Your Letters On Bute Inlet
Dear Premier Campbell,
I am writing to protest the direction your government is pursuing in the privatization of British Columbia's energy resources. Your government is pursuing this agenda through various direct alliances with private corporate energy companies, and by exerting direct political interference in the workings of arms-length bodies such as the BC Utilities Commission, and by setting up other non-democratic bodies to supposedly give government "advice" on energy policy (e.g., the Green Energy Task Force).
Energy derived from water, wind and sun should be considered a public resource. All the elements that create the energy, and most of the geographic locations where the energy can be captured and generated into electricity, are public goods or public lands. Your government is making a concerted effort to turn these lands, waters and energy sources into private resources, thereby removing the long-term ability of the public to directly influence the future of our energy sector, its cost-effectiveness, the way it is used, and the way it is priced. You are giving away the baby with the bathwater, because by privatizing these resources you are essentially giving up government's ability to influence future decisions. You are emasculating the very government powers that the public needs to have control over for the future sovereignty, fiscal responsibility, and future well-being of our lands. Government is the public, and you seem to have fallen into the misconception that government is the realm of big money and corporate power. I can only assume that such a short-sighted agenda is driven by personal gain on your part and the part of your fellow politicians.
The attempt by General Electric to develop large amounts of hydro power from the Bute Inlet area is one key example of this strategy of government getting into bed with industry. Your government is pursuing this agenda without proper environmental impact assessments. The ecology of this region cannot withstand this kind of mega-project. The people of BC deserve to be heard on this kind of project. It should not be promoted by politicians behind closed doors.
You have set up a Green Energy Advisory Task Force supposedly designed to provide government with sound advice on energy policy. How can we believe that these people will do a fair job when some are set to benefit directly from certain policy options? How can we believe the sincerity of the government for unbiased and open advice when the members are hand-picked and there is insufficient public review?
Rivers are public resources, with benefits that far outstrip their energy potential. They must stay public resources so that the costs and benefits of developments can be fairly adjudicated by unbiased decision makers. Public resources are far more valuable than corporate revenues. The BC energy strategy needs to start with conservation; there is no value in continuing to rape and plunder public resources in order to power an energy grid and set of consumer behaviors that continue to waste power indiscriminately.
I urge you and your government to re-think your determined drive to give away our resources and future options to corporate interests that have no soul, are run on greed, and only deliver higher costs as soon as they get control.
Yours sincerely,
Donald G. Reid
Honorable Premier Campbell,
As a representation of the people and a citizen of this beautiful province, I respectively request that you take a moment to consider the potential devastation that is likely to occur if the proposed Bute Inlet power project is permitted to proceed as planned.
There are alternatives. BC Hydro reports show that we can meet our energy needs simply by conservation and development of sustainable energy resources such as wind and wave power. Supporting 'green' energy is a means of bringing economic development initiatives to native peoples of BC while helping Canada to meet environmental targets.
The impact on Bute Inlet wildlife would be an enormous sacrifice for power we don’t need. Bute Inlet is home to many endangered and threatened species, like grizzly bears, mountain goats and marbled murrelets. Construction on such a massive project will result in major wildlife disturbances and tourism for future generations.
How would you like to be remembered? The Bute Inlet power project may present some short-sighted gains, but the long term economic, environmental, health and yes, spiritual cost is far too great a legacy that I suspect you would care to live with knowing there is an opportunity to make a better choice.
I know that you will do the right thing.
Suzanne Craig
Dear Premier Campbell,
I have been raised in the beautiful pristine back country of this area and love it passionately for it's untouched beauty. Please do not put power and money before the greatest wilderness that British Columbia can offer. I know as well as you that there are better, greener ways to find the energy that our planet needs. Don't ruin my backyard, I want to keep sharing it with the generations to come.
Sincerely,
Karissa Agius
Powell River, BC, Resident and passionate outdoors person.
Dear Premier Campbell,
I am writing you to protest the IPP Mega project on Bute Inlet. This is an area where any impact at all will be destroying on of the worlds last wild places. The Bute is home to all five species of Pacific Salmon with salmon returning in record low numbers, we must protect areas like this at any cost.
This project is too large and the cost of exporting the power will be too great whith more than 450kms of power lines and new roads to access them. The overall cost of this is ridiculous and the fact that it is being given away to foreign corporate giants GE and would no longer remain in the hands of BC Hydro and the people of BC is a scam.
What will it take for you to hear the people when we say NO!! Leave the rivers and creeks of BC WILD!
Randy Speers
Endangered Creeks Expeditions
Dear Mr. Premier
I write to state my concern about the proposed Bute Inlet hydroelectric development. I believe the impacts of this proposed project are not fully understood and further studies must be undertaken. Furthermore I believe that these developments are eroding BC's greatest asset, its natural beauty. Tourism revenues are potentially far greater in the long run than any resource development can hope to be. Furthermore British Columbia has an important obligation in protecting its vast ecologically intact areas, as they are some of the last truly wild places on earth. This, in the future, will be BC's greatest strength. Proper planning must be made to balance the need for resource development with the great necessity of protecting the few last intact ecosystems. Overly rapid development will not only place BC natural beauty at stake but will also erode potential incomes from important sectors such as tourism.
Please do not rush into the Bute Inlet development, and consider what would be lost if this pristine area became another industrialized hinterland. Both environmentally and economically.
Sincerely yours
Maximilian Kniewasser
I am writing to protest the direction your government is pursuing in the privatization of British Columbia's energy resources. Your government is pursuing this agenda through various direct alliances with private corporate energy companies, and by exerting direct political interference in the workings of arms-length bodies such as the BC Utilities Commission, and by setting up other non-democratic bodies to supposedly give government "advice" on energy policy (e.g., the Green Energy Task Force).
Energy derived from water, wind and sun should be considered a public resource. All the elements that create the energy, and most of the geographic locations where the energy can be captured and generated into electricity, are public goods or public lands. Your government is making a concerted effort to turn these lands, waters and energy sources into private resources, thereby removing the long-term ability of the public to directly influence the future of our energy sector, its cost-effectiveness, the way it is used, and the way it is priced. You are giving away the baby with the bathwater, because by privatizing these resources you are essentially giving up government's ability to influence future decisions. You are emasculating the very government powers that the public needs to have control over for the future sovereignty, fiscal responsibility, and future well-being of our lands. Government is the public, and you seem to have fallen into the misconception that government is the realm of big money and corporate power. I can only assume that such a short-sighted agenda is driven by personal gain on your part and the part of your fellow politicians.
The attempt by General Electric to develop large amounts of hydro power from the Bute Inlet area is one key example of this strategy of government getting into bed with industry. Your government is pursuing this agenda without proper environmental impact assessments. The ecology of this region cannot withstand this kind of mega-project. The people of BC deserve to be heard on this kind of project. It should not be promoted by politicians behind closed doors.
You have set up a Green Energy Advisory Task Force supposedly designed to provide government with sound advice on energy policy. How can we believe that these people will do a fair job when some are set to benefit directly from certain policy options? How can we believe the sincerity of the government for unbiased and open advice when the members are hand-picked and there is insufficient public review?
Rivers are public resources, with benefits that far outstrip their energy potential. They must stay public resources so that the costs and benefits of developments can be fairly adjudicated by unbiased decision makers. Public resources are far more valuable than corporate revenues. The BC energy strategy needs to start with conservation; there is no value in continuing to rape and plunder public resources in order to power an energy grid and set of consumer behaviors that continue to waste power indiscriminately.
I urge you and your government to re-think your determined drive to give away our resources and future options to corporate interests that have no soul, are run on greed, and only deliver higher costs as soon as they get control.
Yours sincerely,
Donald G. Reid
Honorable Premier Campbell,
As a representation of the people and a citizen of this beautiful province, I respectively request that you take a moment to consider the potential devastation that is likely to occur if the proposed Bute Inlet power project is permitted to proceed as planned.
There are alternatives. BC Hydro reports show that we can meet our energy needs simply by conservation and development of sustainable energy resources such as wind and wave power. Supporting 'green' energy is a means of bringing economic development initiatives to native peoples of BC while helping Canada to meet environmental targets.
The impact on Bute Inlet wildlife would be an enormous sacrifice for power we don’t need. Bute Inlet is home to many endangered and threatened species, like grizzly bears, mountain goats and marbled murrelets. Construction on such a massive project will result in major wildlife disturbances and tourism for future generations.
How would you like to be remembered? The Bute Inlet power project may present some short-sighted gains, but the long term economic, environmental, health and yes, spiritual cost is far too great a legacy that I suspect you would care to live with knowing there is an opportunity to make a better choice.
I know that you will do the right thing.
Suzanne Craig
Dear Premier Campbell,
I have been raised in the beautiful pristine back country of this area and love it passionately for it's untouched beauty. Please do not put power and money before the greatest wilderness that British Columbia can offer. I know as well as you that there are better, greener ways to find the energy that our planet needs. Don't ruin my backyard, I want to keep sharing it with the generations to come.
Sincerely,
Karissa Agius
Powell River, BC, Resident and passionate outdoors person.
Dear Premier Campbell,
I am writing you to protest the IPP Mega project on Bute Inlet. This is an area where any impact at all will be destroying on of the worlds last wild places. The Bute is home to all five species of Pacific Salmon with salmon returning in record low numbers, we must protect areas like this at any cost.
This project is too large and the cost of exporting the power will be too great whith more than 450kms of power lines and new roads to access them. The overall cost of this is ridiculous and the fact that it is being given away to foreign corporate giants GE and would no longer remain in the hands of BC Hydro and the people of BC is a scam.
What will it take for you to hear the people when we say NO!! Leave the rivers and creeks of BC WILD!
Randy Speers
Endangered Creeks Expeditions
Dear Mr. Premier
I write to state my concern about the proposed Bute Inlet hydroelectric development. I believe the impacts of this proposed project are not fully understood and further studies must be undertaken. Furthermore I believe that these developments are eroding BC's greatest asset, its natural beauty. Tourism revenues are potentially far greater in the long run than any resource development can hope to be. Furthermore British Columbia has an important obligation in protecting its vast ecologically intact areas, as they are some of the last truly wild places on earth. This, in the future, will be BC's greatest strength. Proper planning must be made to balance the need for resource development with the great necessity of protecting the few last intact ecosystems. Overly rapid development will not only place BC natural beauty at stake but will also erode potential incomes from important sectors such as tourism.
Please do not rush into the Bute Inlet development, and consider what would be lost if this pristine area became another industrialized hinterland. Both environmentally and economically.
Sincerely yours
Maximilian Kniewasser