The Editor,
There has been a great deal of discussion about closing Burrard Thermal. Port Moody Coun. Rick Glumac recently made a good presentation explaining the folly of such a move. BC Liberal MLA Linda Reimer responded that her government is looking out for taxpayers by eliminating a $14-million annual cost. Ms. Reimer appeared concerned about the health of our citizenry regarding GHG emissions.
I would like Ms. Reimer to justify these statements in light of recent approval by her government of the Narrows Inlet private power project on the Sunshine Coast. This project alone will put BC Hydro in debt by $10 million per year, every year, for the next 25 years.
The taxpayer is subsidizing profits for out-of-province private companies by way of a 28% increase in hydro rates required to pay above market value for this power. This power cannot be made when we need it most in the winter because the rivers and lakes that supply them are low in level or frozen solid.
There are no such concerns with Burrard Thermal. It is paid for. It is close to us. It is owned by the taxpayers. The cost of operation is a fraction of private power. Any "profit" is ours.
With recent upgrades, health issues are minimal, even if used for more than just standby. And Burrard Thermal burns our own natural gas that does not need to be liquefied to get it here.
Why does Ms. Reimer say it's OK to burn natural gas here to make electricity to liquefy it, put it on a diesel fuel-burning tanker, export it to a far-away place for low profit, and then burn it there? This is very much an Abbott and Costello "who's on first" argument.
The BC Liberal government is not listening to engineers and professionals in the field. It is acting the same as our federal Conservative government, which has been actively muzzling public comment from our scientific community on so many issues only because comments may affect profit margins.
Ken Holowanky, Coquitlam
'NOT PREPARED'
The Editor,
In late 2012, BC Hydro was warned that it was "not adequately prepared to react, respond and recover from a widespread catastrophic event such as an earthquake." The BC Liberal government's planned closure of Burrard Thermal threatens to negate many of the improvements that have been made since then and to put us back in an even more precarious position than we were a few years ago.
Burrard Thermal is the kind of backup we need to have in our backyard so we don't find ourselves devastated after a major earthquake. By closing the plant, the government is asking us all to just keep our fingers crossed that nothing happens to isolate us from our regular power sources in the Interior. It is asking us to take a gamble, even though the odds say we wouldn't be able to keep power flowing to our homes, not to mention places like hospitals, in case of disaster.
The government needs to keep Burrard Thermal available. The stakes are too high for us to see it dismantled.
David Black, President, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union Local 378
