Postmedia Defends the Indefensable, Site C Dam Boondoggle and Defunct British Columbia LNG Industry

Written by Grant G



Ross K likes to use fanciful verbiage when describing British Columbia's media and BC's provincial Liberal government..."lotusland...Clarkland..Clarklandia" etc etc etc ..

And if one really thinks about it....Ross K's descriptors are the most accurate around...

Is there any better way to describe our legislative reporting gang..?..Perhaps..The in need of polident denture glue?..that way they can sink their teeth into a story or scandal without fear of their pearly whites falling out...or perhaps we could call our legislative reporting gang...The demented bunch...

as in suffering from dementia, suffering from selective memory loss and prone to fits of anger when bloggers and BC Poli watchers attempt to set the record straight....isn't that so Keith Baldrey?

Lotusland legislative reporting from "the demented bunch" and back of the napkin governing from the "queen of mean" Christy Clark...

As Norman Farrell pointed out just yesterday....back in 2005 in the lead up to that provincial general election Gordon Campbell and these same BC Liberals presented another whopping vote getting fairy tale..that being..

British Columbia will become a hydroelectric exporting super-power, run of river power generation could create as many as 400,000 jobs....

Now in 2016 BC Hydro is drowning in debt and with future obligations going out decades, future obligations to buy at guaranteed prices from run of river power projects electricity at rates far above what BC Hydro can sell it for...to the tune of $70 billion worth of power buying...BC Hydro might be able to sell this un-needed power for $30 billion....maybe...that leaves a $40 billion dollar hole to be picked up by BC Hydro ratepayers.....it's about to get real ugly...

https://in-sights.ca/2016/06/20/bc-citizens-dutiful-oysters/


"Lotusland media reporting" indeed....I remember very well...Bill Good was on air blathering the BC Liberal talking points..the years were 2004..2005...2006...and on and on..at the time I was a regular caller to CKNW radio, and the cutting edge of the ledge Friday segment....I recall arguing with Bill Good..Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer about run of river and the guaranteed contracts..I discussed the selling of public rivers to BC Liberal friends and party donators....

I remember too well...and I wasn't alone.....John Calvert..


https://www.amazon.ca/Liquid-Gold-Privatization-British-Columbia/dp/1552662446

John Calvert wrote of this exact scenario....debt obligations and the demise/bankrupting of BC Hydro....

John Calvert was absolutely correct....funny..Bill Good..Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer defended the run of river scheme, those BC Liberal pom pom girls claimed that the argument I was making and John Calvert was making against run of river private power generation was an..

"ideological argument, not grounded in facts,, merely a weak public ownership versus private ownership"......

actually, it wasn't, our argument was two-fold...destruction of wild fish habitat and the financial argument, the bankrupting of BC Hydro......

John Calvert was right...so was I.......BC Hydro is in a huge financial pickle...a politically made pickle..

More importantly....where is the legislative reporting gang, what happened to holding the government to account?...that selective memory thingy rears it's head again...you know.."The demented gang"

There is no mention anymore of B.C. becoming an electrical exporting super-power..Huh?...those 400,000 mystery jobs..what jobs?...it's like it never happened, those long-gone BC Liberal election promises...funny eh, yet our legislative media and MSM still has to energy to discuss Fast Ferries and Glen Clark tales from the darkside...including a 2016 Global BC newshour Glen Clark anniversary trilogy special...did I mention run of river power buying contracts are bankrupting BC Hydro...

From Canwest to Post Media...what a fall, from quality journalism in the 21st century to printing blatant partisan propaganda originating in corporate boardrooms...Corporate agenda disguised as news, portrayed as fact..spin, distort, delete and more importantly...omit the real facts...

Just for a moment...let's forget that Christy Clark and the BC Liberals promised a 100,000 plus LNG jobs...the elimination of the provincial sales tax, elimination of the rapidly growing BC Debt, money for schools, hospitals, First Nations and northern communities and a whopping $100 billion dollar prosperity fund....

As Norm Farrell points out in his radio spot with Ian Jessop....The media forgot all about Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal's grand promises related to run of river....I guess that gives Christy Clark and this current batch of Liberals confidence that the same "media memory loss" will occur in the 2017 election....

Such sad reporting, I wonder what it's like to belong to an organization where one's school training, one's ethical guidelines are tossed out, ....Journalism and media ethics...honour, ethics and the ability to look in the mirror flushed down the toilet..all for a paycheque...

Right now...today, June 21st 2016...The BC Liberal government is running around like chickens with their heads cut off...Christy Clark trying to dispel her "queen of mean" reputation...BC Liberal government running around like chickens(cluck cluck cluck) trying to put out vote snuffing fires...School/education Money infused in Coralee Oakes riding, an attempt to save this lacklustre BC Liberal ....School funding rules being made on the fly...a BC Liberal held riding, if there is a chance of losing the seat..infuse some cash, save the riding's school....if the riding is NDP...well..95% capacity required for Seismic funding, 95% capacity required to keep the doors open...BC Liberal riding where they are vulnerable...forget about that 95% requirement..50%..30%...it's ok..we'll save the school..

Bill Good...Keith Baldrey..Vaughn Palmer....Those three stooges so defended Gordon Campbell and his run of river scheme....They, those stooges were not neutral..they were promoters, those stooges went after any and all who weren't on board with private run of river power, and the fact that run of river is a financial boondoggle..those three media voices would rather forget run of river ever happened than admit how they were wrong, won't admit they promoted run of river on radio and in newspaper print (Canwest)...any valid arguments made against run of river those three parrots started echoing Gordon Campbell's spin..years later.....Suddenly, there it is, again, "selective memory loss"...What run of river disaster...Who talks about the disasterous financial numbers related to run of river and BC Hydro..Bloggers, internet scribes, Farrell, Rafe Mair..Straight Goods..

A story finally appeared in the Vancouver Sun, an article where the economics of the Site C dam project is seriously called into question....as in another financial boondoggle in the making...

I will not get fooled again into thinking that Post media is finally prepared to do it's tasked job, informing the public of facts, unbiased facts...

The financial damning Site C dam article didn't linger on the Vancouver Sun front page very long,  it was quickly replaced with another Site C dam bafflegab word salad special....it tells no facts, it implies, suggests, it muses...

I will highlight the particular offending Vancouver Sun article.......however, let me first say...the offending Vancouver Sun article on Site C is ....lost, has no direction, all over the map..

I see clearly what Post Media is up to....in their bid to reelect the BC Liberals, in PostMedia's latest article(?) on Site C .... PostMedia leaves all their BC Liberal promotional options open....

 In an article titled...


Justin Trudeau "Open" to $1-billion  B.C. power line into Alberta

The article is confused, it leaves all options open...here are some of the offending passages...
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"Premier Christy Clark’s government has launched “exploratory” talks on a jointly funded project, estimated to cost close to $1 billion, with the Alberta and federal governments.

The objective would be to help BC Hydro improve the economics of the $8.8-billion Site C hydroelectric project, while helping Alberta reduce its dependence on coal and natural gas.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s government, meanwhile, has expressed an interest in the notion as long as B.C. shows more support for an oilsands pipeline to carry diluted Alberta bitumen to the West Coast."

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First off..exploratory talks?...how is it a massive $10 billion taxpayer funded project is allowed to even get off the ground..why isn't the media assailing Christy Clark and the BC Liberals over sanctioning an uneconomical project...

here is a little more from the spinning article..

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"Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s government, meanwhile, has expressed an interest in the notion as long as B.C. shows more support for an oilsands pipeline to carry diluted Alberta bitumen to the West Coast."

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OK..So Rachel Notley, who will be punted out of office in three years when the next Alberta general election happens is potentially agreeable to Site C dam if..if she can get Kindermorgan tripling pipeline pushed forward and or Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline through...Enbridge, a pipeline Rachel Notley was against pre-election and has now flipped 180 degrees and supports Enbridge....So Rachel Notley will buy Site C power IF SHE GETS TAR GOOP PIPELINES TO B.C. BUILT....

Is that how one governs in the 21st century, by blackmail?...

Here's a little more from the article..
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"Harry Swain, who was the chairman of the defunct federal-provincial panel that assessed the Site C proposal, cited in a Vancouver Sun opinion piece last week figures that indicated B.C. power would cost Alberta more than twice what it pays producing power with natural gas and its own renewable sources.
“The Alberta market is not for real,” writes the former senior federal bureaucrat, who is now an associate fellow at the University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies."

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/justin-trudeau-open-to-1-billion-b-c-power-line-into-alberta

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So...Rachel Notley will lock Alberta into higher electrical rates, higher by double, ..hurt her own domestic natural gas producers in a bid to push through dirty tar pipelines to BC.s pristine coast...Take electrical power, at double the price or more, claim to do it to reduce emissions all the while big energy corporations in Alberta ramp up dirty tar/bitumen production, which in turn ramps up pollution....what am I missing...Spend $billions on Site C dam....Claim Site C power will make Alberta's GHG totals decline...While simultaneously blackmailing BC Hydro...no Alberta buying BC Hydro electrical power unless more dirty tar oil hits the westcoast for export to China......

Can't the media see the irony...Alberta moving to cleaner electricity if and only, unless they can ramp up tar goop production and ship it through new targoop pipelines to BC's pristine westcoast...

Rachel Notley...Elected promising reforms, promising change and a new future..only to be elected and near instantly become controlled by Big Oil..same old same old..  ...Rachel Notley will accomplish nothing of substance, abandon almost every election promise, cowtow to big industry and still get punted out of office...

Now back that Postmedia article...

Postmedia had to add some bafflegab....Postmedia is not prepared to let the LNG road to golden riches BC Liberal election gambit die just yet...in the article highlighted above this nugget was added...

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"The Canadian Energy Research Institute, in a January study of options available to transmit electricity to power the oilsands sector, also said the B.C. option  would be significantly more expensive than natural gas.
And the study questioned whether B.C. system will have the capacity to follow through.".....

 One main factor that leads to uncertainty in the viability of importing hydroelectric power B.C. is the high forecasted electricity demand growth in B.C. " the institute noted....

The BC Hydro system appears to run into electrical and capacity shortages in the early 2020s, the report noted...

"Therefore it is uncertain whether the B.C. hydropower options would be able to export large volumes of baseload electricity into oilsand operations in Alberta"

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/justin-trudeau-open-to-1-billion-b-c-power-line-into-alberta

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Full Stop....The Canadian Energy Research Institute...Who are these people?

The CERI...They seem to be parroting BC Hydro's electrical forecast without any evidence, ...BC Hydro's electrical demand was predicated on a robust B.C. LNG industry rising up...it isn't, it won't..The LNG market is dead for at least the next 10 years...

Before we move on...Who is CERI..who are the people parroting the BC Liberals and BC Hydro...?

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http://www.ceri.ca/partners/

Chairman

Mr. Mike Cleland?

Former CEO of the Canadian Gas Association

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Mr. Terry Abel

Director, Oil Sands at

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

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Mr. Kendall Dilling

Vice President, Environment and Regulatory

Cenovus Energy Inc

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Mr. Michael W. Ekelund

Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic InitiativeAlberta Department of Energy

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Mr. Allan FogwillPresident and CEO
Canadian Energy Research Institute

Mr. Fogwill previously worked for natural gas distribution companies in BC..Alberta and Ontario

________

Mr. Kevin Heffernan
Consultant...

Mr. Hefferman was a stakeholder in Trident Exploration, a private company developing coalbed methane..

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CERI is a group of industry insiders with vested financial interests, in other words, the more gas and oil moved and produced, the more money those individuals make....

Full Stop....

How is it Site C dam project got off the drawing board with no business case...We have Christy Clark musing that Site C is Alberta's answer to reducing GHGs...by displacing natural gas power...???

We have Rachel Notley musing about saddling/costing industry and ratepayers by buying high-priced Site C power...Buying Site C power to reduce Alberta's GHG emissions while admitting that any Site C purchase is contingent upon British Columbia allowing targoop pipelines to the westcoast of B.C....for the stated purpose of hugely expanding the tar sands...What am I missing..Clean power to expand dirty tar goop expansion....

We have people with vested financial reasons with CERI echoing BC Hydro's electrical forecasts which were predicated on a robust LNG industry rising up...

In other words.....The Vancouver sun article leaves all options open..All the possible BC Liberal election gambits are still in play...

Site C will reduce BC and Alberta's GHG emissions....Site C power has a market in Alberta...Site C power project can be bailed out financially if BC allows dirty targoop pipelines and...

Site C power is needed because BC will be electrically deficient by the early 2020s...

Lastly..Site C power will be needed for the burgeoning LNG industry...

Nowhere in the article was ridicule directed towards the BC liberals...No where does the article question the sanity of spending over $10 billion tax dollars on a project without a business case, a project the BC Liberals refuse to let the BCUC or any other non-partisan group of experts examine...

That Postmedia article tells me that big media is well prepared to sell whatever yarn Christy Clark is knitting...

Oh, I did tell you this article is about LNG..About the death of LNG in British Columbia...

The latest bad(for British Columbia)LNG news not reported by Postmedia or by any of our legislative gang, you know..

"The demented bunch"

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Japan Steps on Gas in Bid to Reshape LNG Market

Tokyo wants to overhaul a market in which Asian buyers pay higher prices and establish Japan as an LNG trading hub

http://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-steps-on-gas-in-bid-to-reshape-lng-market-1466325065

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Japan is using their LNG buying clout, using their clout in an energy world awash, a world saturated with excess gas, excess LNG to rewrite the LNG buying rules...That Asian premium for LNG...It's gone...Japan will now pay the lowest LNG prices in the world....It really is a big story, ignored by the demented bunch...

There's more bad LNG news...another possible LNG market dries up...Egypt, ..there was a huge offshore(offshore Egypt) gas discovery in Egypt...a mere year ago, one of the biggest REAL gas finds...Egypt, who has been struggling to pay their LNG bills....They have an answer...Egypt has sanctioned/fast-tracked the development of this gas field for....

Not for selling gas to Japan, not to create a 100,000 jobs, not to eliminate taxes and create a massive prosperity fund...Egypt is fast-tracking this gas find for...

For domestic use in Egypt, to remove the reliance on high-priced LNG imports...To become self sufficient with energy...Another LNG market is gone..

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The fast-track project, which won the support of the Egyptian minister of petroleum Tarek El Molla in November last year, will bring 300 million cubic feet a day of much-needed gas to the Egyptian energy market.

Market analysts say the speedy development of the Atoll gas field - from its discovery in March last year to a government green light within eight months - shows the Egyptian government's support for oil and gas exploration by BP, and could clear the way for further investment in the region.


BP’s North Africa boss Hesham Mekawi said the acceleration of the project is a “significant achievement” that will “bring critical gas to the Egyptian market and establish a new material hub offshore East Nile Delta”.


Two years ago the country was wracked with blackouts due to its growing population and the ensuing shortfall of gas and power supply. It has been forced to pay billions to foreign companies to import gas via tankers.


Gas discoveries off the Egyptian coast by BP and Italian energy giant Eni have emerged as a boon for the country.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/20/bp-fast-tracks-egyptian-gas-project/


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Altagas....Kaput, cancelled...BG Gas..Prince Rupert project, scrubbed..Chevron in Kitimat..Out..Shell Canada..taking a long LNG time out, Prince Rupert project shelved....Quicksilver Resources..out, bankrupt..LNG is dead in British Columbia..

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Tsartlip Elder Takes Gordon Wilson To Task At North Saanich-Steelhead LNG Meeting


http://richardhughes.ca/tag/tsartlip-elder-mr-fraser-smith/

Woodfibre...Wanting more government concessions, no funding secured...

Petronas in Prince Rupert...The project has been deferred to the middle of the 2020s...need more..

The IEA, international energy agency has talked about the massive LNG glut..a glut until at least 2020....Actually, the glut is even worse...

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MEI; LNG Oversupply To Stretch to 2024

The latest research by McKinsey Energy Insights (MEI) predicts the LNG oversupply could last until 2024, meaning few projects could reach financial investment decision in the next 12 to 18 months. 

The research shows the LNG supply glut is “exacerbated by the 100 million tons per annum of new export terminal capacity currently under construction in the United States and Australia.”
By 2019, MEI expects the oversupply to peak at 60 mtpa.

According to James Walker said, “Our research shows that the current market oversupply is creating challenging conditions for operators hoping to take FID on projects in the near term.”


He adds that, in order to be viable, such projects would require an assumption of either a sustained high LNG price post-2024 or a cost optimization strategy to reduce projected capital expenditures.


In an oversupplied market, many projects will struggle to secure buyers, Walker said, adding that, even if the projects move to the construction phase, LNG supply would hit the market at a bad time.
The research predicts that the market will remain oversupplied unless the current low prices can stimulate a demand recovery, however, that response has been limited over the past two years

http://www.lngworldnews.com/mei-lng-oversupply-to-stretch-to-2024/


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So let's examine the situation..at present there is a massive LNG glut, with near 100 million tonnes of capacity, 100 million tonnes of new LNG supplies already under construction...best case scenario, demand catches up to supply by 2024...However, every new big LNG project coming online extends that glut out to future years beyond 2024...Every nuclear plant in Japan coming online extends the LNG glut..Every country that sources it's own natural gas/LNG extends the gas glut well beyond 2024...

Meanwhile, we have no LNG final investment decisions...any LNG revenue forecasts by the BC Liberals or their spindoctors are meaningless...LNG terminals selling gas at a loss pay no income to government...They claim financial losses against future earnings...

It really is that simple...

Meanwhile, I won't hold my breath waiting for Postmedia to start practicing journalism... and or any of our legislative gang ...

"The Demented Bunch"....

CERI might want to re-evaluate their forecasts too....Stop parroting the cronies the BC Liberals appointed to BC Hydro...


Written by Grant G

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The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open(ears too)