For Immediate Release – Monday, January 26, 2009

Wilderness Committee challenges Premier Campbell on General Electrics Bute Inlet power plan

Vancouver, BC – The Wilderness Committee today called on Premier Campbell to pull the plug on the plan by U.S. giant General Electric and Plutonic Power to construct a massive 1027 megawatt private hydropower project in British Columbias remote Bute Inlet.

Currently, the BC government has scheduled only three public meetings regarding the project. The Bute Inlet project is in the provincial environmental assessment process, and open houses are scheduled for Powell River on January 27, Sechelt on January 28, and Campbell River on February 2. Representatives of the Wilderness Committee will attend all three public meetings.

"The Bute Inlet private power project is about as big as BC Hydros proposed Site C project. It is the biggest BC private power project ever proposed yet there are only three public meetings scheduled so far, which is completely unacceptable," said Wilderness Committee Policy Director, Gwen Barlee. "It looks to us as if the BC government is trying to rush this project by before people catch on to the huge environmental and financial risks associated with it."

The Bute project, situated 150 km north of Powell River, would involve over 400 km of transmission lines, 250 km of roads and 100 bridges built during the development of the $4 Billion dollar private hydro project. Sixteen streams and rivers would be diverted, and key wildlife species would be impacted including mountain goats, grizzly bears, marbled murrelets, and all five species of wild Pacific salmon.

"I believe that most British Columbians want our rivers to remain wild and our power to remain public, so I would expect these meetings to be quite lively. The BC governments entire energy plan to privatize power production and harm our environment by diverting so many of our rivers is a terrible scheme that needs to be switched off now," said Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee National Campaign Director.

Public concern over private hydro projects has grown since 2002 when the BC government announced a new energy plan that stopped BC Hydro from producing new sources of hydroelectricity. This led to a gold rush by private power producers to stake BCs rivers and creeks. Since 2001, over 100 water licenses have been granted for private hydro projects, and 550 additional applications are pending.

The Wilderness Committee calls for hydropower to be environmentally appropriate, regionally planned, acceptable to First Nations and publicly owned.

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For more information contact:
Gwen Barlee, Policy Director, Wilderness Committee, 604-202-0322
Joe Foy, National Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee, 604-880-2580
For more information on the public open houses please go to: www.eao.gov.bc.ca