• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

Time to Call Halt on ‘Irresponsible’ Site C, Says Ex-BC Hydro CEO

August 22, 2017
Reading time: 3 minutes

tuchodi/flickr

tuchodi/flickr

 

A former head of BC Hydro is urging the provincial utility to abandon its “irresponsible” C$8.8-billion hydroelectric project at Site C on the Peace River in the province’s northeast.

Marc Eliesen, who also served as deputy minister of energy in both Ontario and Manitoba, calls the Site C project a “reckless” endeavour pushed by the ousted Liberal government that will impose a “huge financial burden” on the province.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

Eliesen expressed his views in an unsolicited submission to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC), which has been instructed by the province’s new NDP government to review the project. No such review was sought before the Liberal government greenlit the project in late 2014.

After looking at “alternative sources of power, the accuracy of project[ion]s for B.C.’s future power demands, the success of similar hydroelectric projects, and the probability that the costs of building Site C will increase,” the utility’s ex-boss “concluded that the most cost-effective course of action would be to cancel the project, remediate the land, and pursue alternative sources of energy to meet any future demands,” the National Observer reports.

In approving the project, Eliesen asserts, “both the former government and BC Hydro’s Board abdicated their fiduciary responsibility to the ratepayers and taxpayers of this province.”

The utility has claimed the project will provide enough clean power to light up nearly half a million homes for a century. But both the projected demand for its output and its “clean” claims are open to challenge, says Eliesen. Its anticipated market, he told the Observer, relied on “wishful thinking” and “‘inventing’ demand from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry that has yet to materialize.”

Meanwhile, the dam’s reservoir “is expected to destroy more than 100 kilometres of river valley bottoms along the Peace River and its tributaries, which flow through the heart of Treaty 8 Territory belonging to the Doig River, Halfway River, Prophet River, and West Moberly First Nations,” the Observer notes. As the outlet recalls, the federal Liberal government approved the project over those First Nations’ objections, an action now under United Nations investigation as a potential violation of Canada’s international commitments.

Eliesen’s case against Site C rests mainly on its poor economics, however. The projected cost of the planned dam and powerhouse has already climbed by a third, from an original estimate of $6.6 billion to the current one of $8.8 billion. Citing previous experience with similar projects elsewhere, Eliesen predicts it will eventually nearly double to $12 billion.

“The notion that Site C will be completed on time and on budget is illusionary,” the former BC Hydro chief executive warned the Utility Commission. “If Site C is allowed to be completed, there will be a series of devastating high electricity rate increases.”

“There was never a business case for Site C and there never will be,” he told the Observer, echoing the findings of a separate independent review of the project released earlier this year by the University of British Columbia Program on Water Governance. “There are alternatives that are cheaper and more cost-effective than a generating station costing billions and billions of dollars.”

Construction on the project is continuing, however, while the Commission considers its future, costing BC Hydro $60 million a month, but also employing some 2,200 people.



in Energy / Carbon Pricing & Economics

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

EcoAnalytics
Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
290
Climate Denial & Greenwashing

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
229
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories/flickr
Hydrogen

Hydrogen Patents Reveal Shift Toward Cleaner Technologies

January 16, 2023
90

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.3k
Joshua Doubek/Wikipedia

No New Jobs Came from Alberta’s $4B ‘Job Creation’ Tax Cut for Big Oil

October 6, 2022
481
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 30, 2023
575
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
105
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
322
EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
290

Recent Posts

Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
298
Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
104
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
49

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
82
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
513

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
229
Next Post

US nuclear might rests on civil reactors

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}