There are reasons why proponents of Site C, including utility executives and members of the former BC Liberal Government, continue to promote the project despite much evidence that it was the wrong choice three years ago and remains that today. Read through the linked report or just consider the following
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In-Sights: Blunders, haste and waste
BC Hydro’s Chris O’Riley may be new to the CEO’s chair, but he’s not new to the management of Site C. So, it is astounding that his letter to BCUC this week included a particular statement in admitting the project’s budget and construction schedule are askew. O’Riley indicated that another
Continue readingIn-Sights: The Site C money pit
According to Financial Post writer Geoffrey Morgan, BC Hydro sent an October 3 communication to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC). The letter explained why it continues to forecast a surge in electricity demand, despite a dozen years of flat sales to BC consumers. Hydro claims it is forecasting new demand
Continue readingIn-Sights: BC Hydro – overdue and unimproved
Policies of British Columbia’s public sector management dictate that: Crown corporations must follow the spirit and intent of B.C. government core policies and procedures and comply with all applicable legislation, policies and guidelines… Section 32(7) of the Hydro and Power Authority Act determines the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act applies
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Anushka Asthana, Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason report on Jeremy Corbyn’s path as Labour leader – which include genuinely moving the UK’s political centre of gravity to the left while improving his party’s electoral prospects in the process. – Andrew Boozary and
Continue readingIn-Sights: Buy high, sell low – make up losses with volume
Originally published in December 2014. Is B.C.’s Site C dam a gateway to dirty energy?, Calyn Shaw, CBC News Network, December 22, 2014 The provincial government has made it clear that Site C is about meeting future electricity demands. But the province is currently energy self-sufficient; we are a significant
Continue readingIn-Sights: Punditry rings hollow
I originally published A false notion in June 2010 and repeated it two years later. It came to mind after Postmedia’s senior west coast pundit wrote B.C. Hydro’s Site C promises ring hollow. I wrote the old article after Vaughn Palmer finally noticed the BC Rail scandal had Liberals mired in
Continue readingIn-Sights: We are the losers, who are the winners?
Brady Yauch is an economist at the Consumer Policy Institute (CPI), which identifies itself as “an independent think-tank dedicated to achieving lower costs and greater efficiencies for Canadian consumers, particularly in sectors run by government monopolies or those receiving large subsidies.” Mr. Yauch published How Megaprojects bankrupt Power Utilities and
Continue readingIn-Sights: Similarities
Muskrat Falls was always a done deal, and a bad one, Pam Frampton, Saint John’s Telegram: One week the project was all about clean energy, the next it was job creation, then it was all about being an affordable energy source, then it was a means of foiling Quebec, then
Continue readingIn-Sights: From the news archives: Site C history – UPDATED
An item previously published at In-Sights but worth reviewing as the BCUC finally gets to examine BC Hydro’s latest mega-project. Large Dams Cost Twice Original Budget, Researchers Say, Bloomberg Business, March 11, 2014: Large dams run 96 percent over budget on average, according to a University of Oxford study based
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – John Paul Tasker reports on the federal government’s plans to close some loopholes which allow the use of small corporations in order to avoid income taxes. And Andrew Jackson writes that we should support that first step toward a fairer tax system. But
Continue readingIn-Sights: We should all have a stake in the Peace
At the Boon family farm near Fort St. John: The Yellow Stake Campaign
Continue readingIn-Sights: Costing Site C Options
Another contribution from Richard McCandless, a former senior civil servant in British Columbia and a knowledgeable analyst who comments regularly on public affairs at BC Policy Perspectives. (Republished here with permission.) On Thursday the Liberal party promised to spend hundreds of millions on new and expanded programs, signaling the abandonment
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Richard Seymour follows up on Jeremy Corbyn’s electoral success by highlighting the importance of a grassroots progressive movement which stays active and vibrant between election cycles: Labour needs only a small swing to win a majority if there were to be another election,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Dennis Howlett comments on the distortions in Canada’s tax system which redistribute money upward to those who need it least: It’s time for Mr. Morneau to deliver a comprehensive and comprehensible tax strategy that will work in 2017 and beyond because, currently, tax
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Andrew Jackson discusses the problems with increased corporate concentration of wealth and power – including the need for a response that goes beyond competition policies. In the 1960s, institutional economists like John Kenneth Galbraith described a world of oligopoly in which a few
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Josh Bivens explains why increased fairness would likely lead to improved overall growth for the U.S.’ economy: (O)ne key driver of slow productivity growth in recent years can be fixed: the remaining shortfall between aggregate demand and the economy’s productive potential. Running the
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: PM Trudeau-Spills happen.They always do. Even the best technology isn’t up to the job.
Dear Mr. Trudeau, I attended the Kinder Morgan open house in Victoria recently, well I tried to. The attendance was so great that as many of us as fit into the room were left Read more…
Continue readingIn-Sights: What’s wrong with this picture?
What’s really wrong is that BC Hydro has been spending billions on new capacity but producing less power. Demand has not grown since 2005 but purchases from IPPs, between FY 2005 and FY 2015, rose 108% from 6,444 GWh to 13,377. The purchasing is up again in 2016, by about
Continue readingIn-Sights: What’s wrong with this picture?
What’s really wrong is that BC Hydro has been spending billions on new capacity but producing less power. Demand has not grown since 2005 but purchases from IPPs rose 108% from 6,444 GWh to 13,377 between FY 2005 and FY 2015. They’re up again in 2016 b…
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