Bear Flat Dispatch
December 22, 2024
The BC Government recently announced 9 new wind projects to be built that will produce almost the same amount of power as Site C for about 1/3 the cost. Those in opposition to Site C clearly made the argument 10 years ago about the poor economics of Site C but were told that ‘firm reliable’ hydro power was needed instead of ‘unreliable intermittent’ wind. The fact that the BC Hydro grid was already over 90% hydro energy at that time and could easily have absorbed more renewables such as wind energy was brushed aside. That single-minded focus on Site C effectively pushed the wind industry out of the province back then.
Fast forward to 2024 and it seems that now is finally the right time for more wind energy to be added to our grid. Go figure. Perhaps that might have something to do with how crazy expensive Site C wound up costing (as predicted by many). It might also have something to do with our recent drought that has decreased hydro power production across the province. The risk of putting most of our generating capacity into one basket such as hydro was yet another argument that was ignored when Site C was pushed through. Diversity is always a good thing.
But wait, it gets “weirder” with some new political tampering. Now the BC government has decided to do away with Environmental Assessments (EA reviews) for wind projects. This seems to be happening in an atmosphere of crisis to quickly bring more electricity online with no time to waste due to increasing demand. Barry Penner, a former B.C. Environment Minister and chair of Energy Futures Initiative has been telling the same sort of ‘hair on fire’ message to anyone who will listen for some time now. I fully expect (and hope) that the need for more electricity is coming, but it has not hit crisis mode yet, and all such previous “cry wolf” predictions by BC Hydro and special interest lobbyist have proven false. Of course, if we go hog-wild building more energy intensive LNG plants that are dictated to run on ratepayer subsidized grid power, that will indeed require a large buildout of infrastructure.
Having specified that partial First Nation ownership is required for all such new private power projects, perhaps the BC Government feels that will help eliminate backlash against not having EA reviews take place. I am not against streamlining the process and removing truly unnecessary and expensive bureaucratic steps, but there should be some form of effective science-based review in place on projects that may have environmental impacts. Equally important is that governments should reject projects when that is clearly the findings from EA reviews, regardless of that government’s own biases or who the proponents are, but unfortunately that is not currently the case.
Back to the current situation, is there a perception that First Nations would never be proponents for a project that could be harmful, while non- indigenous proponents would? That is simply not true. History has shown that any proponent who stands to gain financially from a project will often have a biased or blind view of the negative impacts of said project. That is one reason why EA reviews are important. Should a project truly be environmentally sound and in the best interest of society, then an EA review will back that up.
Don’t get me wrong. I support more wind energy in our mix and hopefully these are all good projects. The ‘bang for the buck’ is much better than Site C and appear better financially than the disastrous push by former Premier Gordon Campbell for Independent Power projects that resulted in top dollar contracts awarded for low value seasonal freshet run-of-river hydro power. I also support a leg up for more Indigenous involvement in green and clean energy projects such as this. I think most people support reconciliation in general, but I do hear concern about a sense of an increasing government mandated two-tier class type system and where that may lead. That is a separate discussion that should happen in an honest and respectful manner.
After the long battle lost with Site C, I find myself somewhat mentally exhausted when it comes to energy issues and arguments. I do wish that our energy policies and decisions could have less political meddling, but maybe that simply is not possible. Anything to do with energy seems to be fully engaged in the “culture” wars engulfing so much of society, and unfortunately, politics is very much part of that mix.
Merry Christmas.
Ken Boon
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