Gas pipeline a project deserving real public debate

By MARK JACCARD
Vancouver Sun
January 3, 2002

In the provincial general election, the Liberals made four promises to voters about power-generation generally and BC Hydro specifically. A Liberal government would: be environmentally responsible; open market opportunities for independent power-producers; halt risky publicly funded mega-projects; and return Hydro to Utility Commission regulation.

The quiet endorsement of a second natural gas pipeline between the mainland and Vancouver Island, in the B.C. government task force on energy policy's interim report released on Dec. 17, invites the government to break those promises.

The report's recommendations of a break-up of the utility into separate generation, transmission and distribution operations and of an increase in average electricity prices have generated lots of attention. The report's acceptance of Hydro's proposal to construct a natural gas pipeline between the mainland and Vancouver Island - the Georgia Strait Crossing, or GSX - is worthy of equal consideration.

If the GSX project were to proceed, simple finances would dictate that Hydro fill the pipeline quickly to recover fixed costs, an imperative that would impose on the Liberal government a promise-keeping quandary.

Environmentally friendlier alternatives to the power generating plants the line would supply would not stand a chance against the need to amortize an otherwise underutilized pipeline. Furthermore, the power generated by the GSX plants would more than double the greenhouse-gas emissions from B.C. electricity generation - just as Canada's federal and provincial governments try to meet our Kyoto Protocol commitment for a substantial reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2010.

Prospective, producers throughout the province would not be able to compete with Hydro's need to recoup its pipeline investment with additional plants on the island.

The enormous cost overruns of the first island pipeline, the uncertainty of natural-gas prices and the fluctuations in electricity demand, exemplified by the recent shortage and now glut in California, all point to the GSX as Fast Ferries II.

The GSX is a legacy of the risk-loving Clark government, a risk that private companies are unwilling to take without either guaranteed gas sales, partnership with a crown corporation or huge public subsidies, the guarantees that got the the first pipeline built.

If the Liberal government wants to keep its power-genera tion election promises, all it needs to do is put a moratorium on the pipeline and fulfill one of its promises: Direct the utilities commission to conduct an open review of the GSX, and its alternatives, and then make public recommendations to the government.

If Hydro were subjected to commission regulation only after constructing the pipeline, and not before, the commission would have no choice but to approve at least two more large plants on Vancouver Island and help the utility amortize pipeline costs.

Let British Columbians find out and debate what it costs to reduce rather than double greenhouse-gas emissions from electricity generation.

Let BC Hydro prove that wind, solar and tidal sources are too expensive and limited.

Let BC Hydro prove the opportunities for generating moderate cost electricity from wood waste and from small hydro and cogeneration projects are limited. (Cogeneration projects produce electricity from the waste heat from industry, hospitals, universities, office towers and other building complexes.)

Let BC Hydro discuss what it would cost British Columbians in their electricity rates (if anything) to follow these alternatives to Hydro's championship of fossil-fuel power (and greenhouse-gas generation).

This province is amazingly well endowed with cleaner, less risky alternatives to natural-gasfuelled power plants, alternatives whose costs are comparable and in some cases lower than the pipeline strategy, certainly-lower when environmental costs are included.

There are many ways to get more power or reduce peak power demand, on Vancouver Island on short notice. Hydro could ask for offers of small-scale cogenerated electricity, getting some, units up and running within 24 months. It could replace one or two of the undersea cables from the mainland while helping independent power-producers all over the province improve efficiency and develop our bountiful wood-waste, small-hydro and, especially, cogeneration opportunities.

Mark Jaccard is an associate professor
in the School of Resource and Environmental Management,
Simon Fraser University.