Rafe Mair in Cranbrook to discuss BC Liberal Energy Plan; support Rivers at Risk
Rafe Mair in Cranbrook to discuss BC Liberal Energy Plan; support Rivers at Risk
Wildsight and BC Resident Hunters Association team up to host June 12
Rivers at Risk forum in Cranbrook. High attendance expected.
Cranbrook, BC: This Rivers at Risk forum will uncover some hard truths about the BC Liberal Energy Plan, and show how local, pending Independent Power Proposals seriously threaten the East Kootenay backcountry. Outspoken author and speaker Rafe Mair, on behalf of the Save our Rivers Society, will explore pressing issues facing citizens in the wake of this not-so-green plan.
BACKGROUND:
In six short years, the BC Liberal government has been flooded with nearly 500 water license applications from private corporations who want to “set up shop” on B.C.’s rivers. The BC Liberals solicited these applications with an energy plan bent on privatizing power in B.C. and forcing BC Hydro to purchase electricity from private producers under the guise of promoting “green power.”
These Independent Power Proposals (IPPs) include plans to divert entire creeks and punch hundreds of kilometres of new roads and power lines in otherwise protected and sometimes pristine valleys.
In the East Kootenay the proposals include wind farms that will also place new roads and power lines into remote, pristine areas—including wilderness already protected for endangered Mountain caribou.
FORUM DETAILS:
Speaker: Rafe Mair
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008
Time: 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Place: Cranbrook, College of the Rockies Lecture Theatre
Rafe Mair is a former lawyer and B.C. cabinet minister who is now a broadcaster, writer and speaker on public affairs. He is a die-hard fly fisher who has “fallen in rivers around the world.” Rafe’s photo is available at www.rafeonline.com/about.shtml.
QUOTES, next page >
“While some of these proposed power projects may indeed be green,” said Dave Quinn, a program manager with Wildsight, “the public has a right to learn about them first—and choose which projects make sense BEFORE permits are issued.”
Quinn said that small projects that are done well and located close to a power demand are very likely supportable by citizens, stakeholders and Rivers at Risk partners.
“However, projects that demand huge river diversions, hundreds of kilometres of new roads and transmission lines through protected areas—such as the proposal on Glacier and Howser creeks in the Purcells—are definitely NOT green and should not be supported by the public,” Quinn said.
“Nor should a proposed wind farm that pushes roads and power lines into protected habitat for endangered Mountain caribou,” Quinn said, noting that the BC Liberals’ Bill 30 “has taken away our rights to have this choice—a choice we are working hard to reclaim.”
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Supplemental info:
Dave Quinn
Wildsight Program Manager
250-427-8878
daveq@wildsight.ca
wildsight.ca/campaigns/riversatrisk
About Wildsight
Wildsight works locally, regionally and globally to protect biodiversity and encourage sustainable communities in Canada's Columbia and Southern Rocky Mountain region. This area is internationally recognized as a keystone to conservation in western North America.
Additional background information:
(Citation here doesn’t necessarily imply partnership with Wildsight. These resources are included for media research use and follow-up is at the discretion of the journalist.)
http://www.normmacdonald.ca/2008-5-5IPP.htm
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/10/17/RiverPower/
http://www.publicpowerbc.ca/points-of-diversion-for-bc-power-generation
