Media Release
For Immediate Release April 5, 2005
( PDF,
428kb)
Environment groups ask BC Court to halt Duke Point project
Vancouver – A coalition of BC Hydro environmental
groups is asking the BC Court of
Appeal to halt construction of a gas-fired power plant on
Vancouver Island.
In the same proceeding, an a coalition of heavy industrial
electricity users also will file an
application for leave to appeal the BC Utilities Commission
decision to approve BC
Hydro’s 2004 electricity purchase agreement with Duke
Point Power Limited.
The GSX Concerned Citizen Coalition (GSXCCC), the BC Sustainable
Energy
Association (BCSEA) and the Society Promoting Environmental
Conservation (SPEC)
say that the 265 MW gas-fired generation plant at Duke Point
near Nanaimo commits
BC Hydro to fossil fuel-based electricity generation rather
than clean energy projects.
“
BC Hydro’s plan to commit to more gas-fired electricity
essentially would stifle any
serious commitment to non-polluting, sustainable energy,” said
GSXCCC president Tom
Hackney. “Gas-fired electricity is not the best way
to a secure electricity supply for
Vancouver Island. This plant would expose consumers to volatile
gas prices for the next
25 years, and it would cost ratepayers $35 million per year
whether it runs or not.”
“
Canada's One Tonne Challenge asks each of Vancouver Island’s
750,000 residents to
reduce their annual greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne,” noted
BCSEA president
Guy Dauncey. “The Duke Point plant would increase it
by one tonne—exactly the wrong
direction. We should be developing green, sustainable energy,
not dirty brown energy.”
SPEC executive director Karen Wristen believes that the
project makes no sense in a
post-Kyoto world. “Decision-makers at every level need
to look seriously at incorporating
our nation commitment to greenhouse gas reduction when they
review projects, and to
consider the long-term implications of power generation methods.”
The Duke Point plant would release some 850,000 tonnes
of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere every year – as much 180,000 cars – and
increase BC’s total annual
emissions by one percent. It also would harm local air quality,
affecting residents’ health.
The BC Utilities Commission’s decision to approve
the electricity purchase agreement
was issued 17 February, one day after the Kyoto Protocol
entered into legal force
around the world. Under the Protocol, Canada is committed
to reducing its greenhouse
gas emissions by six percent below 1990 levels by the period
of 2008 to 2012.
The joint application by GSXCCC, BC SEA, and SPEC claims
there is a “reasonable
apprehension of bias” in the way the Utilities Commission
reviewed the Duke Point
electricity purchase agreement. Specifically, claim sttates
that the BCUC panel made up
its mind to approve the plant before having heard all the
evidence in the review.
Parties will gather at the provincial court house on Wednesday,
6 April at 800 Smithe
Street, Vancouver, at 9:30 a.m., when the motion for leave
to appeal will be heard.
For more information, contact:
Thomas Hackney, GSXCCC | Guy Dauncey, BC SEA | Karen Wristen,
SPEC
(250) 381-4463 | (250) 881-1304 | (604) 736-7732
|
