Excerpt: "In an April 15 letter to Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows MLA Michael Sather, Penner as good as handed the ultimate decision to the Pitt proponent: 'The Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) is awaiting information from the Proponent as to whether it intends to modify the proposed Project with a different transmission line route, or whether the EA will be abandoned.'

"Penner's memo suggests a single modification would ensure government approval, and that the door remains open to other developers--should the present proposal be abandoned."

Ledcor, a private global company owned by West Vancouver's Ledy family, appears to be seeking some liquidity by moving a few renewable energy assets, BC Rivers, to Innergex, a Quebec stock marketer. Innergex press release: Innergex Renewable Energy to Acquire Rights to Develop 200 MW of Hydro Projects in BC.

Bill 15 to enrich private power producers, shock ratepayers, and harm the environment, says Wilderness Committee

Vancouver, BC ~ The Wilderness Committee today sounded the alarm about legislation rapidly moving towards becoming BC law. Bill 15, the Utilities Commission Amendment Act, is waiting for Royal Assent in the BC Legislature, before becoming law.

Two years ago the government of BC passed Bill 30, which removes local community government oversight of private power projects. Now Bill 15 aims to significantly reduce the oversight of the BC Utilities Commission over private power projects. Bill 15 will largely strip the Utilities Commission of its independence and make it impossible to stop bad deals without the consent of the provincial government.

Currently, the BC Utilities Commission has the authority to order a stop to agreements made by the BC Government to purchase power from private producers if those agreements have prices set so high they are a bad deal for provincial ratepayers. Formerly the BCUC was tasked with protecting the best interests of British Columbians in regards to power purchases by BC Hydro.

"The result of this proposed law will come back to shock anyone who pays an electrical bill in this province," said Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee Campaign Director. "Many of these proposed projects would not be possible, if not for the inflated rates that Bill 15 will facilitate. With the passage of Bill 15 the Utilities Commission becomes nothing but a toothless lap dog on a choke chain catering to the private power producers' every desire."

The Wilderness Committee believes that Bill 15 has been introduced because of the gold rush of private power developers currently staking hundreds of rivers and streams across the province. "The BC Government doesn't want to be embarrassed by the Commission telling the public that these private developers are being paid too much for their power," said Gwen Barlee, Policy Director with the Wilderness Committee. "This Bill greases the skids for private power developers and leaves the public out in the cold."

"As a result of Bill 15, we are going to see environmental degradation in streams where private power projects should never have been built and we'll see our power bills go through the roof," commented Foy.

The Wilderness Committee opposes the passage of Bill 15, is calling for the repeal of Bill 30 and supports an immediate moratorium on private hydropower development in BC.

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Click here to the the original version of this press release.

Excerpt: "It's comparatively easy to keep Crown corporations accountable, since nearly all of their records have to be made available for public scrutiny and as their operations are susceptible to political pressure. This is not the case with private interests, which are sheltered from the electorate and which conceal their activities in commercial secrecy. Instead of intensifying its regulatory scrutiny in order to compensate for this, the government has actually weakened the environmental assessment process, reduced the regulatory burden, downsized staffing levels at the Environment Ministry by about a third, and promoted industry "self-regulation" or "voluntary compliance", thereby compromising environmental standards and making it much harder for the public to hold anyone accountable for the ecological havoc these private projects are wreaking."

Two articles by Stephen Hui:

Water applications breach Garibaldi Provincial Park

Excerpt: "KMC Energy envisioned diverting water from Rubble Creek, which is fed by Garibaldi Lake, into a 2.5-kilometre-long penstock beginning about 1.5 kilometres inside the park."

Eagles' fate at centre of Squamish run-of-river debate

Quote from Chief Bill Williams, cochair of the Squamish Nation: "The Fries Creek project is not a normal run-of-the-river project. "What Fries Creek is, in reality, is a river-diversion program. "At the end of the day, the creek in question is also of cultural and spiritual importance to the Squamish Nation, [which is] totally against the project".

Excerpt: "Every single one of the rivers to be handed to the private sector requires a power plant, access by road and transmission lines. The power plant -- be it a dam, tunnels or whatever -- changes the flow of the river, and thus is an ever present threat to fish. It's been suggested that the Ministry of Environment and Department of Fisheries and Oceans will police these plants. How can anyone believe this?"

Excerpt: "Anyone who thinks that Penner made that decision will no doubt be interested in a bridge I have for sale. Gordon Campbell cancelled the project and the cancellation had dick-all to do with parks or the environment. The premier can see that he's going to be in trouble all over the province on this issue. The advice given at the meeting -- and roundly applauded -- was that everyone ought to set aside party politics in the next election and, instead, only support candidates who oppose the Run of Rivers Projects and unequivocally support public power.

"Premier Campbell wanted to avoid having the Pitt used as a rallying cry in the election in May '09.

"I have news for Mr. Campbell. This fight will be taken right around the province and the Pitt will be a rallying cry -- a symbol of what an aroused public can do."

Excerpt: "The controversy -- along with other concerns -- suggest that this is an appropriate time for an external review of the rapid increase in run-of-river power projects in the province. There are environmental issues, concerns about the impact on future energy prices and questions about whether taxpayers are getting fair value for the water rights involved."

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The British Columbia government has rejected a controversial proposal by an independent electricity project developer to run a power line through Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, Environment Minister Barry Penner said today.

The announcement comes a day after more than 1,000 people jammed Pitt Meadows secondary school to express their opposition to a proposal by Run of River Power to connect its proposed series of run of river hydro projects in the Upper Pitt River Valley to BC Hydro's provincial electricity grid.

Run of River will now have to find an alternate transmission route for its proposal to build seven run of river hydroelectric generating projects in the Upper Pitt, although the company has indicated that the Pinecone route was its preferred option.

The project still requires an environmental approval from the province, and Run of River must also obtain a power sales agreement with BC Hydro before it can proceed.

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Press release from the Ministry of Environment: Proposal for Transmission Lines in Park Rejected

Congratulations to everyone involved in slowing down this project.

Story from CBC: B.C. power project raises environmental concerns in Pitt Meadows. Quote from Danny Gerak, who owns a fishing lodge on the Upper Pitt River: "[Tourists] don't want to see power lines. They see that every day. They want to see trees and they want to see wilderness. And if this comes in there, the tourism in that valley is over."

Article by Glenda Luymes in The Province: More than 1,000 rally against 'green' power project. Excerpt: "'This is not a shame, this is a bloody crime that's being proposed,' Rafe Mair told the raucous crowd.

"The retired broadcaster and former environmental minister was one of 40 people who spoke against the project. Hundreds of others filled folding chairs and bleachers, some holding signs reading 'Greedy Not Green' and 'Please Help to Keep Pinecone Burke Intact.'"