SPEC News Release

SPEC Reacts to Site C Announcement

April 22, 2010
Although the site-C project is being promoted as clean energy there are some significant problems with the plan.

The project will flood important wildlife habitat and some of the most productive farmland in BC. Although hydroelectricity can have fewer greenhouse gas emissions than other forms of electrical production there are still significant emissions associated with this project. Not only will the construction emit greenhouse gases, but after construction there will be a release of Nitrogen, a potent greenhouse gas, because of the anaerobic decay in the flooded environment. It has been estimated that the project will result in net emissions of 146,730 tonnes of CO2 eq per year.

The justification of the project is also questionable. Evidence suggests that BC is already energy self-sufficient. Although we do import electricity this is primarily because of financial benefits and treaty obligations. We already could generate enough electricity to meet our own needs.

We also have not done enough to reduce our electrical consumption in this province. We have seen examples of individuals and businesses reducing their consumption by 30-70 percent though free and low cost projects. If we could get a larger percentage of the province to adopt these same measures we would have plenty of "clean" power to export to our neighbours.


Rob Baxter, MBA
SPEC Director
Principal, Vancouver Renewable Energy
Local - Democratic - Clean Energy