Meet Louie the Lightning
Bug's evil twin
BrianWilford
Managing Editor
Cowichan Valley Citizen
November 11, 2001
I like to think I don't shock too easily but I must admit I was somewhat taken aback by B.C. Hydro's behaviour in Port Alberni last month.
Back in the fat days of Glen Clark, Hydro was going to build a $200-million cogeneration power plant in Campbell River and another in Port Alberni.
That's a big deal in a mostly bust mill town like Port. Folks were pleased. That cogen plant would look mighty nice right next to the MB Paper - no,
Pacifica Paper - no, NorskeCanada - closed paper mill down on the Inlet.
The cogen in Campbell River looks like it might actually heat up a light bulb someday (too bad their mill at Elk Falls is following the same path as Port's) but
Alberni's never seemed to go anywhere despite getting all the governmental approvals.
Hydro was publicly dumping all over its private sector partners (yes, even in the Glen Clark days you had to have those), mainly Atco in Calgary, but
word around Port (and is there any truer word?) was that Hydro kept changing the ground rules because it no longer wanted to do the deal.
Atco & Co., not in the business of wasting time and money, eventually pulled out in frustration.
Leap forward to the milk and honey days of Gordon Campbell and there's Hydro wanting to stick a humongous gas-fired generating plant in Port.
Okay, they're a lot harder up in Port than folks are here, so they're stiff excited. Somebody buys a new truck, they're excited.
So they say, "Ooh Hydro, we luuuuvvv your big new power plant, so big, so powerful, but please, pretty please, can we have it somewhere other than next
door to McDonald's and an elementary school?"
No kidding. Hydro wanted to stick it on Tebo Avenue.
Now nobody ever goes to Port except millworkers and tourists who take the wrong turnoff to Long Beach. But something some people don't realize is if
you go the right way to Long Beach, you still go through Port.
You round a comer, past the Canadian Tire mail and down until you see a McDonald's on the left. That's the comer of Johnston and Tebo. In behind is a
small industrial park, with smoke belchers like Evitt Electric, a lighting fixture store. Across Johnston (the highway) is a sprawling quintessentially Port 1960s
suburb, complete with little kids' schools, parks and churches.
This is where Hydro wanted to put an enormous, gas-guzzling (ie. potentially kaboom) generating station. Sort of like
right on top of the Overwaitea mall in
Duncan.
The pro-business council (the new mayor, while a labour leader, is nonetheless leading the campaign to land an aluminum smelter) pained over this for
weeks and finally narrowly voted to ask Hydro to please, please put it somewhere else.
Hydro said: "You can kiss Louie the Lightning Bug's pointy yellow ass. It's Tebo, or no-go."
And they picked up their shiny big power plant and left town.
The folks in Port are still a little stunned. "Was that our public utifity or an Erin Brockovich sequel?"
It's hard to tell where Hydro's coming from. Maybe they're a little spooked by Ballard's and GE's new gas-powered fuel-cell hybrids that can heat and
power a house without hooking up to an electrical utility. A little down the road but not far 10 years max, more like five.
Maybe Hydro figures: "We gotta build the beasts now or we won't be able to compete. Plus it gets us into the gas business bigtime."
So now Lake Cowichan Mayor Jack Peake and North Cowichan Mayor Rex Hollett say they'd welcome a Hydro gas plant three times the size of Port's.
What would Port say? "Gentlemen, we applaud your entrepreneurial spirit in the face of adverse circumstances but may we suggest you exercise caution?"
Naw, Port wouldn't say that. They'd say. "Watch yer ass, bud. These bastards play hardball."
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