Rivers sold off
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Updated: November 25, 2009 4:05 PM
Re: Mair off base (Letters, NewsLeader, Nov. 21)
In 2002, Premier Gordon Campbell turned BC Hydro from a supplier into a purchaser of energy. In essence, the valuable provincial rivers were considered assets better suited as a “free commodity” for the “free market” to control.
To secure that control, the independent power producers hired 21 government insiders to smooth their way. One is Patrick Kinsella, a close friend of Campbell. To sweeten the deal for the power producers, B.C.’s taxpayers paid for the surveys given to the IPPs pinpointing the best and most profitable sites.
Claiming Hydro does not buy high and sell low does not jibe with the fact that Hydro was purchasing power from the IPP at $87.5 a megawatt and selling to the industry sector for $37.5 a megawatt.
If B.C. Citizens for Green Energy was truly interested in the well-being of British Columbians they would be fighting the irreversible damage being done to our environment, and the increasing energy rates brought about by the independent power producers.
Brian J. O’Neill
Burnaby
