With Pitt River hydro plans stopped, what now?

Matthew Burrows in the Georgia Straight looks at plans some are making to introduce proposals for other private hydro operations. He quotes BC Liberal Randy Hawes:

Despite its sudden withdrawal in the legislature on March 31, B.C. Liberal whip Randy Hawes says he still plans to introduce his motion supporting independent power producers.

“It is going to get introduced, I would expect,” Hawes, a two-term Maple Ridge–Mission MLA, told the Georgia Straight by phone from Victoria that same day. “I haven’t got a date for you. It might be two weeks or it might be four weeks.”

and John Calvert of SFU:

SFU associate professor John Calvert, author of Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia (Fernwood, 2007), argues that B.C. Hydro’s large public revenue stream, combined with 20-year fixed-term power-purchase agreements, is being used as “collateral” by the smaller private producers to borrow money for getting the projects off the ground.

“Then they build the power plant,” Calvert told the Straight. “So when the water licence expires in 40 years, what does the government do? It is likely to renew it, because otherwise they are going to have to tell the company that owns the land and the power plant to shut everything down. I think it is very unlikely that future governments would be in a position to do that.”

Complete article