PEOPLE POWER is a six-chaper 50 minute DVD designed to help activists launch grassroots community-based campaigns to protect public power and the environment.
Hundreds protest at private power industry gathering: protesters stress run-of-river power is not green
Vancouver - Working to strip away the green veneer of the BC government's energy plan and expose the fact that private, run of river power is not "green," hundreds of protesters rallied Tuesday at the BC Power Summit, the annual gathering of BC's private power industry, calling on the provincial government to implement a moratorium on private power development in BC.
A diverse group of citizens from environmental, community, and labour groups rallied on Tuesday and heard from speakers the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and the BC Federation of Labour.
"It is time to strip off the green veneer of the government's Energy Plan and expose the fact that this gold rush of private power development is not green, not smart, and not needed," said Andy Ross, President of Canadian Office and Professional Employees Local 378. "All across BC the government has opened the floodgates for the development of privately owned dams without adequate environmental oversight, public accountability, or even demonstration of need," added Ross.
The annual 2-day summit, with its $1895 entry fee, is an opportunity for executives from the private power industry to discuss and strategize on the expansion of private power in BC, as well as providing an opportunity to lobby politicians and senior bureaucrats.
In recent weeks issues surrounding the environmental consequences of run of river power have gained increasing attention because of widespread community opposition to the proposed 8-stage hydro project proposed for the Upper Pitt River. This development would also include the construction of transmission lines through Pinecone-Burke Provincial Park and could have a devastating impact on several trout and salmon species, as well as grizzly bear, wolverine, and mountain goat habitats.
"Around the province we now have hundreds of streams and rivers being staked by private corporations, so this is about more than the Upper Pitt River watershed," said Gwen Barlee, policy director with the Wilderness Committee. "There is no regional planning and the BC government approaches each application in isolation; not looking at the cumulative ecological impacts of transmission lines, logging, road building, blasting, river diversions, dams and power houses," added Barlee.
"These projects are under various stages of development all over BC, and the West Kootenays are currently faced with a proposed series of dams on the Glacier-Howser river system," said Lee-Ann Unger of the West Kootenay EcoSociety, based in Nelson. "In addition to the impacts on riparian and fish habitat, the project will also involve the construction of a 91.5 kilometer transmission lines through endangered forest, grizzly bear habitat, and over pristine mountain passes," added Unger.
"The provincial government is misleading the public by portraying themselves as environmentally conscious," says Melissa Davis, Executive Director of BC Citizens for Public Power. "The BC Energy Plan is little more than a carefully crafted strategy to dissolve our public utility while lining the pockets of private power producers with the profits, all under the pretence of ‘green' energy," added Davis.
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For more information:
Mike Bruce, COPE 378 at
Gwen Barlee, Western Canada Wilderness Committee
Melissa Davis, BC Citizens for Public Power
Lee-Ann Unger, West Kootenay Eco Society