Media release
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
www.greenenergybc.ca
March 18, 2009
Vancouver, B.C. — Two new video clips have been released by B.C. Citizens for Green Energy from their video series, “Power Ploy: The Hidden Agenda in the Campaign Against Green Energy.” The new video clips are available on YouTube, Facebook and on the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy website at www.greenenergybc.ca.
The video segments released today were going to be released last week, but due to threatened legal action by the Save Our Rivers Society (SORS), a group closely allied to the Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union 378 (COPE 378) in a well-orchestrated campaign against independently-produced green energy in British Columbia, their release was delayed.
The new video clips, along with a video clip released previously, have all been modified to comply with the threatened legal action, and “images” of B.C. Federation President Jim Sinclair, broadcaster Rafe Mair, and COPE 378 President Andy Ross have been removed as demanded by SORS’s threatened legal action. The “images” were obtained from online video sources and were used to illustrate the highly organized and aggressive nature of the COPE 378 led campaign against green energy in B.C.
Likewise, excerpts from online video footage that were used in the “Power Ploy” video showing protesters at loud, well-orchestrated rallies against green energy projects in British Columbia have also been removed. In place of these removed materials, the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy have inserted simple text statements indicating that “images and footage” have been removed due to threatened legal action.
Co-spokesperson for the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy, Bruce Sanderson, says the group’s volunteers are not professional filmmakers but wanted to produce a credible video rebuttal to the misinformation being spread by organizations like COPE 378 and SORS. The resulting “Power Ploy” video, which is being released in sections, was put together by the group to help counter the myths and misinformation being spread against clean energy projects in B.C. and to help get the truth out and increase public awareness of the important green energy issue.
“Our energy future is far too important to be left to a one-sided debate filled with misinformation and controlled by vested interests like COPE 378,” Sanderson said. “I’m a solid believer in the ability of the private sector to innovate and find solutions to important questions facing us like climate change and the need for increased clean energy production from green sources. The misinformation being spread against independent green energy producers is very offensive and it needs to be challenged.”
David Field, who also speaks for the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy, said the videos clips released today address the myth that B.C. produces enough electricity for its own needs and the myth that independently-produced clean electricity costs more than electricity produced by BC Hydro.
“The claim that we produce enough electricity for our needs could not be more false,” Field said. “In seven of the last eight years B.C. has been a net importer of electricity, and most of the electricity we’re importing is coming from coal-fired and gas-fired generators in Alberta and Washington State – among the world’s worst sources of greenhouse gases.”
Video clips previously released by the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy, now modified due to threatened legal action, highlighted the prominent role being played in the misinformation campaign against green energy, by COPE 378 and others, and the outrageous claim that 500 or more B.C. rivers are being sold, stolen or given away for run-of-river electricity production. In truth, only about 35 out of 480 water-license applications have ever led to completed run-of-river projects over an 18-year period. A water licence application is just a small first step in a long process of environmental and feasibility studies, reviews and consultations that can take years to complete.
Future clips to be released from the “Power Ploy” video will focus on British Columbia’s reliance on dirty, gas-fired and coal-fired power sources in Alberta and Washington State as well as reliance on gas-fired generating plants like Burrard Thermal in Port Moody. Other clips to be released will address the need for British Columbia to develop new sources of clean energy from green sources, and the inherent financial risks to taxpayers if BC Hydro were to develop the new small-scale green energy sources we need.
All of the video clips from “Power Ploy” released so far are 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.