BUTE INLET POWER PROJECT II

fishingbc

Active Member
RAFE MAIR & SAVE OUR RIVERS SOCIETY ATTEND/HOST 3 EVENTS ON COAST

Save Our Rivers Society and its official spokesperson Rafe Mair will
be in three coastal communities in the coming weeks to speak out
against General Electric-backed Plutonic Power's massive private
river power proposal for the Bute Inlet, and to help inform the
public and first nations about the threats to their water and energy
security posed by the Campbell government's private power gold rush.
Mair and Save Our Rivers' filmmaker Damien Gillis will be attending
public open houses hosted by the private company in Powell River on
January 27th and in Campbell River on February 2nd to voice their
concerns about Plutonic's proposal to put 17 rivers in the
spectacular Bute Inlet - a world-famous fishing and eco-tourism
destination - into miles of pipes, while criss-crossing the entire
watershed with 250 km in roads, 100 bridges, and thousands of
hectares of clear cuts for 443 km of transmission lines. While the
Campbell government has promoted these private river power projects
as "green," using such euphemisms as "small hydro," this one
collection of projects alone is larger in scale than the much-reviled
Site C Dam proposal, at 1027 megawatts of peak production capacity.
Save Our Rivers Society will also host its own public meeting in
Courtenay on February 3rd - featuring Rafe Mair, a video presentation
with brand-new aerial footage of the Bute and Plutonic's nearby Toba
Inlet projects already under construction, as well as local guest
speakers, and a Q&A session for the audience. The Feb. 3 event, from
7-9 PM at the Florence Filberg Centre in downtown Courtenay, is part
of Save Our Rivers' province-wide tour to speak directly to the
citizens of British Columbia about the greatest threat to our
environment, economy and society: the give-away of our most valuable
assets to some of the world's largest corporations for the production
of power to serve the US market.

POWELL RIVER Tuesday January 27, 4-8 PM - Powell River Town Centre
Hotel (4660 Joyce Ave.)
CAMPBELL RIVER Monday February 2, 4-8 PM - Quinsam Centre (2005
Eagle Dr.)
COURTENAY Tuesday February 3, 7-9 PM - Florence Filberg Centre
(411 Anderton Ave.)

We invite the public and media to come and learn about this vital
issue and to join the battle to regain control of our water and
public power from Gordon Campbell's private energy plan. For more
information on the issue, visit http://saveourrivers.ca/ and watch
the POWERPLAY and "Rivers at Risk"videos.


Fast Facts About the Massive Bute Inlet Private River Power Proposal:

Proponent: Plutonic Hydro Inc.
Number of creeks dammed: 17
Wildlife affected: grizzly bear, salmon, resident salmonids.
Power lines: 443km
Roads: 250 km
Bridges: 100
Production: 1027MW


Private River Power in BC

Under Gordon Campbell's private energy plan, BC's historic public
power utility, BC Hydro, is banned from developing any new public
power of its own and forced instead to buy ever increasing quantities
of costly and needless private electricity - mostly from
environmentally disastrous private river power projects that will
destroy our invaluable watersheds, killing our fish and wildlife and
releasing huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Needless to
say, these projects are hugely profitable to the corporations
involved. What British Columbians are not being told is that while
we are financing the projects through tax dollars and exorbitant BC
Hydro purchase contracts we'll have to pay for through much higher
power bills, in the end the public will own neither the water rights
nor the assets themselves (in other words, we are going,
unnecessarily, from owners to tenants of our energy assets). And
while we are told these new private river power projects are green,
few utilities, neighbouring states or provinces recognize "run of
river" power as green. (Note: this list includes PG&E, California's
largest utility and would-be buyer of BC electricity exports). No
cumulative studies have been done on what the overall ecological
impacts would be to our province if anywhere near the over 600 rivers
with private power licenses or applications on them were blown apart
for private power projects. Nor have any eco-footprint studies been
done to see if these projects would really result in a net reduction
in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, as each project involves
thousands of hectares of logging for elaborate road systems,
transmission lines, the pipe that diverts up to 90% of a river's flow
for distances approaching 20 KM in some cases, the "headpond" area,
which in some cases approaches a full-on dam, the power station, and
more. The fact is this private watershed agenda will rob indigenous
peoples, sports fisherman, and hunters of fish and game; while it
destroys recreational areas for British Columbians and eco-tourists
from around the world, as these blights ruin our natural landscapes,
and public access to these treasured places is blocked by private
security, fences and gates.

Another myth used to justify what is ultimately the greatest resource
theft in Canadian history is that we somehow need this new "green"
private power. According to SFU economist Dr. Marvin Shaffer and
other experts on BC Hydro like Dr. John Calvert (read Calvert’s
excellent Liquid Gold), we do not: BC is already self-sufficient and
only imports and exports power to make a profit for BC and keep our
taxes and rates low. Because of the control and flexibility our big
public dams give us over our energy supply, we are able to trade
power with our neighbours on the spot market at a profit – buying
from them when demand is low and power is cheap, then turning around
and selling to them when prices are high. (Can you imagine the state
of our social services and tax burden when we lose the $700 million-
plus in profits per year that BC Hydro contributes to our public
coffers?) And what’s still missing is the fact that we haven’t
even begun to get serious about conservation – the first place we
should be turning to lower our environmental footprint and fortify
our economy and energy security! We’re loading ourselves up with
expensive energy contracts we don’t need today, and definitely
won’t need in the future – but will be committed to pay for –
when we truly tackle our tremendous energy waste. And these
contracts - far pricier than what we make or sell power for today to
consumers and industry - could ultimately bankrupt our historic
public power utility, while driving up consumer rates to California
levels (more than four times higher than our current rates!)


Finally, if we really were in a panic to develop new power, why on
earth would we forbid our own public power utility from at least
competing with private industry to develop new renewable public
power?! (It would seem obvious that, far from a competitive
marketplace, the game is indeed rigged for the profit of
multinational corporations and BC Liberal pals, at the expense of
honest, hard-working British Columbians). What we’re seeing here is
the same tactic - the manufactured crisis - that has been used all
around the world to break totally viable and beneficial public power
utilities, opening the door to a takeover by Private Power (note:
California and Enron, for a recent example). Far from creating an
open market system for intrepid entrepreneurs, this government is
producing what will end up being a handful of monopolies who don't
compete with anyone, and whose profit is guaranteed by us, the
citizens of this province…until their contracts with us run out.
Then they can sell their power to whomever they choose on the North
American grid, for whatever they want – and that’s when they start
making the real money, while the people of BC, having paid for some
one else’s assets, having lost our rivers, our environment, and our
power, find ourselves out in the cold
 
I am angry about the bullcrap going on with BC Hydro and these are good causes but do you really need to make two threads about it in the salt water fishing forum? These could both be under one thread and should be in general discussion or something.

You have three topics in salt water fishing that don't really relate to fishing and they are all just a big heap of copy and paste that I and many others won't be bothered to read because it is un interesting and poorly spaced.

Try to read what you just posted it is a pain in the butt and full of useless information. I am sure most people did not read it all, especially if you try to start reading from the top because that is where all the useless garbage is. If you want to draw some good attention to the cause write it out in a reader friendly format and include only the most important information. You can link people to a site with more details if they wish to get them.
 
Hey Jockey, I think that you need to read this article carefully. I do not think this is a useless rant. The waters discussed have migrating fish in them which it also affects saltwater. This something we need to keep a close eye on or we will be losing a valuable treasure to private interests. Private means NO PUBLIC ACCESS.

IMG_1445.jpg
 
quote:Originally posted by Jockey

I am angry about the bullcrap going on with BC Hydro and these are good causes but do you really need to make two threads about it in the salt water fishing forum? These could both be under one thread and should be in general discussion or something.

You have three topics in salt water fishing that don't really relate to fishing and they are all just a big heap of copy and paste that I and many others won't be bothered to read because it is un interesting and poorly spaced.

Try to read what you just posted it is a pain in the butt and full of useless information. I am sure most people did not read it all, especially if you try to start reading from the top because that is where all the useless garbage is. If you want to draw some good attention to the cause write it out in a reader friendly format and include only the most important information. You can link people to a site with more details if they wish to get them.
sure I'll edit all out just for you....keep reading....
 
quote:Originally posted by Gunsmith

Hey Jockey, I think that you need to read this article carefully. I do not think this is a useless rant. The waters discussed have migrating fish in them which it also affects saltwater. This something we need to keep a close eye on or we will be losing a valuable treasure to private interests. Private means NO PUBLIC ACCESS.

IMG_1445.jpg
couldn't have said it better myself THX
 
Howdy,

For those of you who grasp the enormity of Campbell's latest assault on BC's fish-bearing rivers and streams and are concerned or want to learn more, a Victoria date has been added to this tour:

University of Victoria; Feb/11, Elliott Building - Rm 168; 7 to 9 pm.

I also encourage you all to visit - http://saveourrivers.ca/ - and see just how terrible this Run of River bull-sh#t really is. Together with his unbridled support of the fish-farmers, this latest fiasco with the proposed assualt of hundreds of BC's rivers & streams only underscores Campbell's total disregard for our wild fish and wild places.
 
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