Media release - for immediate release
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy
www.greenenergybc.ca
October 29, 2009
Reliance on dirty power
from Burrard Thermal ends
— firm direction given to BCUC
to shut it down —
“.... people have been clear about wanting action on
climate change... it was wrong for the B.C. Utilities
Commission to ignore the will of the people by even
suggesting that Burrard thermal should be fired up....”
— David Field, Co-spokesperson,
B.C. Citizens for Green Energy —
Vancouver, B.C. — B.C. Citizens for Green Energy is applauding the announcement that, effective immediately, Burrard Thermal will no longer be considered a source of “firm energy” for planning purposes and will only be used for emergency situations.
In a news release issued yesterday by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Minister Blair Lekstrom said “BC Hydro will replace the firm energy supply from Burrard Thermal with clean, renewable and cost-effective energy” and noted that the province has been committed to ending BC Hydro’s reliance on the gas-fired plant since 2001.
David Field, co-spokesperson for B.C. Citizens for Green Energy, says he and the green energy group have been eagerly awaiting this announcement.
“Firing up Burrard Thermal to meet the B.C.’s growing electricity needs, as the B.C. Utilities Commisson suggested last July, was not a good choice,” Field said—adding that the move would have restored Burrard Thermal as the single biggest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the province.
Field says people have been clear about wanting action on climate change and he says it was wrong for the B.C. Utilities Commission to ignore the will of the people by even suggesting that Burrard thermal should be fired up: “We have a wealth of clean, renewable resources available to us for generating electricity in B.C.; we don’t need to be relying on GHG-emitting gas-fired plants from the 1960s like Burrard Thermal.”
Yesterday’s direction to the B.C. Utilities Commission echoes the recent speech from the throne which stated that “B.C.’s multiple sources of clean, renewable energy are far preferable to reliance on other dirtier forms of power” like Burrard Thermal.
The speech from the throne also reaffirmed that clean, renewable green energy is “a cornerstone of British Columbia’s climate action plan” and integral to the province’s effort to fight global warming.
Further information about green energy is available on the B.C. Citizens for Green Energy website at www.greenenergybc.ca and on the group’s myth busters page www.greenenergybc.ca/myths.html.
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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.
www.greenenergybc.ca