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EARTHFUTURE.COM by Guy Dauncey
Duke Point power struggle
It’s only a matter of time. When historians speak about our time from the year 5,000, they will draw people’s attention to the very short Age of Fossil Fuels, from 1850 to 2050, when humans gorged their way through most of the world’s supply of coal, oil and gas.
That much is certain. What we don’t know is how they will describe the end of the age, because that’s still up to us.
Will they write that due to their ecological ignorance and their obsessions with trivia and tribal power, the people consumed so much fossil fuel that they overheated the Earth’s atmosphere, melted the ice-sheets, raised the sea level by 20 metres, flooded the low-lying lands, and disrupted so many ecosystems that they caused the a sixth great extinction, and that it took 1,000 years for the climate to establish a new equilibrium?
Or will they write that due to an incredible mobilization of effort, made possible by the determination and love of millions of ordinary people for their planet, there was a great non-violent struggle for power in which the tribal leaders were forced to take a back seat while the ordinary people organized a transition into the permanent, sustainable forms of energy which have been used by human civilizations ever since?
We have really no concept of what was involved to create the energy we use so freely. Take the natural gas which we use to heat our homes and cook our meals. It was formed from the remains of plants and sea creatures which sank to the ocean floor during a period of 200 million years, between 200 and 400 million years ago. We are on track to consume it all in 200 years, a million times faster than it was generated.
Put another way, it took nature 10 years to lay down the energy which you use to cook an omelette in five minutes.
So what would it look like if humanity did the intelligent thing, and averted the crisis that is rolling towards us like a tidal wave on a Hawaiian beach? Can we ride the wave and discover the thrill of partnership with nature, or will the wave pound into us like thunder, and drown us?
Globally, we can gather enough energy from the sun, winds, tides and gravity, if we live more simply and sustainably. That is not the problem. The problem is our blindness to how critical the crisis is, and our propensity to elect leaders who play to our blindness. We’re like a culture with its hands in a bottomless cookie jar, voting in leaders who promise us more cookies.
The solution is simple. We have to say no to more cookies. For the past five years, BC Hydro has been trying to persuade Vancouver Islanders to accept more cookies in the form of a new natural gas pipeline, called the Georgia Strait Crossing. After meeting with organized, well-informed opponents, BC Hydro has finally thrown in the towel. Success!
But wait, Hydro has another card up its sleeve. Determined to burn natural gas to produce more power, they are proposing that a private company, Duke Point Power, build a 252 MW natural gas fired powerplant in Nanaimo. This is the same plant that BC Hydro wanted to build itself, which was rejected by local communities in Port Alberni, Duncan and North Cowichan and by the BC Utilities Commission itself. And yes, it would produce greenhouse gases, to warm the planet: 800,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, plus other air pollutants, which will drift over to Vancouver.
The groups which are trying to stop the plant need your help. If you agree that we need to make the transition out of fossil fuels and into more sustainable forms of energy, they need you to write to the BC Utilities Commission, and say no. Letters should go to Duke Point Power, BCUC Secretary, 6th Fl., 900 Howe St., Box 250, Vancouver, V6Z 2N3 or commission.secretary@bcuc.com
There are many ways to meet the supposed shortage of peak power coming for a few winter nights in 2007/8, which is why BC Hydro says we need the powerplant. The whole crisis is slightly artificial, since BC Hydro is choosing to downrate one of the cables that brings power to the Island from the mainland. If it delayed the downrating by six months, there would be time to upgrade the cable.
The industrial pulp giant Norske has offered to shift its load, to reduce the Island’s peak load. As soon as the cable is replaced, the peak problem will be over, and there will be plenty of sustainable energy that we can get on with developing. Apart from anything else, BC Hydro has no idea what natural gas will cost over the 25 year life of the plant; it will simply pass it on to us. The total cost may be as high as $1.5 billion. Just think what we could do for solar, wind and tidal energy with that kind of money.
The timing is critical: the BCUC is holding the only hearing in Vancouver, on January 11t. The groups, including Citizens for Public Power, the Georgia Strait Crossing Coalition and the BC Sustainable Energy Association, want you to write a simple letter to the BCUC, expressing your opinion. Please do it now. For more see www.bcsea.org
Yours may seem like one small letter, but it is one more shoulder that pushes for change, as we work to alter humanity’s future.
Guy Dauncey is president of the BC Sustainable Energy Association. He is an author and speaker, who is lives in Victoria www.earthfuture.com
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