News Release - November 6, 2009
VICTORIA- The B.C. Liberal government is putting a clean, green public energy project in jeopardy so they can justify buying expensive electricity from their private power industry friends and donors, say New Democrats.
The Waneta Expansion is a public joint venture between the Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Power Corporation to construct a second powerhouse at the Waneta Dam near Trail. The expansion project would share the existing dam's infrastructure and generate 335 megawatts of power from flow that is currently being wasted.
"The Waneta Expansion project is exactly the type of clean, green public energy opportunity the government should be pursuing," said Opposition Energy Critic John Horgan. "It would have minimal environmental impact and deliver direct benefits to the region and low cost energy to ratepayers across the province."
According to Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy, whose constituency includes the Waneta dam, people in the communities she represents will be frustrated to lose the economic benefits that could be generated by the project.
"The sidelining of this project will be a devastating blow to the communities I represent, which were counting on the jobs and the economic boost that the Waneta Expansion would bring to the region," said Conroy.
Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall, who represents communities that have been fighting against Glacier-Howser, a large environmentally destructive private power proposal, is also supportive of the Waneta Expansion.
"The people of this region want to see the government investing in existing infrastructure instead of pushing expensive private power projects like Glacier-Howser that have much higher environmental impacts, much lower power output, and way fewer benefits for residents of the Kootenays."
The decision to shelve the project was announced by Lee Doney, Gordon Campbell's appointee to the Crown corporation Columbia Power, which owns the right to expand the Waneta dam.
No case was made for why the expansion was halted despite the fact that the provincial government has invested significant funds in the project.
Horgan says the move was made to justify the expansion of the private power industry.
"When the utilities commission turned down the long term plan to build more private power, Premier Campbell changed the rules. Now he is stalling the Waneta Expansion so he can claim we only have private power options to meet our future needs. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Horgan.
The private power industry has donated nearly $1.3 million to the B.C. Liberal Party since 2001.
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Media Contact: Jennifer Jones 250-889-6308
