Campaign Publications: BC's Rivers at Risk

Date: 02/16/2011 - 01:00

People Power: Saving BC’s Wild Rivers

As a child growing up in the Okanagan I often traveled the back country with my dad. My father was a fan of adventure and a lover of history so many trips consisted of arrowhead hunting, gold panning and searching for old coins while exploring historicBC ghost towns like Fairview, Cascade City, Sandon and Phoenix.

Our travels invariably brought us into contact with the myriad wild creeks and rivers that run through the forests, mountains and meadows of BC. Whether it was enjoying the secret swimming holes in the Kettle River by Grand Forks, marveling at the returning Adams River sockeye, or wading in the Similkameen River searching for the perfect skipping stone, wild rivers were an intrinsic part of my life growing up.

The Export Question: Designing Policy for British Columbia Electricity Trade

Date: 02/01/2011 (All day)

The_Export_Question.pdf

When it brought in its Clean Energy Act in 2010, the Government of British Columbia (BC) included as a provincial energy policy objective the promotion of electricity exports from clean or renewable sources.

The government sees electricity exports as being both a significant means of economic development for BC and an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in importing jurisdictions. Critics of the revised policy, however, are concerned about the environmental and social impacts of developing new a energy supply for export, and question the economic rationale for a net export policy.

BRITISH COLUMBIA ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

Date: 10/01/2009 (All day)

A complete listing of where elecritcal supply is generated in BC

Photo: BC Hydro's Revelstoke Dam

In the ongoing fight to keep BC's rivers wild and power public, as our province moves to lower our greenhouse gas emmissions, it is useful to know where and how electricity is generated in BC. This report, compliled by long-time enviro-researher Trevor Jones, lists elecrical generation stations in BC.

BC's elecrical generation system is mostly publically owned, and already has one of the lowest greenhouse gas emmission records of any system on Earth. Through conservation, and smart policy choices, such as focusing on more transit - not more freeways, BC can use our publically owned power system to greatly reduce our over-all greenhouse gas emmissions.

But before we can do that, we all need to understand some of the basics. This report does that - it answers the question "How much electricity do we have and where does it come from?"

BC Rivers at Risk

Date: 09/15/2009 (All day)

BC Rivers at Risk.pdf

Wild places like Bute Inlet and Glacier/Howser Creeks are not only scenic areas, they are just a few of the hundreds of rivers and creeks that have become flash points over the last three years in the battle that is raging over private hydropower projects in BC.

From the Kootenays to the Sunshine Coast, over 800 of British Columbia’s water bodies have been staked by corporations which now include large multinational players such as General Electric.

People may wonder how this gold rush for our public wealth began. The trigger was the 2002 BC Energy Plan, introduced shortly after the BC Liberals were elected, which forbade BC Hydro from competing with the private sector by barring it from producing new sources of electricity. At the same time it directed BC Hydro to meet future projected electricity needs by purchasing energy from private power developers. Since that time there has been a phenomenal 1,140 percent increase in these so-called “independent power project” applications throughout BC.

Vote Wild!

Date: 03/24/2009 - 17:00

2009_vote_wild_final_web.pdf

If you like fishing or camping, the laws that are enacted to protect our parks, forests, rivers and wildlife are important to you too. In fact, we all depend on the environment for everything from clean air, pure water and greenhouse gas storage to recreation, nature appreciation and inspiration for arts and culture. That’s why the laws and regulations that are in place to protect our environment impact your life in a thousand different ways every day.

We own the clean drinking water and beautiful wilderness landscapes that sustain our bodies and spirit as well as our wildlife and our tourism industry. Even our agricultural lands, which tend to be in private hands, are protected for the common good within the Agricultural Land Reserve. But what about the future? If we could create a future we all want, what would it look like?

Electric Grizzlies - Wild Times

Date: 01/15/2009 - 01:00

Joe Foy's Wild Times column in the Watershed Sentinel

Read Joe Foy's Wild Times Column in the Watershed Sentinel about the battle to keep the Ryan River, located near Pemberton BC, out of the hands of the private power guys.

Making Change - Wild Times

Date: 11/15/2008 (All day)

Joe Foy's Wild Times column in the Watershed Sentinal

Read Joe Foy's Wild Times column in the Watershed Sentinel. Joe reminds us that positive change can happen in the short time it takes to mark your X on a ballot.

Hidden Power - Wild Times

Date: 03/15/2008 (All day)

Joe Foy's Wild Times column in the Watershed Sentinal

Read Joe Foy's Wild Times column in the Watershed Sentinel about the growing public storm over the BC government's rush to private power.

Power Grab: BC’s rivers and streams at risk

Date: 01/28/2008 - 01:00

wcwc_IPPs_final_web.pdf

When most people think of a "run-of-river" power project they visualize a free-flowing river with a small turbine generating electricity. The reality is far different. Typically, up to 80-90 percent of the mean annual discharge of a river is diverted into a pipe, which channels water downhill for several kilometers to a turbine where electricity is generated and the water returned to the ecosystem. Natural seasonal fluctuations in river flow will be blunted and there will be fewer aquatic insects, and less gravel and woody debris, all of which negatively impact stream health...Read this educational report

2007 Marbek Report - Conservation Potential Review - BC Hydro

Date: 11/07/2007 (All day)

2007 Marbek Report.pdf

This report commissioned by BC Hydro shows British Columbia need not be using any more electrical power in 2027 than we did in 2007. The soulution to our power needs is... conservation.