For Immediate Release - Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Vancouver, BC – The Wilderness Committee applauds the Official Oppositions call for a private power moratorium in British Columbia. They also support the NDPs call for a legislative committee or independent commissioner to hold provincewide hearings that would allow public comment on the provincial governments power policy which has led to the gold rush of so-called “independent power projects” (IPPs) proposals in the province.

“The NDPs call for a moratorium is spot on,” said Gwen Barlee, Policy Director with the Wilderness Committee. “Right now we have an absolutely chaotic situation in the province with hundreds of rivers and streams being staked and proposed for development by private power producers.”

Public concern over private hydro projects was triggered by a plan to put a 180 megawatt power project in the Upper Pitt River watershed. The cancelled project, which would have negatively impacted salmon habitat and put a transmission line through a provincial park, sparked vociferous public opposition culminating in over 1,000 people turning out to a public open house in Pitt Meadows.

“Our rivers and streams are being gobbled up by private power developers,” said Joe Foy, National Campaign Director with the Wilderness Committee. “There is almost no environmental oversight, no regional planning and no analysis regarding the cumulative impacts of these projects. In many cases we have stock promoters telling us what is best for our rivers.”

The rush to develop private power started in 2002 when the BC government announced an energy plan that forbade BC Hydro from producing new sources of hydroelectricity. This directive led to a gold rush by the private sector to stake rivers and creeks for power production. Since 2001, over 60 water licenses have been granted for new private hydro projects, and 433 additional applications are pending. Thirty-five projects are currently in operation provincially.

“Many people dont realize that these projects come with blasting, roads, river diversions, logging and kilometers of transmission lines,” said Barlee. “What is really amazing is the fact that these private power projects wont even provide us with energy security because once the contracts run out with BC Hydro in 20 to 40 years, the people of British Columbia could be bidding against California for energy that comes from BCs rivers and streams.”

The Wilderness Committee is calling for hydropower to be publicly owned, regionally planned, and environmentally appropriate. Conservation initiatives, as outlined in the BC Hydro Marbek Report, combined with capturing the downstream electricity benefits from the Columbia River Treaty means British Columbia has time to wisely plan for future energy needs.

“We agree with the NDPs Carole James that in order to create environmentally appropriate, regionally planned and publicly owned hydroelectricity we need an absolute moratorium on private power projects in BC,” commented Foy.

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For more information please contact:
Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee, 604-683-8220 (w) or 604-202-0322 (c)
Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee, 604-683-8220 (w) or 604-880-2580 (c)