Plugged In Email Newsletter: May 2005
In this issue:
1. Will BC Hydro still be in power after this provincial election?
2. The fight for BC’s largest water resource: Kitimat versus Alcan
3. Privatizing BC Hydro will undermine our secure supply of electricity
4. Energy Tips
5. Two ways to make a donation and cut costs
6. Letters to the Premier -- Responses Coming Soon
Will BC Hydro still be in power after this provincial election?
The Liberals are transferring public assets into private hands. The May
17 election is our chance to change the political agenda of BC. During
the last three years the BC Liberals introduced and passed four bills
that have a profound and negative impact on our publicly owned
electricity utility.
The four pieces of Liberal legislation:
• Privatized one third of BC Hydro;
• Split the transmission arm of BC Hydro off into a separate company;
• Paved the way for the sell-off of core assets;
• Set the government above common law;
• Prevents the BC Utilities Commission from exercising its public interest powers;
• Allows cabinet to override the BC Utilities Commission on rate issues.
• And allow cabinet to override other ministries and local governments to push through projects of their choice
The BC Liberals are treating the public like fools. The Liberals are breaking up the electricity utility – but are retaining the words “BC Hydro.” When they sell off of the remaining bits, BC Hydro will be an empty and impotent shell and all the profits that previously poured into public coffers, will go into the pockets of Gordon Campbell’s friends.
The Liberals say that their party is smart about business. How smart is it to sell what is not yours? How smart is it to rake in money now and leave the future with no resources and no infrastructure to sustain it?
Electricity is an essential commodity in our lives; it must be controlled by the public for the benefit of all citizens of BC not just for the private profit of a few. Show your support for public power in this election. Demand that your candidates commit to a future in which the electricity utility is held in public hands.
The election is all about power and on May 17 power is in your hands.
The fight for BC’s largest water resource: Kitimat versus Alcan
BC Citizens for Public Power Support District of Kitimat’s Opposition to Alcan’s Private Power Exports to U.S.
It is the classic David-versus-Goliath tale: The Don’t Sell Us Out Coalition, a group of determined Canadians, is spearheading a growing campaign against Alcan Inc., the world’s largest producer of aluminum, to protect the natural resources that are the foundation of B.C.’s economic life.
In 1950, the British Columbia government allowed Alcan to dam the Nechako River to generate power in exchange for an aluminum smelter, jobs and other economic development. Since then, Alcan has operated a profitable smelter in Kitimat, benefiting from some of the cheapest power in the world. However, in the last few years, Alcan has cut back on aluminum production to free up electricity to sell into the North American power grid at a huge profit. It is using the cash flow from sales of this cheap electricity to fund investments and operations outside B.C.
This is a breach of the original contract – a breach the current government seems to accept. Meanwhile, the casualty is jobs – 300 lost as aluminum production dwindles. The BC economy is losing $168 million in total industrial output each year and up to $9.6 million in provincial tax revenue, while Alcan fattens its bottom line.
The Don’t Sell Us Out Coalition, which includes the District of Kitimat, was created in 2005 to fight for Canadian resources and to ensure Alcan works to the letter of its original contract.
On Apr. 13, protestors lined the entrance to a Vancouver hotel, demonstrating against Alcan President and CEO Travis Engen who spoke inside.
On Apr. 14, Kitimat filed a B.C. Supreme Court petition against the B.C. government, arguing that recent ministerial orders that give Alcan permission to export power are illegal.
“It’s simple: We believe the B.C. government overstepped its authority in issuing ministerial orders that allow Alcan to ignore its obligations in the original contract,” says Rick Wozney, Mayor of Kitimat and a plaintiff in the legal action. “Those ministerial orders allow Alcan to sell cheap power at huge profits rather than create wealth for B.C. by fueling industry, which is the explicit premise of the original 1950 Agreement.”
The Coalition traveled to Montreal to stage a protest outside Alcan’s AGM. Inside, shareholders from Kitimat challenged Alcan to live up to its commitments.
“More people are telling us everyday that this sell-off of our water resources is unacceptable,” says John Calvert, Coalition spokesperson and board member of the B.C. Citizens for Public Power. “Taxpayers should no longer tolerate the provincial government and Alcan sidelining this issue. The benefits of Alcan’s cheap power belong in B.C. – not in the U.S.”
The Don’t Sell Us Out Coalition encourages citizens to visit www.dontsellusout.com and email B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell (premier@gov.bc.ca) to express their outrage. Concerned citizens should also ask candidates in the current B.C. election their plans to protect this and other BC resources.
Privatizing BC Hydro will undermine our secure supply of electricity
BC Citizens for Public Power believe that in light of the very powerful legal constraints imposed by NAFTA, permitting further expansion of private interests in electricity generation and in transmission capacity will have the effect of undermining the ability of the provincial government to regulate our electricity system in the public interest and make it impossible for us to keep energy generated in BC within the province - in other words an end to security of supply..
BC Citizens for Public Power is concerned that private sector approach to BC’s future electrical energy needs will lead to:
1. The loss of public control over our electricity system, including the ability to ensure security of supply in the future
2. The dismantling of our publicly owned electricity utility as BC Hydro is gradually undermined by private interests
3. Major price hikes for the public, as we move towards deregulated,
market based energy pricing and away from our historic cost of
production based pricing system that has given us affordable energy for
over a generation,
4. The domination of our electrical system by huge US energy companies
(Duke is already the dominant player in the gas sector) that are
protected by NAFTA and will be able to effectively overrule public
control of our electricity system.
We support conservation and power smart initiatives and suggest that the government set an example with energy conservation initiatives in all publicly owned or financially supported facilities. (schools, hospitals, government buildings, etc.)
We fully support the goal of clean, green and sustainable energy production. However, we believe this can best be done by strengthening the ability of our public system to plan and invest for our future. Public ownership and public control of BC’s electricity system has provided enormous benefits to the people of BC.
The government has now banned BC Hydro from building new power projects. All new power generation in BC will be produced as private profit projects. The growth of private energy projects, when combined with the freeze on BC Hydro’s ability to build new generation assets, will eventually force us to abandon our current cost of production pricing system for a market based pricing system based on the international (i.e. US) energy market. This will trigger major price increases, the benefits of which will accrue to private interests, not the public.
BC Hydro has the capacity to build green power projects. They can licence appropriate technology and develop appropriate models for the right kind of small hydro and wind projects However, BC Hydro is not now permitted to do so. There is no reason why green projects can not be built and operated by and for the benefit of the public - except narrow and self interested ideology, which claims, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that BC Hydro cannot build projects in a cost efficient manner.
Another major concern that we have is the alienation of water rights to private interests. The province is selling water rights to private companies at a pittance, with no regard for the future long term value of our water. It is allowing private interests to obtain water licences on the very best locations for small hydro and run of the river projects, thus precluding their future development in the public interest.
Private power projects are causing conflict in some regions where they are being proposed and built. The largely unregulated expansion of these projects is driven by private profit rather than good planning and land use priorities of local communities. Local governments have expressed concerns about the impact of construction on fish and wildlife, on the effects of new transmission lines built over otherwise pristine areas, about the new access roads into previously unroaded areas and, more generally, the apparent absence of any long term planning. Moreover, while local communities will experience the costs of these projects, many of them will see few if any long term economic benefits once construction is completed.
BC Citizens for Public Power believes we need a moratorium on private power projects. BC Hydro needs to be able to invest in new, environmentally responsible generation, whether it is wind power, small hydro or other emerging technologies. We should be licensing the appropriate technology as needed and building our capacity to develop sustainable, green energy projects that are implemented in a way that reflects sound planning and proper community input.
Energy Tips
Note: The BCCPP office receives tons of good advice and helpful tips! Here’s few from email:
• Front load washers utilize an energy efficient high spin rate that
reduces the residual moisture in clothes and minimizes dryer time.
• Super-efficient refrigerators and freezers are now available
(SunFrost, Sun Danzer and Crosley) which reduce the energy demand to 15
kwh per month or less.
• If only 25% of households, in the province, used a clothesline
instead of a dryer we could avoid building one generation plant like
Duke Point near Nanaimo
• The average monthly energy use of North American household is approximately 600 KW hours per month.
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2. Make a donation
Letters to the Premier
You should get a reply soon.