We at the Common Sense Canadian will be dealing with the Site C project in some depth and from the outset we would like to acknowledge the tremendous work and research done by our colleague, well known economist Erik Andersen, who cut his professional teeth dealing with government spending.
 
I would like to test a theory of mine, namely, that the Site C project does not pass the “simple question” test.
 
Energy Minister Rich Coleman has stated that we need Site C because BC Hydro says our power needs will grow by 40% over the next 20 years
 
Given that BC Hydro’s projections from a decade ago proved to be exaggerated by 30%, as this report by Mr. Andersen clearly demonstrates…
 
Simple Question: why should we trust them now when they envision our needs rising 40% in the coming years?
 
Simple Answer: We don’t – and in a moment I’ll ask some more questions to show why that is.
 
The government has maintained that the private river power scheme will look after all our needs and, indeed, the estimates given show that just two of the largest ones together would exceed Site C’s output.
 
SQ: Why then do we need Site C?
 
SA: We don’t. But what Coleman’s statement does is clearly admit that the private power schemes which are or will be destroying our rivers will not produce power for BC Hydro; they cannot do so because most of their power comes during the spring run-off (when we need it least), so they cannot provide the year round power that Site C will.
 
Coleman again states that this will be clean, green energy.
 
SQ: How can you call a project that floods 5400 hectares of farmland and drives away the wildlife “clean and green”?
 
SA: You cannot, anymore than you can call private projects that destroy a river’s ecology “clean and green”. This is Orwellian “Newspeak”.
 
Coleman says the project will cost $7.9 billion.
 
SQ: Who are you kidding? When was the last time a government mega-project came in anywhere near on budget?
 
SA: When Noah built his ark…The Highway 1/Port Mann Bridge widening project was supposed to be $1.5
billion at first, then it was over $2 billion; now it’s $3.5 billion –
and we haven’t seen the end of it. The infamous convention centre budget doubled to nearly a billion dollars by its completion. Site C’s budget, meanwhile, just shot
up from $6 billion to $8 billion over the past year!
 
Given that the government has forced BC Hydro to make unconscionable, cozy contracts with private power producers (IPPs) which will now cost over the next 20-40 years some $50 billion…
 
SQ: Where is the money for Site C coming from?
 
SA: Surely there is no need to say out of the wallets of BC ratepayers and taxpayers.
 
Coleman says that Site C will produce electricity at between $87 and $95 per MWh – “compared to other resources at $129″
 
SQ: Mr. Coleman, do you realize that you have just admitted that IPPs are charging BC Hydro, on a take or pay basis, triple or more the market price and 10 times + what Hydro can make it for?
 
SA: You have proved, through your own words, what the Common Sense Canadian has been saying all along, and you have clearly admitted that your government has been lying through its teeth from the beginning! What does this say about your government’s honesty?
 
Coleman has said he’s thoroughly reviewing Hydro’s latest request for a rate increase.
 
SQ: How the hell do you have the nerve to utter this rot when you know that huge increases must come not only from, now, Site C, but also to cover the $50+ BILLION going to IPPS?
 
SA: That statement can only be made if you’re lying or an incompetent fool! Or both.
 
Coleman says that BC Hydro will hold the “required independent environmental assessment process” which will provide opportunities for public input.
 
SQ: Will these meetings permit people to object to the project itself? To demand evidence supporting the need for the project? And who chairs these independent meetings?
 
SA: Based upon past experience the assessment process will be chaired by a firm supporter of the project and any questions raised as to the need for the project will be ruled “out of order”.
 
Assuming that BC Hydro, being the astute business persons they are, will have big, energy requiring customers in mind…
 
SQ: How much of this electricity will be going to power coal mines, shale gas extraction and the Tar Sands? And will regular residential and business ratepayers be subsidizing this industrial power the way we do now – to the tune of a 50% + discount on what we all pay?
 
SA: That’s precisely what will happen and the government and BC Hydro will, using our dollars, power production of the dirtiest corporations on the face of this planet.
 
These are some of the areas of this project Damien and I will be canvassing.
 
What we can confidently say is that Mr. Coleman has, I’m sure unwittingly, demonstrated just what a royal screwing British Columbians are taking from the IPP contracts and that the Common Sense Canadian, in exposing the deceit and cynicism of this government, has been thoroughly vindicated. Now they want us to help them compound their sins!
 
Incompetent governments are usually run by honest people who are stupid; with this government we not only have incompetence but corruption as well.
 

Site “C” is a bad idea from every point of view.

Let’s first consider if it’s necessary for BC needs. The short answer is that it isn’t, for out of the mouth of BC Hydro we know that with a modicum of conservation, upgrading existing dams, putting generators on flood control dams and taking back – under the Columbia River Treaty – the power we export under that agreement, our needs as far as we can see are taken care of.

Premier Campbell says that there are many “hurdles” to clear, meaning, one assumes, environmental hearings. If we believe that, like Charlie Brown, we believe that Lucy won’t pull the ball away at the last second. There are, you see – two flaws in this statement: first, environmental assessment procedures don’t deal with the question as to whether we want the dam in the first pace; and second, no matter what the reports are, the government can and does what it pleases. If Campbell wants this dam, he’ll have it whether we need it or not – whether we want it or not.

When was the last time a government turned back a project it wanted because an environmental panel didn’t like it?

Will these panels, federal and provincial, consider the loss of 5,340 hectares of land, much of it farmland? Whether or not they consider it, it won’t matter since the Premier knows about that now and by proceeding with the passage has written off all that land.

He’s also written off the animal world including caribou which graze in this area. If we know one thing about Campbell, he doesn’t give a fiddler’s fart about animals, be they be salmon destroyed by fish farms, fish and other wildlife dependent on rivers he’s given away to large offshore companies, nor about the birds that need Burn’s bog for nesting or as a transitional stop while migrating. He’s appointed Environment Ministers who get their jollies by kissing his backside as he ravages the province with their unneeded lickspittle support.

This important question remains unanswered: with all this private power the Premier is so proud of coming from the rivers he’s given away to the likes of Warren Buffett and GE, why aren’t we using that instead of building Site “C” – after all, their supporters prattle on about looking after 500,000 homes here, 500,000 homes there, and 500,000 homes somewhere else?

This is the only honest answer the Premier could give: because private power companies can’t produce energy in the winter when the rivers are so low and when BC Hydro might need it. (Don’t expect that reply because, as we know, honesty is not Campbell’s strong suit).

We must all get this through our collective skulls, folks – Premier Gordon Campbell doesn’t care for the environment other than when it can serve foreign hunters shooting Grizzly Bears, allow Norwegian companies to ravage our waters with fish farms, serve offshore companies he can give our rivers to, or land for his developer friends.

Another product of Campbell’s reckless energy plan is that the cost of energy will skyrocket (and is already doing so) – which will hurt citizens through their power bills and through the loss of jobs, as already hard-hit industries see their energy costs go through the roof (this according to the Joint Industry Electrical Steering Committee that represents large industrial power users). No doubt many are too young to remember WAC Bennett but it was he who developed the “Two Rivers” policy – the Columbia and the Peace – which would make BC self sufficient in energy. We paid a huge environmental price for this but we got what Bennett wanted – the right to charge what we please for power irrespective of what others had to pay.

To Bennett energy pricing should be a matter of government policy, which is to say public policy, so that business could have a lighter burden and British Columbians could pay reasonable prices because the construction costs were long behind us.

This was part of Bennett’s overall plan that included BC Ferries and BC Rail. He knew that private ferry companies and private rail companies couldn’t care less about services for people or creating an incentive for development. In that last regard, much of British Columbia wants tourism very badly because of the near collapse of the lumber industry. Does anyone think for a moment that CN will put in new lines and adjust prices to help these communities?

During the election last May, I was often asked how I could support the NDP given my background as a Socred. The answer was simple.

“Suppose”, I would say, “we have an NDP government that makes a balls up in fiscal management (although how they could do worse than Campbell I don’t know) that can be fixed by another government”.

However, once you lose your rivers and your fish, they’re gone forever!

We didn’t think about that last May and what Damien Gillis, Tom Rankin and I – none of us even remotely interested in socialism – were talking about has come true.

We must start now to fight this regime every way we can, short of violence, to get our province back. And we can start by joining Alexandra Morton in her trek from Sointula to Victoria bringing the protest against fish farming to Campbell & Co with a huge rally at the Legislature Buildings on May 8th – further details at SalmonAreSacred.org.