Can't put a price on life

by Maureen Gulyas
Delta Optimist
April 29, 2006

A lobby group representing large commercial electrical consumers has urged the B.C. Utilities Commission to string high voltage lines along a right-of-way in Tsawwassen.

The Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C. made the recommendation to the commission as closing arguments in a lengthy public hearing on a contentious proposal to send power to Vancouver Island, via South Delta, wrapped up this month.

To the outrage of some local residents, the lobby group, in an attempt to downplay economic liability of the overhead lines option, said the risk of a child getting leukemia as a result of exposure to electromagnetic fields was so low the cost in dollars would be inconsequential.

"I was trying to understand the issue of what is a reasonable amount to be expended to avoid risks," consultant David Craig told the Optimist. "I had pulled out that piece of evidence and was trying to understand it in terms of what the dollars would mean."

Bernadette Kudzin, treasurer of South Delta secondary's Parent Advisory Council, said placing a dollar value on a child is disturbing.

"It's so incredibly offensive and over the top," said Kudzin, who along with council chair Janice Ristow filed a rebuttal on behalf of parents after they learned of the group's recommendation.

Local residents have lobbied the B.C. Transmission Corporation and the utilities commission to move the high voltage lines from the right-of-way, which passes through residential areas and public amenities, including the high school, because of potential health and safety impacts.

BCTC originally proposed putting the high voltage lines overhead on 100-foot towers, but amended its plan to underground the lines along the right-of-way. Residents aren't supportive of either option.

After hearing from angry residents, Craig said the Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C., a registered intervener in the hearing, has filed a request with the utilities commission to have the offending paragraphs removed from its submission.

"With regard to this issue and the stir that it's raised, the particular paragraphs that I think were most problematic certainly were not intended to provoke the debate that has followed and we've just filed with the utilities commission to have those paragraphs deleted. It was not our intent to provoke that sort of debate," Craig said.

Kudzin is not impressed.

"Frankly, I can believe anyone actually thinks that way," she said.

The utilities commission is expected to make a decision on the proposal sometime this summer.

***

by Maureen Gulyas

Mayor Lois Jackson is angry that a lobby group supporting the overhead power lines option in Tsawwassen is claiming to represent Delta.

The municipality has since demanded the Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C. remove Delta's name from its website.

"Who gives them the right to go before the B.C. Utilities Commission claiming to represent Delta. I'm absolutely outraged," Jackson said.

That claim was troubling for Jackson because Delta has supported Tsawwassen Residents Against High Voltage Overhead Lines in its efforts to find an option more agreeable than those put forward by the B.C. Transmission Corporation.

Jackson acknowledged a brief affiliation with the Commercial Energy Consumers when the province introduced its energy plan in 2002. Delta provided the group with a one-time grant of $500 to hire a lawyer to represent large commercial consumers on rate issues.

"Since then we've had no contact with them," she said. "We have not paid any dues or fees or had any contact with them in three or four years."

Jackson has sent an apology to the residents' group.

TRAHVOL spokesperson Maureen Broadfoot said it understands Delta has nothing to do with the lobby group, even though the municipality is named on its website.

The Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C. also purports to represent other large energy users, such as the City of Coquitlam, the B.C. Greenhouse Growers Association, UBC and UVic.

UBC public affairs officer Steve McRae said the university's initial contact with the group was about four years ago.

"We've been a member in a very loose way, but we've never paid dues or been to a meeting, so we're not aware of what they're doing," he said.

"We neither endorse it, nor condemn it. We're not even aware of it," McRae said of the lobby group's controversial submission to the utilities commission on the Tsawwassen proposal.

Angie Gaddy, spokesperson for the greenhouse association, said it has had a loose affiliation that began in 2002.

"We don't really have an actual role and on one to two occasions we've given them input," Gaddy said.

The Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C. appears to be a collection of energy consultants that make appearances and register as interveners in various B.C. Utilities Commission hearings.

David Craig, who owns his own consulting firm, Consolidated Management Consultants Ltd., confirmed he made the controversial submission about the Tsawwassen proposal on behalf of the Commercial Energy Consumers.

"It's always run with a small collection of commercial businesses running it, then we reach out to associations for general support," Craig said.

According to Citizens for Public Power, in 2005 the Commercial Energy Consumers of B.C. received $241,117 from the B.C. Utilities Commission under the Participant Funding program.

published on 04/29/2006