BC Premier Christy Clark would choose the LNG industry over Site C Dam According to this Dec. 10 story from Bloomberg, BC Premier Christy Clark remains bullish on the beleaguered LNG industry – but, more notably, she has finally given up on the notion the Site C Dam is needed
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The Common Sense Canadian: IPPs an even worse rip-off than Site C Dam, SFU economist warns
Construction of a private power project on the Ashlu River (Photo: Range Life) The following article by renknowned energy expert and SFU economist Dr. Marvin Shaffer is republished from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Policy Note You would think that the fiasco of the government forcing BC Hydro in recent
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Evidence shows no need for Site C Dam: Economist to Energy Minister
Energy Minister Bill Bennett Dear Minister; I know you have heard it all so I guess it is now all about the legacy you and your cabinet colleagues are willing to create. Thinking in terms of demand for electricity in BC, the reported record of sales by BC Hydro has
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper govt joins BC in backing Site C, despite “significant adverse environmental effects”
Bear Flat in northeast BC’s Peace Valley – which would be flooded by Site C Dam (Damien Gillis) Read this October 14 story from Larry Pynn in the Vancouver Sun on the Harper Cabinet’s conditional approval of the controversial, proposed Site C Dam in BC. B.C. Hydro’s planned $7.9-billion Site C dam
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Site C gets BC certificate; Feds, First Nations leave project in doubt
Location of proposed Site C Dam (photo: Damien Gillis) Read this Oct. 14 story by William Stodalka in the Alaska Highway News on the BC Liberal government’s decision to issue its environmental certificate for the highly controversial proposed Site C Dam. The B.C. Ministry of Environment has approved an environmental assessment certificate
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: As California drought drives up BC food prices…a dam to flood our best farmland?
California’s Central Valley is facing record drought conditions As British Columbians share a meal this weekend, giving thanks for the food with which we are so blessed, year-round, let us pause for a moment to consider where so much of it comes from: California. Let us also say a prayer
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Ex-TD Bank Comptroller: Site C Dam too costly, unnecessary, rushed
Site C Dam will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions, says one financial expert The following is a transcript of Rob Botterell’s recent speech to the BC Select Committee on Finance and Government Services. Mr. Botterell is a lawyer, former senior government official and former comptroller of TD Bank’s BC division. I’m
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Video showcases Peace Valley as Cabinet decides on Site C Dam
First Nations, local business people and farmers speak out against the $8 Billion-plus proposed Site C Dam, which would flood or disrupt over 30,000 acres of prime farmland and wilderness in northeast BC’s Peace Valley. Directed by conservation filmmaker Jenny Nichols and featuring the photography of Garth Lenz, this short video
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Suzuki: Site C Dam would swamp First Nations’ treaty rights
First Nations and farmers join forces at “Paddle for the Peace” to oppose Site C (Damien Gillis) B.C. First Nations chiefs recently travelled to Ottawa to urge the federal government to pull the plug on the costliest infrastructure project in the country. At an estimated $7.9 billion and growing, the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: First Nations to Ottawa: Scrap Site C Dam or LNG is a no-go
BC Chiefs Roland Wilson, Liz Logan and Stewart Phillip taking their anti-Site C message to Ottawa (Twitter) Read this Sept. 24 Globe and Mail story by Dene Moore on the trip taken by several BC First Nations chiefs to Ottawa, calling on the federal Cabinet to reject the proposed Site C
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Large hydro dams aren’t “green” – they actually drive climate change
BC’s WAC Bennett Dam (Photo: Damien Gillis) Read this August 14 EcoWatch column by Gary Wockner, which explodes the myth of “green” hydro dams – food for thought as Canada considers building Site C Dam atop some of the country’s best farmland. People believe hydroelectric dams provide clean energy. It’s not true. I
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC Hydro vastly underestimates loss of farmland to Site C Dam
At a recent press conference in Vancouver, renowned agrologist Wendy Holm and lifelong Peace Valley farmer Renee Ardill spoke to the vast, quality farmland that the proposed Site C Dam would flood or disrupt. “These soils are completely unique,” explained Holm, a past president of the BC Institute of Agrologists.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Audio: From Site C’s economic folly to update on Mount Polley
The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis and CFAX 1070′s Ian Jessop discuss the economic disaster that the proposed Site C Dam represents from British Columbians. At a projected cost of over $100 per megawatt hour – and likely more than $8 billion for construction – the project stands to lose BC taxpayers
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Site C Dam: Food for thought
Check out this short video from The Peace Valley Environment association and The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis on the extraordinary agricultural land that would be flooded by the proposed Site C Dam. The Peace River Valley, in northeast BC, provides much of the province’s energy needs from two large dams and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: “Fundamentally uneconomic” Site C Dam would lose $350 million a year for taxpayers: Industrial energy expert
The retired head of the Association of Major Power Users of BC, Dan Potts, estimates the proposed Site C Dam would lose $350 million for taxpayers and BC Hydro ratepayers. The 30-year pulp mill manager told media in Vancouver yesterday that the project, estimated to cost $8 Billion or more, is
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Site C: Damning the Peace…while US decommissions hydro projects
Damien Gillis and Kootenay Co-op Radio’s Suzy Hamilton discuss Canada’s plan to build a massive new hydroelectric project on the Peace River, while America is busy decommissioning dams. The Peace is home to some of Canada’s best farmland, 30,000 acres of which would be impacted by the dam – enough
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Dams can cause heart attacks in sprinting salmon: UBC-BC Hydro study
Read this Aug. 21 Vancouver Sun story by Tiffany Crawford on the effect of swimming through fast-moving waters, downstream from dams, on sockeye salmon – according to a new study by UBC and funded by BC Hydro. University of B.C. researchers say sockeye salmon that sprint to spawning grounds through fast-moving
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Peace Valley farmland, ecosystems worth $8 Billion a year: study
The Peace River Valley is one of Canada’s most fertile regions (Damien Gillis) Keeping the Peace Valley’s farmland and ecosystems intact would be worth $7.9 billion to $8.6 billion a year, says a new study from the David Suzuki Foundation. The region, in northeast BC, is under threat from the proposed Site
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Industrial energy expert: BC govt policy, IPPs to blame for high power bills
Construction of a private power project on the Ashlu River (Photo: Range Life) Read this July 24 op-ed in The Vancouver Sun by the former head of the Association of Major Power Users of BC, Dan Potts – who places the blame for skyrocketing power bills squarely on the BC Liberal Government’s
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Under Liberals, big projects often double in cost…Why would Site C Dam be any different?
Seeing red: The roof on BC Place Stadium is just one of many cost overruns on the BC Liberals’ watch Oh, for the days of the fast ferries…compared to what we have now. Most British Columbians will recall Premier Glen Clark’s late 1990′s boondoggle, which saw the construction of three new coastal
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