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NEB: GSX site
NEB: GSX decison
Joint Panel GSX report
VI Call for Tenders
EAO: VIGP
BCUC: VIGP decision
EAO: Port Alberni Gen
EAO: Port Alberni Cogen
EAO: Island Cogen
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Year 2002 News, July to December
New BC Environmental Assessment Act in effect Dec 30
Dec 30, 2002
VICTORIA - The new provincial Environmental Assessment Act was brought into
effect Dec. 30, opening a chasm of uncertainty and doubt about the integrity of reviews for
present and future projects.
EAO ...news release
EAO ...backgrounder
Bill 38 - the new EA Act ...click here
Westcoast Environmental Law assessment of Bill 38 ...click here
Watch closely for the "transitioning orders" for BC Hydro's Vancouver
Island Generation Project (VIGP) and BC Gas' Inland Pacific Connector (ICP).
new EAO VIGP ...website
new EAO ICP ...website
Canadian Regulator Says Duke Overcharged for Power
Dec 19, 2002
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Alberta regulators ordered a Duke Energy
Corp. unit to refund the province's power grid administrator C$62.6 million
($40.4 million) it said the firm overcharged for short-term electricity
supplies last year.
Reuters, www.globeinvestor.com ... article
-At the time of the overcharges, Engage Energy was wholly owned
by Westcoast Energy. Westcoast was acquired by Duke in 2002.
-Duke is
one of the club of power trading companies (Enron, Williams, Calpine, Mirant,
Dynegy, and BC Hydro's Powerex) which have been the subject of various
investigations and refund orders for manipulative practises in the western
states in 2001. Powerex was ordered in early December to return US$279
million in excessive charges.
-In 2000, the offices of Enron and Powerex
were raided by the Competition Bureau for evidence to support charges of
price manipulation in Alberta.
-Williams and BC Hydro are partners in the
GSX proposal, and Powerex is the only customer. Calpine is BC Hydro's
customer for the gas in Campbell River. Duke, Westcoast and Mirant are all
intervenors in GSX.
-Why should British Columbians doubt that they were
being set up, for same manipulative tricks as Albertans, Washingtonians,
Oregonians, and Californians, fell victim to?
U.S. ruling drains B.C. Hydro profits
Dec 13, 2002
Judge Bruce Birchman at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Committee found that
Hydro's Powerex subsidiary and dozens of other energy traders, including Duke,
Williams and Enron, must return windfall profits that came during manipulation
of the unstable California market during 2000 and 2001.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
Bad enough that Hydro has to
return US$279 million. Their GSX partner Williams is complicit in many fishy energy trading
activities, has a number of class action suits against it, its stock price is in the tank, it is selling assets madly
to cut its debt, and if GSX were approved, it could not capitalize its share of the project anyway. Dump Williams.
Dump GSX
NEB report shows WCSB deliverability is in decline
Dec 12, 2002
deliverability from the Basin will likely decrease from 470 million cubic metres
(16.6 billion cubic feet) per day at the end of 2001 to about 450 million cubic
metres (15.9 billion cubic feet) day by the end of 2004. The expected decrease
is a result of two factors. First, the initial productivity of new wells has
been declining steadily since 1996. Second, the rate of production from these
wells has been declining at increasing rates.
NEB ... news release
Short Term Natural Gas Deliverability from WCSB 2002-2004 ... PDF
The NEB's statement underscores fundamental risks to the viability of GSX and gas-fired generation
on Vancouver Island. GSX now is as ill-advised as a new cod boat in Newfoundland.
Kyoto protocol ratified: 195 to 77
Dec 10, 2002
The long-awaited conclusion to a chapter in Canada's role in
the Kyoto protocol came Tuesday when the House of Commons voted in
favour of ratifying the deal.
Allison Dunfield, Globe and Mail ... article
Canadian Press, National Post ... article
Sierra Club presents Prime Minister Chretien with the John Fraser Award ... release
Next Steps, Greenpeace Canada ... web page
Sumas Energy 2: NEB will consider plant’s impacts
Dec 9, 2002
The National Energy Board will consider the emissions impacts of the proposed Sumas Energy 2
gas fired generation plant in their review of the proposed international powerline that would enable SE2 to
"wheel" its power into the western continental grid through BC Hydro's transmission facilities.
NEB ... news release
NEB ruling ... PDF(Very Big File)
Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun ... article
NESCO ... news release
In the GSX pipeline review, the Panel will be considering downstream emissions from the
gas being burned; with the SE2 powerline hearing, the Board will be considering upstream
emissions where the electricity is being produced. It has been
a tough year for the transmission biz.
'Green' hydro projects face tough challenges
Dec 9, 2002
In the last two years, the stream of applications to the B.C. government for
private-sector small-hydro projects has turned from a trickle to a flood,
prompting widespread concerns that the province lacks the resources to deal with
the situation.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
Tracy Tjaden, Business in Vancouver ... article
VIGP and the energy policy
Nov 28, 2002
It's business as usual for VIGP and GSX - BC Hydro will continue pushing both projects aggressively.
On Jan 15, VIGP will be reviewed by the BC Utilities Commission. Should both projects receive approvals, BC Hydro
will endeavour to sell them to the private sector. To obtain a sale, the people of BC will have to guarantee
the profitability of the investment.
GSXCCC ... article
BC Government releases new energy policy
Energy for Our Future: A Plan for BC
Nov 25, 2002
| THE GOVERNMENT STORY | COMMENT |
|
News release Backgrounder 1 Backgrounder 2 Backgrounder 3 Backgrounder 4 Executive Summary (PDF 1.4MB) Challenges, Opportunities (PDF) SOLUTIONS, CONCLUSIONS (PDF) Glossary and Appendices (PDF) Fact Sheets: B.C. Electricity Resources B.C. Oil and Gas Resources B.C. Offshore Oil and Gas Resources B.C. Coal Resources B.C. Coalbed Methane Resources Watch the energy policy video: Real Video modem high speed Windows Media modem high speed Minister Neufeld's speaking notes |
GSXCCC Quick take on the policy VIGP and the energy policy Paul Willcocks, Sun, Nov 27, 2002 Not a stampede to privatization 3 letters, Sun, Nov 27, 2002 Vaughn Palmer, Sun, Nov 26, 2002 Liberals wary about politics of power Matthew Ingram, Globe&Mail, Nov 26 BC Avoids Hydro Issues - Again Green Party response CBC news: Power plant in jeopardy Andrew Duffy, Times-Colonist, Nov 26 Island project faces review |
| ELECTION 2002: Congratulations to winning candidates Sheila Malcolmson, Gail Lund, Jean Crowder, Jenny Farkas, Sharon Jackson, Loren Duncan, Mike Walker and others who were running on a platform that included opposition to GSX and VIGP. (click) |
Attorney General's Energy Investigation Nets First Settlement
|
Nov 14, 2002 Williams will pay $417 million to resolve state claims that it participated in market manipulations and overcharges that caused electricity rates to skyrocket for Washington consumers over the winter of 2000-2001. Williams Energy is the first of several energy companies under investigation by the Attorneys General of Washington, Oregon and California. Attorney General of Washington State ... release Dept Justice, Oregon State ... release Attorney General of California ... release Editorial, Seattle Times ... editorial Editorial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer ... editorial |
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B.C. to reform electricity sector, lift rate freeze
Nov 13, 2002
Within the next three weeks, the BC government will announce
its new energy policy, with plans to lift a decade-long freeze on
electricity rates in the province and permit British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority's
transmission division to operate independently from its Crown-owned parent.
Peter Kennedy, Globe and Mail ... article
Canada running low on gas
Nov 8, 2002
Canada's supplies of clean-burning natural gas are tight and getting harder to
find. There are concerns that conventional gas production has peaked and could
be headed for a permanent decline ...
Claudia Cattaneo, National Post ... article
Nov 11, 2002
Ladyfern is depleting so quickly it won't be able to meet natural gas production
expectations next year. Volumes peaked last June at 700 million cubic feet per day when natural gas
prices were weak, and volumes are expected to dwindle to under 100 million cubic
feet by the end of next year.
Claudia Cattaneo, National Post ... article
Despite record levels of drilling, Western Canadian natural gas production appears to have peaked at
16.6 bcf per day and continued frantic drilling is needed just to keep pace with that level. There aren't any
elephant pools waiting to be discovered
Maurice Smith, Nickles Daily Oil Bulletin ... article
BC Hydro's Green Energy Study, October 2002:
5000 MW and 18,000 GWh
Summary ... PDF
Tidal Current ... PDF
Small Hydro ... PDF
Integrated Photovoltaic & Wind ... PDF
Read Scott Simspon's coverage of this great work by BC Hydro...
Massive potential for green power
Nov 6, 2002
Unleashing the latent energy in British Columbia's rugged geography could
increase the province's electricity supply by as much as 40 per cent without
building another dam or a gas-fired generator, says a new B.C. Hydro study.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
Magnitude 7.9 Quake hits Alaska
Magnitude 5 Quake hits Queen Charlottes
|
Nov 3, 2002 This earthquake initiated on the Denali fault in the epicentral region of the M6.7 Oct. 23 earthquake and apparently ruptured eastward (towards the pipeline). This M7.9 shock is the largest earthquake on the Denali fault since at least 1912. The Trans Alaska Pipeline (TAPS) is shut down to assess and repair damage. |
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Wesley Loy, Anchorage Daily News ...more
USGS Earthquake info ...more
Pacific Geoscience Centre ...more
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ELECT SOMEONE WHO CARES
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ELECTION 2002
Saturday November 16 8 AM - 8 PM Candidates positions on GSX and gas-fired generation here |
...I promise you Canadians will see the day when the Member of Parliament
from Langley/Abbotsford is chained to the tracks, and there he will stay. For if I don't, I will have
said to you, to my community and to my country: I did not fight to the end for our future. We ask you to stop this now. Tell SE2 to go home, build their polluting plant and transmission line on their own land, and try to understand from their own good citizens that the 21st century belongs to the environment, which we have already terribly damaged, not to corporate profits. MP Randy White, Oct 19, 2002, to the NEB panel on what will happen if SE2 builds its transmission line to Abbotsford. transcript |
Nanaimo public tells the EAO to stop VIGP
Oct 22, 2002
The crowd at Beban Centre was unanimous in its condemnation of BC Hydro's proposed gas-fired
generation plant for Duke Point (VIGP). People spoke to health concerns, environmental issues, and the
economic risks. They called for a BC Utilities Commission review of VIGP. They were advised that with the
enactment (expected soon) of the new Environmental Assessment Act,
this process could be abandoned, continued, a hearing could be
imposed, or a
ministerial order to grant the project its permit.
The US must turn its back on oil
Oct 16, 2002
The EU and the US are beginning to diverge in the most basic aspect of how a
society is organised: its energy regime. The difference in approach to the future of energy
couldn't be more stark. While the EU is beginning to mobilise its industrial sector, research institutes and
the public to the task of making an historic transition out of carbon-based
fossil fuels and into renewable resources and a hydrogen future, the US is
pursuing an increasingly desperate search to secure access to oil.
Jeremy Rifkin, The Guardian ... article
BC Hydro's environmental assessment flawed
Oct 15, 2002
VANCOUVER - Several BC groups are taking action to stop the BC government's
approval of a proposed gas fired power plant at Duke Point, near Nanaimo. BC Hydro has significantly
underestimated the pollution from the plant, and may be exposing Nanaimo area residents to unacceptably
high levels of air pollution.
Sierra Legal Defense Fund ... news release
SENES Consulting review of dispersion modelling analysis ... PDF
VIGP/Levelton dispersion modelling analysis ... PDF
Panel releases new timetable
Still no hearing date
Sept 27, 2002
| GSX-PL response to unanswered IRs | 29 Oct 2002 |
| Written evidence of intervenors | 28 Nov 2002 |
| IRs to intervenors | 17 Dec 2002 |
| Intervenors responses to IRs | 21 Jan 2003 |
| Oral hearing | not scheduled |
No links to documents yet, because the NEB hasn't published them
Marine Technical Conference: November 14 & 15
Sept 27, 2002
The Panel has decided to set 14 and 15 November 2002 as the dates for
the conference so participants can make plans accordingly. The conference
will take place at the Mary Winspear Centre at Sanscha, 2243 Beacon
Avenue, Sidney, B.C. commencing at 9:00 a.m.
NEB registry ... PDF
Port Alberni group wins Canadian Environment Award
Sept 24, 2002
|
Port Alberni, British Columbia, is not the sweetest-smelling town on Vancouver
Island, but its citizens know when they've had enough. Imagine, then, the response
when B.C. Hydro announced its plan, in November 2000, to build a $300 million
gas-fired generating plant alongside the town's largest shopping mall. In
Port Alberni, they got mad — and then they got organized... |
|
News Release ... Word Doc
Electricity: the oxygen of our economy
Sept 26, 2002
David Freeman, Chairman of the California Power Authority, beat around
no bushes, George or otherwise. "Electricity is the oxygen of our
economy," he told hundreds of people at the University of Victoria Wednesday
night, and the BC government has "gotta take their cotton-pickin' hands off
BC Hydro." more...
Frontline interview, April 4, 2001 ... interview
Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun ... article
FERC approves the US portion of GSX
Sept 19, 2002
US Regulator (FERC) gives nod to 137-km U.S. line; Canadian portion remains in doubt
Canada Newswire ... article
Reuters News Service ... article
Ericka Pizzillo, Bellingham Herald ... article
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
GSX cost jumps another $80 million to $340 million
Sept 12, 2002
B.C. Hydro is blaming red tape from the National Energy Board for an $80-million
increase in the cost of its proposed GSX gas pipeline crossing to Vancouver
Island.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
Wind could ease energy crunch
July 31, 2002
British Columbia could quickly gain thousands of new jobs for
employment-starved communities if it got serious about developing a wind-energy
industry in the province, says a consultant's report obtained by The Vancouver
Sun.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
Greenpeace clean energy video ... Quicktime
Calpine to Establish Canadian Income Trust Fund
Hopes to sell 100% of Island Cogeneration
July 23, 2002
The power generating assets to be acquired by the Calpine Power Income Fund are
a 100 percent interest in the 225-megawatt Island Cogeneration Facility located
in British Columbia, near Campbell River and a 100% interest in the 300-megawatt
combined-cycle Calgary Energy Centre
Canada NewsWire ... article
More info about Calpine ... GLOBEinvestor.com
Williams may sell its BC assets
July 23, 2002
Cash-strapped
energy giant Williams is considering selling natural gas assets in British
Columbia and Alberta in a desperate bid to reduce debt after slashing its stock
dividend by 95 per cent and announcing a large second quarter loss on Monday.
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun ... article
More info about Williams ... GLOBEinvestor.com
Panel revises timetable: adds months to GSX hearing date
July 12-17, 2002
GSX-PL refused to answer many of the information requests from intervenors. As a result, those intervenors
are submitting notices of motion asking the Panel to force a response by GSX-PL. Today the Panel introduced a schedule
for those notices of motion and related submissions, which has the effect of delaying until late September or October,
the earliest possible new date for filing evidence - which had been August 8. The hearing itself remains unscheduled,
pending filing of evidence on First Nations consultion. It is increasingly unlikely to be in 2002.
A0E7Z9 Letter from Joint Review Panel revising schedule ... PDF
A0E8D5 Letter from GSX-PL requesting Panel to reinstate schedule ... PDF
A0E8G5 Letter from Joint Review Panel denying request ... PDF
The Nanaimo gas plant: why no public review?
July 16, 2002
Why would a government that campaigned so ardently against risking public
money on megaprojects not pause long enough for an open public review of a
$1-billion risk that is comparable in size to the fast ferries fiasco it
criticized so harshly? Why would it instead use a loophole created by former
premier Glen Clark to exempt Hydro from commission oversight?
Dr. Mark Jaccard, Times Colonist ... letter
ENERGY ITEMS FROM Jul 1, 2002 to Dec 31, 2002
ENERGY ITEMS FROM Jan 1, 2002 to Jun 30, 2002
ENERGY ITEMS FROM Sept 1, 2001 to Dec 31, 2001
ENERGY ITEMS FROM Jun 1, 2001 to Aug 31, 2001
ENERGY ITEMS FROM Jan 1, 2001 to May 31, 2001
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