A6 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2016
Opinion Published every Thursday at 9916 - 98th Street, Fort St. John, BC V1J 3T8 by Glacier Media Tel: 250-785-5631 Fax: 250-785-3522 Online at alaskahighwaynews.ca
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Letters to the Editor SITE C COMMENTS RAISE EYEBROWS Recently, Mr. Dave Conway, chief spokesperson for the Site C project, did an interview with CBC radio regarding the dam. One particular comment he made should concern all BC Hydro rate payers. Mr. Conway stated that the Site C power would only be needed in a 20-40 year period, indicating that a shorter term demand for electricity is now unfounded. Previous comments made on behalf of BC Hydro several years ago stated a need for the power within a 5-10 year period. That changed more recently, where Hydro indicated the necessity for electricity from Site C would be required in a 10-20 year period. So, what is the real need or demand for this project? If the province required power in the next 20 to 40 years, why the rush for a Site C? It is unrealistic for Hydro to make such long range and expensive assertions. In 2015, BC Hydro paid $17.5 million to eight Independent Power Producers not to produce 300 gigawatt-hours of electricity. Clearly, there was no demand or need. By Hydro’s own admissions now, the Site C dam will lose $800 million in the first 4 years of operation due to unneeded power. What they don’t tell us is what happens in the 5th, 6th or following years until we hit the benchmark of 20-40 years? The pattern suggests that we will continue to pay mightily for a boondoggle of a project regardless of any realistic need. —Rick Koechl and Mike Kroecher, Charlie Lake I heard Mr. David Conway on the CBC justifying Site C even though it may not be needed for another forty years and certainly not now. Along with all the many compelling reasons to stop the dam plan, this one
topped the cake for me. It is extremely distressing to have the Peace River Valley flooded with costs, displacements, disruptions to the communities along the Peace, the environmental damage, growing international opposition, and court cases still pending, to proceed in the manner our government and Hydro have chosen. Work is essential and the Liberals missed the opportunity for ample employment in other efficiencies and technologies. 450,000 homes could be solar, how about even twice that many, as an example. What about bringing the people of BC together to work together all over the province to reduce our carbon footprints? Water, food security, agricultural land, and climate change have emerged as the most urgent of issues today. Let’s not waste our hard earned and precious resources on a dam we do not even need. —Colleen Campbell, Gold River, BC LET PEOPLE ENJOY THE RIVER IN PEACE On our most recent trip down the Peace River, we encountered once again BC Hydro’s most offensive signs for miles: no
SUSTAINABLE DOMESTIC USE FOR OUR FOSSIL FUELS
tion and burning and associated human activities. Obviously, increased extraction and burning of any fossil fuel at this time is foolish, unnecessary and ultimately suicidal. LNG is no exception. LNG, especially when derived from fracking, is well known and scientifically proven to be more harmful to our environment than is the burning of coal. Many jurisdictions have fracking moratoriums and fracking bans for factual, obvious, proven reasons. Large scale fossil fuel extraction has never been “good” for any jurisdiction. It is totally unsustainable and its end result can only be depletion, pollution, destruction and poverty. Alberta is one good example. The social license for export fossil fuel extraction has been revoked by climate change, wildfires, droughts, floods and many other very costly, destructive, violent, erratic weather events associated with export fossil fuel production. It is very dishonest and irresponsible on the part of our governments and politicians to attempt to sell fossil fuel extraction as the path to prosperity. There is no good reason for Canada to export fossil fuels. Fossil fuel production for sustainable domestic use should be done by Canadian owned and operated corporations. This positive change would result in huge greenhouse gas reductions and do more to “save the planet” than anything else we could possibly do. It is time to politely ask foreign fossil fuel extracting and export operations to get the frack out of our country. —Ed Pitt, Dawson Creek
At this late date, anyone that is not in a psychotic state of denial knows that the survival of life on planet Earth is in jeopardy due to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel extrac-
Do you have a rebuttal to any of the opinions expressed here? Do you have something to say about a different hot topic? Email editor@ahnfsj.ca
shoreline access. BC Hydro has no right to deny people on the river shoreline access. There are provincial campgrounds within this area that people have a right to use with out Hydro’s interference. We stopped at the Rocky Mountain Fort site for some documentary filming and Hydro security told us we could not tie up there or get off the boat. Who does Hydro think they are to order us around on our own river? Guess you can imagine what I told them. We carried on with our documentary filming without any more interference. I think it prudent that Hydro remove these signs and let people boat in peace. Every time we are on the river, Hydro has another stunned sign up telling people what to or not to do on the Peace River. They don’t seem to get it. This is our river, not BC Hydro’s. —Mark Meiers, Charlie Lake
Tapping into the sun for energy E nough solar energy strikes the earth each hour of every day to power our whole global society for an entire year. Sunlight powers all things living on our little blue marble, it powers the wind and weather, and makes us smile on a sunny warm day. Together, we are now taking the first steps towards tapping into this limitless, forever power source. Global investments in wind and solar power now outpace investments in all other energy sources combined. Lets take a quick snapshot of the changing energy scene from around the world: MUSK GOES SOLAR Elon Musk (Tesla Motors, Space X) is buying one of the world’s largest solar retailers, SolarCity, in a bid to integrate his revolutionary electric cars and batteries with the ideal means of powering them – the sunshine hitting everybody’s rooftops. ROYAL BANK WANTS CARBON PRICING Jack Stackhouse, senior VP for the Royal Bank of Canada, has come out strongly in favour of putting a price on carbon as a key to Canada’s low-carbon future. “This is our Apollo mission if we seize the moment, it could be our Titanic if we don’t.”
Don Pettit
WATT’S HAPPENING
CAR POLLUTION In May of this year the World Health Organization revealed that more than 80 percent of the world’s urban population is being exposed to extreme levels of air pollution which contributes to some 99,000 deaths per year in Europe alone. With such concerns in mind, Dutch politicians are preparing to ban the sale of new petrol vehicles in their country by 2025, the first country to do. BRANSON SUPPORTS FORMULA “E” RACING Billionaire Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic and some 400 other companies) is a strong supporter of the new ePrix to accelerate the development of electric vehicle technology. “Formula E is pushing the boundaries forward into what will be the future,” he said on CNN at the London ePrix earlier this year. “Fifteen years from now, I suspect every car on the road will be electric.” Sales of electric vehicles passed one million last year, but that number is only 0.1 percent
of the total number of cars on the road. That number is expected to rise to 20 million by 2020, with electric cars reaching cost equality with fuel-powered vehicles by 2022. Eventually, electric vehicles will prevail because they are cheaper to run, much cheaper to build and maintain, and drivers can effortlessly make their own electric “fuel” from the sunlight falling on their roof. MARITIMES PULLING AHEAD The Maritimes have been quietly pulling ahead in the race to clean energy in Canada. PEI is now close to meeting 30 percent of its energy needs with wind, while Nova Scotia has more installed wind capacity that BC, and an aggressive policy to install more (unlike BC).
SOLAR TIPPING POINT NEARS Home solar will reach a tipping point for mass adoption when energy storage becomes competitive with energy generation. At that point everyone will essentially be able to go off-grid with a secure self-contained solar energy system that automatically dips into the grid to sell or buy energy only if needed or if it gives the homeowner financial benefit. An electric car plugged into such a system will become part of your own smart microgrid, giving you more storage
and ulta-cheap solar-powered mobility too. Battery storage is still expensive at about US $650 per kilowatt hour, but is quickly headed for US $425. In less than three years energy storage is set to achieve US$200 per kilowatt hour, which is expected to be the trigger point for mass adoption. New smart battery systems now entering the market (or about to) feature very long life (30 years plus), zero maintenance, and complete recyclability. IKEA AIMS AT SOLAR Seeing an expanding market with unlimited potential for growth, home furnishings giant IKEA has announced its intention to become the world’s largest residential solar supplier. IKEA will begin offering solar PV arrays in nine countries over the next two years, starting in the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland. “May you live in interesting times” goes the ancient Chinese curse. The rapid move to renewable sources of energy from the sun and wind is not only interesting but also necessary and inevitable. For thoughtful people around the world, that’s not a curse but a blessing. Don Pettit is a founding member of the Peace Energy Cooperative. He can be reached at dpettit@pris.ca