Regular IN-SIGHTS reader Ken Holowanky wrote a letter to the Times Colonist in response to a diatribe by Gwyn Morgan, a man called “Shale Gas Baron” in The Tyee’s headline for a 2011 article by Andrew Nikiforuk. With the letter writer’s permission, I will repeat it. But first, a little about Gwyn Morgan…
In late January, Manitoba Hydro CEO Jay Grewal said the utility would need new sources of electricity within five or six years. She reiterated a plan to meet new demand by contracting with private electricity producers. Shortly after, the Manitoba government fired Jay Grewal.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reported that wind and solar accounted for 71 percent of U.S. electric-power capacity additions in 2022. 8.5 GW of wind power capacity was added for investments totalling C$16 billion. By comparison, Site C will cost at least C$16 billion and provide 1.1 GW of power capacity. However, the budget for the project near Fort St. John has not been updated for three years…
While walking through a North Vancouver grocery store owned by Jim Pattison, one of Canada’s richest billionaires, I was astounded by price changes imposed in the last few years. To get to […]
Across Canada in 2023, wildfires burned 18.5 million hectares (45.7 million acres). That is eight times the 25-year average reported by Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. But fire and resulting air pollution are only part of the problems presented by climate change…
Private capital manager Axium Infrastructure Inc. now owns a large part of the Edwards Sanborn power facility. The company is familiar to those following private power companies that supply BC Hydro. With Manulife in 2018, Axium acquired 90% of Forrest Kerr, Volcano Creek, and McLymont Creek power generating facilities developed by AltaGas in northeast British Columbia.
February 8, 2024 news item: BCE slashes 9% of workforce, puts blame at the feet of regulators and policymakers. The cuts affect about 4,800 jobs and follow the elimination of 1,300 jobs last June…
The NDP’s Selina Robinson situation has been a subject of much debate in recent days. It began when the Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA and Advanced Education Minister made controversial statements in a late-January forum hosted by B’nai Brith.,,
Repeated here is something I wrote about BC Hydro in early 2017 for The Common Sense Canadian, an online journal covering Canada’s economy and environment. The site was co-founded by Damien Gillis and the late Rafe Mair and ran for a decade. It remains a worthwhile archive of several thousand stories. A few statements are revised to reflect current information.
Years ago, Rafe Mair wrote that W.A.C. Bennett, if he were alive in 2009, would have been a member of the NDP, in those days a party firmly positioned on the left. Although he railed theatrically against socialists throughout his political career, Bennett knew that public ownership of near-monopolies was sensible…
This country was once known as a peacemaker and peacekeeper. Now it is better known for selling instruments of death and destruction. As occurs in other sectors, profit-seeking arms dealers are either amoral or immoral. In this ProPublica article, Canada is mentioned 26 times…
Climate scientists tell us to reduce and ultimately eliminate burning of fossil fuels, products that are the dominant cause of global warming. Worldwide, the oil and gas industry and its supporters in governments and elsewhere plan for us to burn more…
EDP Renewables has begun operations at its Sharp Hills wind farm 250 kilometres northeast of Calgary. Construction of the 300 megawatt project — approved by Rachel Notley’s NDP government — began in 2021. Each megawatt of capacity is costing $2 million at this $600 million facility. By comparison, a megawatt of capacity at Site C will cost about $18 million, if the 10-year long construction project is able to produce electricity in 2025.
In a 2022 virtual appearance at the University of Toronto, Canadian Margaret Atwood talked about the future of democracy. She warned about the “deliberate creation of chaos” by those who prefer authoritarianism. Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf said Atwood’s appearance was part of an editorial initiative to provide expert commentary about the fragile state of democracy in 2024.
Many self-interested people told us that non-destructive alternatives to hydropower would not work in British Columbia. These, they said, were unreliable and could not always send power to the grid on demand. Dispatchability was key, according to pseudo experts. This despite BC Hydro having reservoirs that act like giant batteries.
Energy-systems consultant Roger Bryenton wrote an open letter to Premier David Eby, BC Hydro CEO Chris O’Riley, and BCUC Chair Mark Jaccard. It is published here with permission.
Climate change is one of the most pressing global issue in contemporary times, and dams play a substantial role in aggravating it by becoming feeding grounds for methane-producing microbes. In addition, dams fragment rivers and disrupt their natural flow, threatening the survival of aquatic fauna, especially migratory species. Dams are also culpable for disrupting the biogeochemical cycles of river ecosystems, thereby impacting their function and structure. Taking all the environmental impacts of dams into account, the apparent economic gain from them may not be worth it…
Dan Froomkin — one of my favourite American commentators — offers several suggestions for the New York Times style guide. Here are a few published at presswatchers.org:
In theory, local governments assess property taxes at levels that allow accumulations of surpluses sufficient to fund replacements and major repairs of public infrastructure. My survey of local governments, representing about two-thirds of BC’s population, showed they held surpluses totalling $51 billion at the end of 2022. That suggests a total for all local government of $75 billion, or about $14,000 per person.
We learned this week that Black Press Ltd. and associated companies applied for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The BC based company’s main business is print and digital newspapers and magazines operating in Western and Northern Canada and in the USA. This shows companies affiliated with Black Press Ltd…
In these days where we are bombarded on social media by lengthy blocks of text with no paragraph breaks… (which…
Jonathan Winter reminds me of when Pangloss tells Candide that men must perforce have been made to wear eye glasses,…
[…] Found in the internet. As a recent traveller through YVR, I wo argue with Jonathan Winters. Getting to the…
This Just In https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/general/microsoft-to-use-2-8-million-gallons-of-lake-michigan-water-in-2026-for-mt-pleasant-project/ar-AA1ML7Mw Too bad about Lake Michigan. Where did you say hundred of thousands of gallons of data…
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Well of course! CBC's very own internal censor, Bari Weiss, was right and proper to cancel release of the video…