Media release
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
www.greenenergybc.ca
April 2, 2009
Vancouver, B.C. — B.C. Citizens for Green Energy have released the concluding segment from their video, “Power Ploy: The Hidden Agenda in the Campaign Against Green Energy.” All seven video segments are now available for viewing on YouTube, Facebook and on the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy website at www.greenenergybc.ca.
The final segment of the video highlights the need for B.C. to become 100 per cent self-sufficient in clean, green renewable electricity production and to pass that legacy on to future generations. In recent years, B.C. has become a net importer of electricity due to aging generating infrastructure which has not kept up with the province’s increasing population and growing energy needs. Most of the electricity B.C. is now importing comes from coal- and gas-fired generating plants in Alberta and Washington state which are among the world’s worst sources of greenhouse gases.
Gene Vickers, one of three co-spokespersons for B.C. Citizens for Green Energy, said we’re damaging our province and our planet by importing electricity from coal and gas-fired sources and we’re not doing our part in the battle against climate change and global warming.
“We need new sources of clean electricity, now and for future generations. It’s that simple,” Vickers said. “We can continue to serve the status quo at the expense of our environment, and at the expense of our future supply of electricity, or we can follow the example of other countries and supply ourselves and future generations with clean energy while protecting our environment.”
David Field, who also speaks for the green energy group, said clean electricity sources such as wind power and run-of-river hydro have long proven themselves in Europe and that other countries are leading the way in geothermal energy, tidal energy and wave-generated energy.
“The fact that we’re importing electricity from dirty, carbon emitting sources is an unacceptable situation for B.C. to be in considering the urgency of our climate change crisis and the wealth of opportunities we have in this province to produce electricity from clean, renewable sources like wind, run-of-river, biomass and geothermal,” said Field. “If we don’t take steps to increase B.C.'s supply of clean electricity now, we’ll be subjecting ourselves and future generations to a dwindling supply of expensive electricity from dirty sources.”
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy co-spokesperson, Bruce Sanderson, agrees with Vickers and Field and adds that even with B.C.’s ambitious conservation goals and upgrades to existing dams and generators (not to mention construction of the $8 billion Site C dam), future generations will still be dangerously short of electricity unless we take steps to create new sources of electricity to meet the growing demands of B.C.’s growing population.
“BC Hydro is investing $3.6 billion over the next two years to significantly expand and upgrade their dams and electricity production infrastructure,” said Sanderson. “This is an important capital investment right up there with conservation. However, these efforts alone are not going to be enough to get us all the way to the goal of 100 per cent clean energy self-sufficiency and that’s why B.C. and B.C. Hydro are relying on the innovation, entrepreneurial skill and specialized technical knowledge of independent electricity producers to build and operate a variety of green energy projects that can harness the abundant green energy sources B.C. is naturally endowed with.”
Sanderson said he believes strongly that, thirty years from now, the innovative new sources of clean electricity we build today will be seen as visionary just like B.C.’s legacy dams from the 1960s to early 1980s are today: “B.C. has to become self-sufficient in electricity,” he said, “clean and renewable electricity. We owe it to future generations.”
All of seven video clips from the “Power Ploy” video are now available on YouTube, Facebook and on the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy website at www.greenenergybc.ca.
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For more information contact David Field
Co-spokesperson, B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
604-529-1604
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, sustainable electricity for future generations.