The B.C. government wants you to think the Upper Pitt hydroelectric project is dead.
It’s not. It survived being thrown under the protest bus by the B.C. Liberals, in a blatant contradiction of the premier’s lofty green goals going into an election year.
There’s a fragrant trail of media manipulation behind the decision to blind-side this project while continuing to tout the benefits of run-of-river everywhere else in B.C. It fooled me too, for a while.
“We are still considering options for transmission of power,” I was assured by Jako Krushnisky, president of Run-of-River Power Inc., finally speaking out more than a month after a sudden decision by Environment Minister Barry Penner to veto a power line through a provincial park.
Krushnisky’s politely outraged letters to Penner and Premier Gordon Campbell show clearly that the decision to shut down public input had little to do with the wildlife impact of the power line. He notes that Penner signaled his decision to selected Vancouver media before he could have seen key scientific information, and before union, environmental and NDP protesters stacked public meetings.
Right after the made-for-TV protests, Penner went live on Global TV to announce his decision, before he even informed the publicly traded company that had been working to follow the many rules of his ministry. Penner’s subsequent explanation to me turned out to be a misleading summary of wildlife surveys his ministry had demanded the company perform.
It would have taken 22 helicopter-installed wooden pole structures to run wires over a high pass to connect with BC Hydro’s Squamish substation, near where the same company already has a similar project planned and another quietly producing clean energy since 2005. The snow piles up so deep in this pass that even the most agile mountain goat would be strictly a summertime sight, enjoying the browse on the right of way.
All this is near a little town called Whistler, known for its snow, where power consumption is expected to jump a bit in the next couple of years.
I guess that’s why the premier’s office hustled Penner out to contradict everything he’s been saying about run-of-river since he became environment minister. The Olympics as well as the election draw near, and yuppie brows must be smoothed.
Almost all the roads needed to build the Upper Pitt project are already there, built during decades of logging that continues to be permitted. Fish impacts are nearly non-existent, and subject to elaborate federal and provincial controls.
Negotiations were ongoing with the Katzie First Nation for an employment deal, another solemn goal for this government that was abruptly sacrificed here. And then of course there’s climate change. Without new capacity like this, the old Burrard Thermal boilers might have to be fired up again.
Here’s another clue to the cold calculations in the premier’s office. Public power and public health care will be key themes in union campaigning for next year’s election. The B.C. Liberals just revealed they are putting a strict cap and an unprecedented four-month time limit on non-party election spending, and will push it through the legislature this month. This is another breathtaking contradiction of Campbell’s defence of free speech when in opposition. And it comes when he’s got so much corporate money in the bank, anyone other than a professional politician would be embarrassed.
Run-of-River Power’s likely alternative is another route near the high-voltage line that already runs through Pinecone-Burke Provincial Park. After the B.C. Liberals are safely re-elected next year, don’t be surprised to see it go ahead, even if it’s more intrusive than the plan that was scuttled.
Manufactured dissent
The dates for the public hearings on the Upper Pitt power line were leaked by ministry staff to environmental groups before they were finalized.
This allowed the Wilderness Committee and its partner the BC Hydro union more time to bus in protesters, who considerably outnumbered locals. Joining them was NDP leader Carole James, whose opposition to run-of-river power is based on emotion spiced with fake numbers.
The NDP greatly understates the cost of power from sources such as big dams, which do real environmental damage, and ignores its own early support for run-of-river power while in government.
The NDP also campaigns against the carbon tax for purely cynical gain, even as the federal Liberals pick up on B.C.’s idea.
Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press newspapers. tfletcher@blackpress.ca
