constuction and the damage to the forest from previous logging and fire or beetle damage to standing timber. This picture can't show the tunnels big enough to drive trucks through, kilometres long to divert streams, nor the spawning beds which will be to dry to function once the water is diverted through the tunnels. Nor in this case do we see where the millions of cubic metres of rock removed to make the tunnels are piled. It doesn't show the scars and unecessary roads built to erect high voltage transmission lines to take un-necessary surplus power in the wrong direction apparently for the express purpose of destroying as much pristine, alpine wildlife habitat as possible for no rational reason other than the greed of a few.

Keep in mind that the State Senate of California has already voted to designate Gordo's Green IPP "run of river" power as DIRTY and not eligible to be purchased for use in the state with the population of Canada that has been a major customer for BC Hydro export power in the past (even when BC Hydro had trouble collecting payment, like during the Enron/Anderson/Accenture debacle).

Bad Business
.......but Ideological Correctness

Aside from the fact that many, if not most, of these projects aren't really green but indeed destructive of fish, wildlife and other environmental values, is the fact that they make no business sense for the people of British Columbia. The independent British Columbia Utilities Commission made that clear when it stated clearly that these projects "are not in the public interest." These projects will be most productive during spring high-water, a time when hydro power is in surplus supply already, and the spot market for power is at its lowest due to over supply and low demand, it not being winter (heating) or summer (air conditioning) . It is merely an evil, greedy plot to divert money that once went to publicly owned BC Hydro - thus keeping rates low and replenishing the public coffers - to private individuals and corporations favored by our Victoria Mob - our own Cosa Nostra of Infamy!

In this weekend's Business section in the Vancouver Sun Scott Simpson addresses these issues, a surprising degree of coverage for Gordo's PR firm, when he chooses to outsource from the Public Affairs Bureau. For a government like this, to paraphrase Hitler's informationn minister Goebbels, a lie cannot be too big or told too much!

Independent power costs raise questions about B.C. policy

A strange business model BC Hydro is projecting it will be paying between $100 and $125 per megawatt-hour for new electricity supplied by independent producers. That is well above even the most optimistic forecast for what the Crown corporation would be able to sell that power for on the spot market for many years to come.

...../snippity do dah

Both Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom and the Independent Power Producers Association of B.C. (IPPBC) anticipate that the government's plan to contract several billion dollars' worth of new private sector electricity development will strengthen both domestic power supply and B.C.'s natural advantages in the power export market.

...../snip

documents recently filed to the utilities commission by Hydro suggest that the overnight purchase price for a megawatt of power at a primary trading hub in the western United States — Hydro's primary export power customer — is somewhere around $60.

That has more or less been the standard price for the last five years according to studies by U.S. federal electricity market regulators — although the overnight price in California was closer to $80.

Hydro projections indicate that spot market prices won't hit $100 until 2032.

Energy minister, Blair Leckstrom who is apparently almost as awesome (and mentally challenged) as (BC enviro minister) Barry Penner sez:

"I am not a supporter of 'Buy high, sell low,'" Lekstrom said. "That is just not going to happen under my watch of this ministry."

Now how one reconciles the above with selling power at $60 after buying it (under LONG TERM FIXED CONTRACTS) for $100-$125+, defies any mathmatics with which I am familiar. Scott Simpson points out that:

The export market looks solid — recent documents from California regulators suggest that utilities in the southwest state may be willing to pay as much as $130 a megawatt for fixed volumes of renewable power on fixed-price 20-year contracts.

But Mr. Simpson may as well be trying his hand at fiction with the above, as "fixed volumes of renewable power" would require turning the world on its head for two reasons. First in order to supply say California (as Pacific Gas and Electric is the most often touted "steady" customer for "fixed" amounts of "long term" energy) we would have to agree to supply power year round, thus threatening our own domestic supply during lower water, or actually most of the year. Then there is the minor consideration that it seems unlikely that even the State Ruled by the Terminator will consider the IPP "ruin of the river" power as either renewable or green - considering that the California state senate recently declared the EXACT OPPOSITE. Therefore it could very well be illegal for PG & E to even purchase to supply the state with as many people as Canada.


The entire IPP program is nothing more than a scam concocted by the Campbell Crime Family and the cohorts and corporate pigs to whom they answer, to transfer yet another public asset to private hands to satisfy private greed. It will do nothing to promote energy security for British Columbians, indeed it will do the exact opposite and make us compete with Arizona and other more desperate jurisdictions for our own resources - with us eventually freezing in the dark so hair dryers can function in Tucson. British Columbians will benefit financially, but only THE few who can call Lord Gord Campbell a friend (and pay the necessary tribute to him and the rest of the Campbell Crime Family)!


crossposted from WaterWalk