Run-of-river "for profit" gets a kick in the bag

Oh goodness me, hard to believe.

The idea that we could produce self-sufficiency in hydro-electric power gets whacked?

Stunning.

Except, as our own Alison explains, it had diddly squat to do with self-sufficiency.

Oh yes, you thought "run-of-river" hydro power was a little flume-stock on a creek. Not likely. This is a major dam, on a major river, and if they don't get the water they need, they hold it back.

The graphic above is a run-of-river project. Omigod! That looks like a dam!

There ya go princess.

BC Election 2009 : Money is thicker than water

This last week, documents from the much-beleaguered BC Ministry of the Environment revealed that run-of-river power projects breach environmental regulations : cutting down old-growth forest, construction during bird breeding season, that sort of thing.
Unfortunately the government officials involved "say they can't discuss what they found until after next week's provincial election."
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Now today we get this : Environment ministry faces 'substantial pressure' from power producers, documents say

"Ministry of Environment officials sometimes face "substantial pressure" from IPP [Independent Power Project] proponents to exempt them from wildlife and habitat protection regulations that apply to the forestry sector -- and ministry staff are recommending that requests for exemptions be passed along to politicians rather than dealt with by civil servants"

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT DECISION NOTE

"Recommended Option : If a Regional Manager does not wish to issue the exemption, it would elevate to the Minister."

What?
You mean the same Liberal politicians who have received $800,000 in political donations from that IPP industry and its supporters over the past 8 years would be making the call on whether specific IPPs are exempt from environmental regulation?
Good lord.

It's not easy being greenwash

A map of proposed and existing run-of-river licences via IPP Watch:

Blue - generating; green - granted; red - application

Large Google map of sites here.

I wonder what the salmon think of it?

So given that we generally generate more power than we need in BC, what are all these for again? Oh yeah - exporting power to the US :

"A key adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that B.C. run-of-river power may yet qualify as green power.
Utilities in California are nearly all struggling to meet a requirement that 20% of their electricity come from renewable sources by 2010.
They have only months to meet the target or face financial penalties, and private-sector power producers in B.C., along with the provincial government, are urging California to expand its definition of renewable power to encompass run-of-river projects with up to 50 megawatts of capacity as part of the solution."

Which is interesting in itself because projects of less than 50 megawatts do not require environmental reviews.

Over at Plutonic Power, home of the $4-billion Bute Inlet run-of-17-rivers Project in partnership with US General Electric, environmentalist and executive director of PowerUp Canada "citizens initiative" Tzeporah Berman gave us another reason :

"We're in a recession and calling for a moratorium of the private sector of renewable energy companies would send the signal to the business community that this is not a place for them to invest in."

Certainly Gordo is invested in IPPs. In response to Squamish’s strenuous objections to a run-of-river development on Ashlu River, Gordo passed Bill 30, retroactively removing the right of local municipalities to stop such developments.

And Plutonic Power has in turn invested in Gordo's Liberals :

"CEO Donald McInnes said his company did not donate to the Liberal Party, in response to a caller on CKNW's Bill Good show this morning, but Elections BC records prove otherwise.

When asked why he made that claim, McInnes responded, "I don't consider that to be donations, that's buying a seat at a table."

Quite.

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In comments at Creekside - BC's Watershed Election - commenter Racheal11 left some handy info and links to Liberal party insiders and BC Hydro execs who have recently shifted over to the extremely lucrative IPP industy : Insiders move to IPP industry

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So we're good with all this, are we?

Gordo's government, former BC Hydro execs, private industry, and prominent environmentalists all pulling together ... to export power to California.

The mind boggles.

And if we decide we want our rivers back before these 25 to 50 year leases are up, are we looking at a NAFTA Chapter 11 challenge?

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Cross-posted at Creekside