Needed: A good blueprint for Ottawa's green dollars

MARK HUME
CTVglobemedia
April 2, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced recently that Ottawa is going to give British Columbia $199.3-million for projects "that will result in real reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions and air pollutants."

That was welcome news to Premier Gordon Campbell who was quick to say he had some good ways to spend the money.

But does he really?

One idea he suggested is to extract energy from sawmill scrap and wood that is infested by pine beetles. Burning wood to generate electricity emits nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide.

Proponents note that if the wood is left to rot in landfills, it will produce carbon dioxide or methane anyway. But if a wood-fired generating plant is going to be built with Canada EcoTrust funds, the B.C. government had better do the math first, to assure us that it results in a real reduction of greenhouse gas, and not an increase.

Another idea is to support the development of a "hydrogen highway" that Mr. Campbell says he wants to see running from the newly green B.C., all the way to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's already green California. Hydrogen is full of promise. But it is still not clear that hydrogen -- the use of which poses many technical problems -- is superior to other alternatives. There is potential, but it might not work out, so Mr. Campbell should be cautious about investing too much too soon.

A third idea for spending the Canada EcoTrust money is to support new geothermal and bioenergy projects, including the capture of biogas from landfill sites. This sounds like a solid idea that would produce the kind of real reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions for which Ottawa is looking.

But how about this idea? Mr. Campbell proposes to use the Canada EcoTrust money to provide clean electricity to remote rural areas now fuelled by dirty diesel. His example: the electrification of Highway 37.

On rugged Highway 37, which winds through the forests and mountains between Kitwanga and the Yukon border, a small number of tiny communities rely on dirty diesel generation to get their electricity. That dependence is ironic because the region is rich in tumbling rivers that could generate ample clean power through run-of-river operations. But because the area is so isolated and has such a small population (about 1,100 people total) it has remained off the grid.

Mr. Campbell's idea is to extend the power line 350 kilometres north from Highway 16.

But Mr. Campbell is being disingenuous in suggesting the power-line extension is needed to help small towns like Iskut and Dease Lake.

The real reason for plugging Highway 37 into the B.C. power grid is so that several proposed mines can get cheap hydropower.

Now it's fair to say that the mines will be cleaner if they get their power from the grid. But the fact is, the cheap power will stimulate mine development that might not otherwise take place. Klappan Coal, Groundhog Coal and Shell's proposed coal-bed methane development are among the projects proposed.

The Northwest Power Coalition has been pushing for some time for the electrification of Highway 37, and it has done so in an openly enthusiastic bid to stimulate development in the northwest, saying it "will foster continued mine development and further mineral exploration activity."

A lot of good arguments can be made for electrifying Highway 37, but cutting greenhouse emissions by plugging little towns such as Iskut into the grid isn't one of them.

Other plans are suspect as well. For example, a massive wind farm that's been proposed for Banks Island on the Central Coast.

Katabatic Power, a California-based company, wants to put 1,000 wind turbines on the island, which is in the Great Bear Rainforest. The company would then run a power line through protected areas, to Kitimat, where it would plug into the grid -- so the power could be sold to California!

Ian McAllister, who has spent the past 20 years fighting to protect the Great Bear Rainforest, is dumbfounded by this proposal, which is supported by the B.C. government.

"The scale and scope is staggering," he says. "Banks is one of the largest intact islands on the coast. It is remote. It is pristine. There are genetically unique wolf populations there. There are 80 salmon systems on that island. In the first phase they are looking at putting in 250 turbines, each serviced by a road, and they are looking at 1,000 turbines eventually. They will have to put a small community on the island just to service those turbines. There will be roads going everywhere."

And he points out the wind farm would be right in the middle of what, on the maps, is shown as a nature conservancy.

Mr. McAllister is wondering what's so green about a huge wind farm that's plunked down in the middle of what is arguably one of the world's greatest wilderness preserves. And I'm wondering when this government is going to get serious about the complex problem of global warming.

Building power lines to coal mines is not the way to spend Ottawa's green dollars.

Would somebody please turn the lights on in Victoria?

mhume@globeandmail.com