Nov 26 deadline for EPA review

Fri Nov 19 - BC Hydro expected to file application for EPA with BCUC
Fri Nov 26 - deadline for applications to attend Nov 29 Procedural Conference
Fri Nov 29 - Procedural Conference, 8:30 am, 4th floor, 855 Homer, Vancouver

Action item: write a letter to the BCUC. More info below.

We have just become aware that the BC Utilities Commission is already "expediting" its review of the Electricity Purchase Agreement (EPA) that it expects BC Hydro to file an application for on November 19. See Order G-99-04.

The EPA is the agreement between BC Hydro and Duke Point Power(DPP), the company that has successfully proposed to resurrect BC Hydro's Vancouver Island Generation Project (VIGP) at Duke Point. The BCUC review of the EPA will be the only regulatory process that the DPP project has to undergo - no environmental assessment, no review of the project, just the business agreement between BC Hydro and Duke Point Power Ltd.

When BCUC denied BC Hydro its permit for VIGP, and encouraged BC Hydro to proceed with the Call for Tenders (CFT), it said it would expedite the EPA review that would be the expected outcome of the CFT.

On November 29, in Vancouver, the BCUC will hold a Procedural Conference regarding the regulatory process for the EPA. Be there, or lobby like hell between now and then to have one held in Nanaimo.

Now is the time to write to the BCUC. Here are some worthy things to write about:

1. demand a Procedural Conference in Nanaimo, as well as or instead of Vancouver. Lots of good reasons for this. The Vancouver location is convenient only for the BCUC and the regular industry interveners (who have big expense accounts) whereas people from Vancouver Island have to personally cover travel costs to Vancouver.

2. apply as an intervener, or at least as an interested party, in the EPA review of DPP (no fancy language required. That sentence is just about all you require, though you might want to skip the abbreviations, explain why you are interested, and what your objectives are.

3. be critical of the obscurity of the notice of the registration deadline and date for the Procedural Conference. (That is, it was sent only to a selected list - interveners in BC Hydro's Revenue Requirement hearing - and buried in unfindable obscurity on the BCUC website.)

4. remind the BCUC that expediting doesn't mean short-circuiting due process, or the public's right to be made aware of and participate in the process.

5. ask why there were no ads in local papers. The BCUC was aware that in the VIGP review there wass a great deal of local concern and public concern that is not necessarily local, about gas-fired electricity generation projects on Vancouver Island. The BCUC must make efforts to be inclusive.

6. tell the BCUC that you want a full oral hearing for the DPP EPA.

THE DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 TO REGISTER TO HAVE ANY SAY IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

THE HEARING IS NOVEMBER 29, 8:30 AM, 855 HOMER, VANCOUVER.

Write to:

Mr. Robert J. Pellatt
Commission Secretary
BC Utilities Commission
Sixth Floor, 900 Howe Street, Box 250
Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2N3
Fax: 604-660-1102
Email: commission.secretary@bcuc.com

Re: Order G-99-04, Review of Electricity Purchase Agreement

Thank-you
Steering Committee
GSX Concerned Citizens Coalition and
Nanaimo Citizens Organizing Committee