Private power projects like this one on the Ashlu River have been caught red-handed killing wild fish

Audio: Simi Sara, Damien Gillis Talk Private Power, Fish Kills and Enbridge

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Listen to this interview of Damien Gillis by CKNW’s Simi Sara on recent revelations that so-called run of the river projects are killing fish. The two also discuss Provincial Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson’s appearance on Sara’s show this past Friday and the complete lack of penalties or enforcement by either DFO or the Province on these blatant violations by several private power operators. They also touch on the Harper government’s plan to gut the Fisheries Act and how that benefits Enbridge and the private power industry. (March 20- 12 min)

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About Damien Gillis

Damien Gillis is a Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker with a focus on environmental and social justice issues - especially relating to water, energy, and saving Canada's wild salmon - working with many environmental organizations in BC and around the world. He is the co-founder, along with Rafe Mair, of The Common Sense Canadian, and a board member of both the BC Environmental Network and the Haig-Brown Institute.

7 thoughts on “Audio: Simi Sara, Damien Gillis Talk Private Power, Fish Kills and Enbridge”

  1. My point is it’s not BC Hydro. My point is it would carry with a secret contract forced upon the citizens of BC at rates well in excess of the market value for the power. My point is this entire scheme is fraudulent – whether it’s Epcor or Ledcor or GE, Manulife…it doesn’t matter. It’s not BC Hydro and it’s a scam. Your condescending assurances about which projects will and won’t be built, how much these companies are really being paid, etc. mean nothing to me. You purport to have access to inside information and to assuage our concerns with it – which means only that you are part of the industry and therefore can’t be trusted…PS, you asked about deleting your comments – just in case there’s any confusion, most of your comments will continue to be deleted almost as fast as you post them. We provide a space for healthy debate here, not for industry propaganda. Just to make it official, you will note our new comments policy. Check out the final item…

  2. Hi Damien — Not sure what your point is. Edmonton Hydro is just like BC Hydro, both state owned and controlled. In fact the fishkill record of Edmonton Hydro is far better than BC Hydro. Why should a government corp. care for the fish? The people who run it have guaranteed jobs to retirement and don’t have a penny at risk in how they treat the fish. In fact since they are inherently inefficient, they will cut corners (read kill fish) in order to meet quota.

    Nobody is in favor of Kokish. There is no way it will get built because I am told they can only divert 1/3 of the stream and hence their cost of production is twice higher than anyone else. The margins in this business is not more than 10% to 15%. So unless they assume a huge loss (Brokfield is known to take losses), Kokish will never get built.

  3. In BC, we have one public power authority, David. It’s called BC Hydro. The Kokish is part of a fraudulent system of private power that is saddling our public utility with debts it cannot repay without jacking up British Columbians’ power bills.

  4. FACT:

    Mamquam power project which is the subject of these reports about fish kills, unlike what Damian says, is NOT a “private IPP”.

    Mamquam is owned and run by government. The government of the City of Edmonton owns Mamquam and Capital Power. Just shows that government owned corporations do the harm, and not private IPPs.

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