I was saddened to witness the “yes to LNG” rally held March 16, not only because I know that the Petronas Pacific NorthWest LNG proposal for Lelu Island is wrong-headed and dangerous but because it shows just how susceptible to propaganda we are and how willing some are to mistake sound bites and promises for reality….To gamble away our world class treasure of a river and the cultural and economic values that are sustained by it for a relatively few short term jobs that will leave us with less than nothing when they end, to give away our birthright to a corporate entity some call the Malaysian Mafia, to imagine that there is anything natural about fracked methane, that thousands of kilometers of pipeline across wilderness will leave streams and rivers and wildlife habitat intact, that massive dredging and construction in the Skeena estuary will have “no significant effect” on salmon and other species, that the earth can somehow afford yet another huge dump of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, or that this will somehow benefit our children and grandchildren, is to live in a dream world.
…Yes to alternative energy investments, yes to wilderness tourism, yes to wild salmon and the jobs and cultures they sustain, yes to local food production, yes to parks, yes to small businesses, yes to resolving land and treaty issues with First Nations in a respectful rather than coercive way, yes to healthy communities yes to local decision making.
Know and ‘No’ to LNG.
David Bowering MD. MHSc.
Terrace, B.C.
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| Photo credit to Warrior Publications. |
Hat tip to Merv Adey for this letter. If you don’t regularly read Merv’s BC Veritas and follow him on Twitter, you should do so.
Another opinion on LNG in the Skeena https://t.co/aNeQgsOHoE Impact of boom and bust cycles and propaganda. #bcpoli— Merv Adey (@MervAdey) April 6, 2016
Categories: LNG, Natural Gas
IN-SIGHTS 
Thanks Norm & Merv. Read the entire letter and like you I recommend others read it as well.
Guy in Victoria
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Read the letter and read many of the comments. I dont agree with much of the doctors fears but its hard to find people in the blogosphere that arent anti development.
4 levels of government to review every project. Input from well funded parties both for and against. China and India as examples of what went wrong or why we shouldnt do anything. Its amazing that anything ever gets done in this part of the world.
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It's unreal the idiocy over LNG.
Basically, there is a glut of LNG now, so it's uneconomic to export LNG from BC.
But in the article linked below they're saying the cost of delaying LNG will be $billions to BC. Huh?
And they're still trying to say LNG will reduce GHG in Asia.
http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-will-b-c-ever-export-lng
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The globe and mail published an article that said the break even point to ship LNG to Europe was $4.60 cents Putin has NG pielines to Europe and is selling it for $3.50 cents and says he will drop the price further to keep his market We dont even have plants or pipelines built how can we compete I look at this as an ego builder for our premier at we the taxpayers expence
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I don’t know how much blog reading you do or how much of it you understand. There’s little discussion here, or in sites of colleagues with whom I interact, that advocates the end of development. There’s plenty that calls for improving the quality and purpose of projects.
If we were each constructing a building, it seems you might be content with anything that had four walls and a roof and was done quickly. I would be concerned about getting the best possible structure for the cost, about completing a project that harmed nothing and no one and did more than create a few jobs for builders. I would expect it to contribute positively to the neighbourhood over a long term. The same applies to business and industry expansions.
My arguments here mainly target ethical shortcomings, lack of transparency in public business, hidden subsidies, giveaways of natural resources and ineffective self-regulation. I’m happy to see jobs and opportunities created but want us to make the most appropriate choices after all factors are considered.
In his letter, Dr. Bowering calls for investments in alternative energy and present experience throughout the world demonstrates this is the road to follow. The BC Government is stuck in the past and we will pay a price for their lack of vision. This is from Bloomberg News:
Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
My work shows that BC Hydro is spending recklessly on capital projects. They’re doing this despite a decade of flat demand for electricity. In CY 2005, residential, commercial and industrial users consumed 50,540 GWh. In CY 2015, the same users bought 49,272 GWh and this decline is without BC Hydro operating a legitimate conservation program.
In 2005, the provincial utility bought 7,984 GWh from private producers. In 2015, the IPP buy had grown to 14,418 GWh. That extra purchase, not needed to serve customers, cost almost $600 million. Was it needed? No, to absorb it, BC Hydro had to shut down its own generators and/or dump surplus power outside BC at less than 1/3 of the unit price paid to IPPs.
You may think that's a positive thing. After all, an extra $600 million went into the accounts of companies like General Electric. However, some of us in the blog world think that is government enabled fraud.
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“Input from well funded parties both for and against.”
Except that the BC Liberals passed legislation to ensure there is no oversight on Site C or the parasitic IPPs by the British Columbia Utilities Commission. They know that any forum facilitating public examination by independent experts would result in rejection of both schemes. Instead of being amazed that anything ever gets done in this part of the world, I’m amazed at what does get done with public money that very clearly isn’t in the public interest.
I suppose it’s because it’s hard to find people in the traditional media that are free or brave enough to do the work independent bloggers are doing to fill the vacuum, and even harder to find BC Liberal supporters willing to engage on the facts.
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Lew;
“I suppose it’s because it’s hard to find people in the traditional media that are free or brave enough to do the work independent bloggers are doing to fill the vacuum, and even harder to find BC Liberal supporters willing to engage on the facts.”
NDP opposition; why do we keep letting them off the hook? It is not good enough that they raise some issues in the House, they need to get it out where the public can hear it.
Someone in an earlier post made reference to the NDP not learning about things until after bloggers have done the heavy lifting.
That is no excuse.
An opposition is elected for a purpose, they are paid to dig and have well paid research staff. So far the NDP are MIA and no one is calling them on it or holding THEIR feet to the fire.
In the meantime the Government just keeps on with the ponzi knowing they are untouchable; knowing people who try to be informed are few.
I fear that the Norms and Lailas among us will burn out.
Hawgwash.
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The threat of burnout is less than the threat of cyber crime. Laila's take-down was not random. I'm certain the attack on her sites were intended to shut down an effective critic, one that was looking into multi-billion contracts awarded companies with a history of unethical behaviour.
My work and computers have also been attacked and the responses we have to make to protect ourselves are costly, both financially and in time resources. Even our telephones and portable equipment need protection but it's internet access that is vital to our work. Consequently, we're somewhat vulnerable to sophisticated hackers, the kind working to protect special interests in British Columbia.
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It is that expense of security, not day to day stuff, that is all the more reason we should be making a financial contribution, however small, without fear of conflict. To that end, Norm, since I and I'm sure others do not twitter, please let us know when Laila's blog is back. She is an extremely vital contributor to OUR security.
Hawgwash.
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The “Ponzi Scheme” as described above, is the perfect phrase for the B.C. Liberal, form of economics. The “pay to play” scenario, is one way of “legally” accepting “funds for favors”, and is now a well honed art by this “political party”. Christy, try's to “defend” this practice, but the words are cloaked in a voice of deceit. Without the “donors” supplying the “grease” to make the scheme work, one doubts that this mess, would have gone on so long.
Is this “economic” terrorism? When critics have their systems hacked, and threats are made? The powerful usually succumb to their own arrogance and indeed ego's, prior to their downfall.
Make no mistake, there is “criminal intent” involved here, and the fear of exposure and scrutiny, is a huge threat to any form of criminal activity.
The message that Layla received is a clear threat of “terror” towards those that would keep the powerful “in line”, and “inform the public” of the potential for criminal activity, within the B.C. Liberal party, and the provincial government.
Where are the federal governments economic and criminal watchdogs on this? This “is” organized crime, no matter how it would appear otherwise. CSIS has a mandate, as do other financial and security departments within the country, to investigate organized crime whether terrorists or white collar crime. In B.C. we are facing, an organized criminal enterprise, bent on maintaining power through, it would appear, any means possible. Isn't it time a federal agency stepped up to investigate?
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Great news.
While I was posting the above, Laila was turning on the power and will now be turning up the heat.
She's back…
http://lailayuile.com/
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Of course it's time to see some federal agency step up to the plate. Since when can a college dropout dictate that a $10 billion project can proceed without a review? Can legislate that the legitimate BCUC cannot review this willful waste of money? Hell, we even had a referendum for the other ill-conceived Transit project-but not on this? Defies all logic!
This project is before the courts for goodness sake. BC Rail was before the courts for ten years and no-one dared speak a word – because it was “before the courts”. In this case: Damn the courts, man the torpedoes and full steam ahead! And they call this Democracy!
I hope they can raise edible fish in the reservoir because there won't be any hope of growing cauliflower on these flooded Class I lands.
Colour me disgusted!
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