To the editor:
Site C dam has been noted by the government as having a ‘point of no return” in the construction. This is passed on by the government and BC Hydro to convince taxpayers it must go through.
If the dam is built at a current estimated cost of 9 billion, it will all be paid by taxpayers.
The amount of electricity produced will be so expensive and unselleable on the open market. California has more power than they can use. Powerex- the “investing” arm of BC Hydro won’t find California as their primary sell to State. In fact, Powerex lost approx. 750,000 to California already.
News indicates that the Premier wants to give LNG plants a 32 per cent cut in the cost of hydro from Site C. The taxpayer makes up the difference. The operating cost for Site C are undetermined but for the fish migrations there is a proposal that we have “trout trucks”. This involves drugging the fish and bussing them around to the lake. This would apparently cost over 25 million to put in and 2 million a year to operate.
LNG producers have previously indicated they can use the huge reserves of LNG to power their conversion plants, as was supposed to be in Kitimat but Clark refused the idea and insisted they must buy power from Site C.
By stopping the dam we, the taxpayers, save the resultant costs. If stopped now, we would not be saddled with a long-term debt, we would not have to subsidise commercial operations.
The real message is by stopping our unwanted and unneeded Site C we will, as taxpayers, be saved from billions of additional debt. We save 72 km of prime agricultural and ranch land and historical sites, we can address the First Nations rights which have so far been trampled or ignored, we save the jobs that this area produces on a yearly sustainable basis.
Continue and we lose billions and the land, continue and we force companies to buy our hydro at discounted prices, we will certainly lose sustainability and continuation of fish spawning. However, if we stop now our losses are only 4 billion while we save the other 5 billion in construction alone. Stop Site C and we save the maintenance costs of a losing enterprise. This dam would add at least 9 billion more to our already staggering debt just in costs.
There is no “point of no return.”
Gary Young
100 Mile House
