Site C Dam, Let`s Flush $15 Billion Dollars Down The Toilet

Written by Grant G


In late December/2014....A couple of weeks after Christy Clark told Bloomberg in New York that British Columbia didn`t need Site C dam for the proposed LNG industry, Christy Clark also told Bloomberg the price of Site C was going up by potentially $billions of dollars, we are looking at $10 to $15 billion dollars to build Site C...Possibly $15 billion dollars for a very tiny bite of electric  power...Expensive power, power we don`t need for LNG...The one group that looked at Site C and BC Hydro`s power for the future projected growth model...They came to the conclusion the power was not required, the case not made..!

Meaning there is no need to spend $15 billion dollars we don`t have, no need to put BC Hydro over $20 billion dollars in debt($15 billion plus the $billions of debt hidden in BC Hydro`s deferral accounts),  BC Hydro would have as a crown corporation almost as much debt as British Columbia had when the BC Liberals came into power in 2001...Our provincial debt in 2001, including contractual debt, crown debt stood at that time about $28 billion dollars(now it`s almost $80 billion dollars, not counting contractual debt and crown corporation debt)...And these BC Liberals want to add $15 billion dollars in more debt for power we don`t need?..

 http://commonsensecanadian.ca/bc-hydro-inflates-demand-justify-site-c-dam/



Here are Christy Clark`s own words.


"LNG is our priority in British Columbia and we don’t need to do Site C in order to fuel up the LNG industry,” Clark said, adding she ran for office on a pledge to establish the sector."


 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-10/british-columbia-clark-optimistic-on-lng-despite-oil-rout.html


Christy Clark`s mouth says we don`t need to spend $billions of dollars that we don`t have on Site C for LNG..

And guess who else says we don`t need Site C...


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"The retired head of the Association of Major Power Users of BC, Dan Potts, estimates the proposed Site C Dam would lose $350 million a year for taxpayers and BC Hydro ratepayers. The 30-year pulp mill manager told media in Vancouver yesterday that the project, estimated to cost $8 Billion or more, is “fundamentally uneconomic” – based on its outmoded technology and power trading prices that are likely to remain far lower than the cost of electricity produced by Site C.


Potts made the comments at a press conference organized by the District of Hudson’s Hope – where the 80 km-long reservoir would be located – to raise concerns about Site C in advance of the federal cabinet’s ruling on the project, expected this Fall.


Potts and other speakers, including agrologists, farmers, First Nations leaders and elected officials from the region, called for the BC Utilities Commission’s oversight of the project to be restored. The independent energy watchdog was stripped by the BC Liberal Government of its usual role of reviewing a project based on issues like cost and need. In the absence of that review, Potts worries that a project which makes no economic sense may receive unjustified approval.
“This project is turning gold into lead,” said Potts.

It’s going to have a legacy of wealth destruction…It’s going to sap the province’s ability to raise money and borrow money, to do other things, such as infrastructure, hospitals, schools – all the things we need to do."

 http://commonsensecanadian.ca/VIDEO-detail/fundamentally-uneconomic-site-c-dam-lose-350-million-year-taxpayers-industrial-energy-expert/

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So here we have experts, and he`s not alone, calling Site C a boondoggle in the making, a very expensive boondoggle, not only will it cost much more than $10 billion, interest payments on that debt will be $400 million per year....And it will lose on average another $350 million per year in direct losses...

All in, this project could end up costing BC taxpayers $30 billion dollars after interest payments and operating costs...for power we don`t need.

The BC NDP should refuse to even enter our provincial legislature until Site C is taken off next summer`s starting date agenda...You see readers, friends, British Columbians, there is time for a strong opposition to fight for British Columbia, that time is now, before the legislature opens...How many days do politicians need off, vacationing, sitting on their over-paid asses!

We must demand that Site C go to a non partisan regulator, or non-partisan committee...Like the BCUC...This project must be vetted by those who have no skin in the game, by those not wanting to win or steal an election..

There are power generating turbines being added to BC`s Mica dam...For a cost of $500 million dollars Mica Dam will produce extra power, the new power generated, on top of power Mica already produces......For $500 million dollars a couple of new added turbines will produce half the power of Site C Dam..Without flooding land, flooding farm land...Merely adding turbines to an existing dam will create half the power of Sire C dam...for a cost of $500 million dollars...

1/20th the cost of Site C dam ....Mica will produce half the power Site C would at 1/20th the cost..

Where is the media outrage?

Someone needs to haul the BC Liberals off to jail..Demand a Site C plebiscite, or referendum...

The biggest expenditure ever proposed in British Columbia with not one shred of evidence that this power is required..

It would be criminal to allow that big of an expenditure without the case being made that the power is needed..


If the NDP can`t persuade the powers at be, the courts, the new media, the internet media..If the NDP can`t fight then we the public must step up to the plate..


We need all hands on deck to stop this $15 billion dollar theft of public money.

We need to explore other options for power..Like this option.

Since we have, according to Christy Clark and Rich Coleman, "British Columbia has some of the largest known natural gas reserves in the world, more than enough for domestic use only, hundreds of years of supply", more than we can ever use domestically.


And as of right now, and probably forever, we don`t and won`t have an LNG export industry..

What British Columbia has is tonnes of natural gas and nowhere to sell it, how about we sell it to ourselves..?

British Columbia could create a market for domestic natural gas, no need to liquify if...And at the same time can create 800 to 1200 mega watts of power, or more,  as much power as Site C dam would produce.

We would not have to flood 30,000 acres of fertile northern farmland...Thus that land up north would not be flooded, the land would continue to grow food and be a carbon sinc, , meaning the non-flooded land would absorb greenhouse gases...Absorb enough greenhouse gas to offset the below proposal..

A proposal that would give B.C. options, options to turn up or down the electrical output depending on the needs, this electrical plant would only take up in total space..24 hectares of space/land required...

And here`s the most attractive part of the whole deal...For a cost of about $1.4 billion dollars we could produce as much power as Site C.

 We could save over $10 billion dollars before interest charges...BC Hydro`s ratepayers would not see their bills go through the roof...

We could build the world`s cleanest, newest, most modern most efficient natural gas electrical generating plant in the world...At the same time greenhouse gas emissions from the natural gas plant would be offset by not flooding 30,000 acres of farmland..no homeowners to piss off, to buy out..no First Nations to cut deals with, plus it gives our natural gas drillers a new market for some of their gas, that means some royalties for the province..And create B.C. jobs for B.C. workers.

And we will save not a few $hundred million dollars but over $10 billion dollars ...

And if someday in the future LNG exports produce bigtime revenues for the province we can shut down this plant, maybe nuclear fusion will come online, newer more efficient appliances, possibly domestic power generation that could feed into the grid, like solar, tidal, geo-thermal and who knows what other technological miracles are coming down the pike..

Pipe dreams, no....A win win win...BC Taxpayers win...Saving food growing farmland wins...A new market for our gas drillers, a win for them, a win for BC`s credit rating and a break-even win for the environment, what greenhouse gas emissions are expelled will be offset by not flooding 30,000 acres of farm land, maintaining the land as a carbon sinc.

BC Hydro won`t have to carry a $20 billion dollar debt, ratepayers won`t have to carry that debt on their bi-monthy electric bills..

British Columbia could save $billions and $billions of dollars by building a copy of this..

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 "Shepard Energy Centre is a new, natural gas-fired power plant being built near Shepard Industrial Park in south-east Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The project, estimated to cost C$1.3bn, is being hailed as one of the largest projects ever undertaken by the city of Calgary.

The facility will have a nominal plant rating of 800MW and will be the largest natural gas-fired electricity generation facility in Alberta when commissioned in 2015.

It will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of more than half of Calgary's existing power demands.

The facility will use an advanced emissions technology and will generate less than half the CO2 per megawatt than a conventional coal-fired plant. The plant will be owned and operated by Enmax Shepard, a subsidiary of Enmax Energy."

Enmax Energy's Calgary plant features

Important features of the plant include natural gas compression, auxiliary boilers and a wet surface condenser and cooling tower. Heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) will be partially enclosed, while the steam turbine generator (STG) and gas turbine generators (GTGs) will be fully enclosed. The project also has provisions for future carbon dioxide capture.

 http://www.power-technology.com/projects/shepard-energy-centre/

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We have time, Site C dam construction is not slated to start until the summer of 2015..

Plus there are many lawsuits pending..

I personally asked John Horgan and the NDP party to pay for and commission a non-partisan study exploring the options I highlighted above, if the BC Liberals can prove we need much more power in the future and Site C is the only viable option, so be it, if the BC Liberals have complete faith and confidence they shouldn`t fear a non-partisan committee to review in depth Site C, the costs, the ramifications and other options.



 We may not even need the natural gas power plant, but if we need power, this is the route to go..

However, the time has come for the opposition NDP to step up to the plate, the BC Liberal`s clean energy act is gone, out the window, each proposed large LNG plant would add near 9 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions to our provincial airshed each year...This natural gas electrical plant would add about 1/10th of that total...BC`s clean energy act is null n void with an LNG industry..

Christy Clark and the BC Liberals have been talking the talk, Christy Clark was blathering in public how "BC`s LNG would clean China`s airshed and make the world`s air cleaner".. 



If that is true, if it is good enough for China than a natural gas electrical plant must be good enough for British Columbia too.

We as a province could even buy carbon offsets, $100 million dollars worth of carbon offsets per year and we would still be ahead of the Site C cost by $billions and $billions of dollars..We could buy offsets of that amount for 30 years and only spend $3 billion dollars... Add in the cost of a natural gas electrical plant of $1.3 billion to even as high as $2 billion dollars, add both amounts together ....$5 billion dollars...

And we wouldn`t necessarily have to buy carbon offsets if we didn`t need to....As stated above...We would not be flooding 30,000 acres of carbon absorbing farmland...

We can`t wait until the spring session of the legislature starts to begin this battle..

 Building a natural gas electrical plant(if we need the power) is a win win... 



BC jobs, BC workers..A electrical generating plant using B.C. natural gas, drilled by B.C. natural gas well drillers, piped through B.C. pipeline, power generated flowing to B.C. homes at a fraction of the cost of a Site C dam...Thus saving the province, saving B.C. Hydro $billions of dollars...Saving ratepayers even $billions more, money that will flow into our economy rather than to New York Bond Buying hedge funds..

A win win win...

We need the media to get onside with this plan...We need the BC NDP making wave after wave...Refusing to sit in our legislature until all these $billion dollar plus saving options are explored thoroughly by non-partisan entities with no skin in the game..

We need The Straight Goods....We need leadership, we need a robust opposition...

Who knows what energy efficiencies lie ahead in the future..A $1.3 to $2 billion dollar natural gas electrical generating plant can easily be decommissioned...A $15 billion dollar dam, not so much..

Food security....Saving ever declining farmland stocks...Not having to flood 30,000 acres...Not having to buy out home-owners, northern businesses, not having to fight First Nations in the Peace region..

The non-flooded land will grow food and absorb carbon...B.C. workers to build a natural gas power plant, giving our drillers another market for our excess gas..

Everybody wins, taxpayers, ratepayers, northern homesteaders, First Nations, the environment, our credit rating..

Everybody wins....

If an NDP opposition can`t make the case, can`t stop it, slow down Site C....Can`t present and produce viable options..

Can`t do a better job than a single blogger with no money, no staff, just a computer and a few connected brain cells..Then we as a province.....

 are doomed!

Written by Grant G

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open