The recent article concerning Minister Coleman’s plan to remove two old dams that require expensive upgrades sounds like a good idea. The cost of doing so would shed light on the decision but I applaud him for his efforts in reining in B.C. Hydro’s rate increases. I hope this is not just a smoke screen to placate voters that are worried about the impact these rate increases will have.
I understand that Minister Coleman has struck a panel to review these planned rate increases which are not affordable by many residents. The cost increases will push up prices of goods and services as well. The consumer is going to be hit for the full amount of these increases not just on his electricity usage. He needs to look at other places where he can cut the cost of electricity for British Columbians and I have two suggestions for him:
Firstly, abandon the carbon tax. This tax is based on the assumption that we are causing the climate to change by burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. There is no doubt we are experiencing climate change. Over the eons, the climate has changed. Sometimes it warms and sometimes it cools.
Please, do not fool yourself that placing a tax on the use of electricity is going to affect the way the climate changes. The sun is doing that for us.
Our ability to alter the climate is so infinitesimally small that it is ridiculous to try regardless of what Al Gore and opportunistic scientists proclaim. Please take the time to educate yourself as to what a group of scientists who have no vested interest in the AGW scare are saying. Read the website Friends of Science.
Secondly, stop funding alternate energy projects. These projects cost as much as five times what traditional sources of electricity cost and, with the exception of geo-thermal, are environmentally damaging too. If a project is economically viable and competitive, it will be proposed by business and if the Environmental Review Board wills it, the project will go ahead at no extra cost to consumers. Once a subsidy is used to initiate a project, we will be stuck with it for ever.
Now that Gordon Campbell has resigned, it is time for a fresh look at these initiatives. Let’s hope Premier Christy Clark means it when she says she wants input from citizens.
Bob Reid
Vernon
