Media release
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
www.greenenergybc.ca
December 23, 2009
Vancouver, B.C. — B.C. Citizens for Green Energy has learned from sources close to the North Pole that Santa Claus will be phasing out his traditional lumps of coal this Christmas. Santa’s decision comes in the wake of the Copenhagen summit and ongoing efforts to reduce the harmful greenhouse gas emissions related to the use of coal and other fossil fuels in generating electricity.
Coal has been Santa’s admonishment of choice for many decades says B.C. Citizens for Green Energy co-spokesperson Gene Vickers. But the reality of climate change has changed everything.
“Santa wants to set a good example by cutting back on his coal use by 99 percent and only leave lumps of coal for the naughtiest of the naughty,” Vickers said.
Santa Claus was encouraged to go green this year after listening to climate change experts and world leaders including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who made Santa realize it was time to “terminate” his long-time coal use.
“One of the main themes coming out of Copenhagen is the leading role being played by ‘sub-nationals’ like individual provinces, states and regions,” Vickers said. “Leaders like Premier Gordon Campbell and Governor Schwarzenegger are the ones leading the way and making the biggest strides in combating climate change and reducing carbon dioxide and GHG emissions.”
Vickers points to Governor Schwarzenegger who recently “terminated” the protectionist machinations in the California State Legislature over the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), clearing the way for cost-effective clean electricity from renewable sources outside the state of California—including from provinces like B.C. that are richly-endowed with cost-effective green energy.
The executive order Schwarzenegger signed on September 15, 2009 has been viewed by many as a strong message about the high priority Schwarzenegger places on accessing renewable green energy resources that can provide California with the greatest environmental benefits and the least environmental and other costs.
Bruce Sanderson, who also speaks for B.C. Citizens for Green Energy (BCCGE) agrees with Vickers’s assessment and says the urgency of the global climate change crisis requires that we start contributing much more of British Columbia’s unrivalled abundance of green energy in support of continent-wide greenhouse gas reduction efforts, just like Quebec and Manitoba are already doing.
“British Columbia’s abundance of renewable clean energy is something our American neighbours need to help them meet their climate change goals,” Sanderson said. “That puts us in the driver’s seat for a change and lets us turn the tables in our trading relationship.”
According to reports last September, Schwarzenegger considered the California state legislature’s renewable portfolio standard—which would have substantially increased costs on Californians and California’s businesses—to be “unnecessarily complex.”
Schwarzenegger was also concerned that the renewable standard proposed by the state legislature could be held up in legal battles for restricting the sale of energy across state lines in violation of the American Constitution’s commerce clause (not to be confused with the “Santa clause”).
BCCGE’s Vickers says Santa is currently reviewing his list and checking it twice but won’t say yet who might be in the running for the few lumps of coal he’s reserving for the naughtiest of the naughty.
“We have a few strong hunches about who might be receiving those last few lumps of coal,” Vickers said. “There’s been a lot of really outrageous misinformation directed at green energy in B.C. this year, but Santa isn’t saying anything—other than a little wink and a nod—so I guess we’ll have to wait until Christmas morning to find out for sure.”
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For more information contact Bruce Sanderson
Co-spokesperson, B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
604-637-2150
e-mail us at info@greenenergybc.ca
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy is an advocacy group representing a cross-section of British Columbians who encourage a legacy of clean, renewable electricity for future generations.
www.greenenergybc.ca