Media release
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
www.greenenergybc.ca
March 23, 2009
Vancouver, B.C. — B.C. Citizens for Green Energy have released parts 5 and 6 from their video, “Power Ploy: The Hidden Agenda in the Campaign Against Green Energy.” All of the video clips released so far by the group are available for viewing on YouTube, Facebook and on the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy website at www.greenenergybc.ca .
Segment 5 focuses on B.C.’s growing dependence on imported electricity from dirty power sources in places like Alberta and Washington State. Segment 6 focuses on the financial risk to taxpayers in having a public utility like BC Hydro develop the new green sources of clean energy we need.
“The level of financial risk involved in developing several small scale green energy projects simultaneously is simply too high for the taxpayers of B.C.,” said David Field, co-spokesperson for B.C. Citizens for Green Energy. “Each of these projects entails a lengthy process of feasibility studies, environmental reviews, consultations with First Nations and local communities, and the majority of these proposals will never make it through the approval process. That’s just too much risk for you and I as taxpayers to have to take on.”
Field points to BC Hydro’s Duke Point power project which was scrapped in 2005 after $120 million of taxpayer money had been spent without generating a single watt of power. The Duke Point project called for the construction of a large gas-fired plant similar to Burrard Thermal in Port Moody, one of the worst sources of greenhouse gases in the Lower Mainland.
“The independent electricity producers have the technical expertise and the resources needed to tackle several small scale green energy projects at the same time,” said Field. “They also have the ability to absorb the risk that taxpayers don’t have the appetite for.”
Field said we desperately need to develop new sources of clean electricity to meet the challenges of our climate crisis as well as to provide a legacy of clean, renewable electricity for future generations. “We’ve come to depend too much on old-fashioned gas-fired generating plants like Burrard Thermal,” he said. “B.C. can no longer rely on dirty power regardless of whether it’s imported or domestically produced.”
Field said B.C.’s climate and geography have naturally endowed us with “a wealth of opportunities to produce electricity from clean, renewable sources like wind, geothermal, wave, tidal and run-of-river.” All of these are more benign to the environment than large-scale gas and coal-fired plants or hydro mega-dams.
“We’re currently importing around 15 per cent of our electricity in B.C., and most of it is coming from coal- and gas-fired plants in Alberta and Washington state, among the world’s worst sources of greenhouse gases,” Field said. “And even if we conserve 10 per cent of our overall consumption, electricity demand in B.C. will continue to grow by up to 45 per cent over the next 20 years. We need new sources of clean electricity, now and for future generations. It’s that simple.”
Field said that, rather than importing electricity, it would be nice to reverse the trend, take control of our future, and be in a position to sell our surplus clean energy at a premium to other jurisdictions who desperately need it. “That would be nice for a change,” he said.
The new video clips from “Power Ploy,” along with video clips previously released, have been modified to comply with 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 and well-funded campaign against independently-produced green energy in British Columbia.
“Images” of B.C. Federation President Jim Sinclair, broadcaster Rafe Mair, and COPE 378 President Andy Ross have been removed from the “Power Ploy” video, as demanded by SORS’s threatened legal action, along with excerpted video “footage” showing protesters at loud, well-orchestrated rallies against green energy in B.C.
The “Power Ploy” video was produced by B.C. Citizens for Green Energy to help counter the myths and misinformation being spread against clean energy projects by groups like COPE 378 and SORS. B.C. Citizens for Green Energy hope their video and the video clips they have released will help get the truth out and increase public awareness of the green energy issue.
By using outmoded, polluting power sources, B.C. is responsible for over 3,260,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. That’s equivalent to over 592,500 average passenger vehicles on the road for a year.
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.