November 30, 2008
Hydro awash in independent green power bids
By Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
November 29, 2008
 Independent power producers receive green bids, including for wind-generated power. (Xantrex handout) |
Independent power producers are offering BC Hydro enough power in response to a new green-energy call to light every home in the province -- at least on paper.
Hydro reported Friday that it has received proposals for 17,000 gigawatt hours of electricity -- primarily small hydro and wind -- in response to its clean call, which closed this week.
That's equivalent to a third of Hydro's annual output -- the amount of power consumed each year by the Crown corporation's residential customers.
Preliminary tallies from the call, which closed Tuesday, show Hydro received bids from 43 proponents for a total of 68 projects.
It's the biggest amount of electricity ever bid to Hydro by the independents, and it includes several comparatively large-scale projects, including an offshore wind farm and a 17-stream run-of-river hydro network in Bute Inlet.
In total, there are 45 small hydro projects and 19 wind projects, with each sector offering more than 8,000 gigawatt hours.
The remaining four proposals include two for waste heat, one biogas and one biomass project.
Hydro intends to accept only 5,000 gigawatt hours. Hydro is mandated by the province to make B.C. electricity self-sufficient by 2016 -- but plans include conservation measures to cut consumption and enhancements to its network of large-scale heritage assets.
The Independent Power Producers Association of B.C. has speculated that bidders will be pricing their electricity at an average price above $90 per megawatt -- slightly more than Hydro's cost for delivered power from its own, newly refurbished Aberfeldie generating station.
However, Hydro executive vice-president Bev Van Ruyven noted that the clean call did not require fixed-price bids, leaving room for Hydro to dicker for the lowest possible prices on the bids it eventually accepts.
"We think it can help us gain additional value for our ratepayers," she said.
Van Ruyven described the large volume of bids as "a really robust response to a competitive process."
Van Ruyven hopes the fact that not all bids will be accepted "will make everybody sharpen their pencils knowing that they are in with a whole bunch of people, and that we are not going to be awarding 68 contracts."
Attrition rates on past calls have run at about a third of accepted bids, and Hydro will build in a 30-per-cent attrition rate on this call as well.
Hydro did not identify bidders, but some have come forward on their own.
Donald McInnes, CEO of Plutonic Power, suspects his company will emerge as the single largest bidder with roughly 3,500 gigawatt hours of total power -- including three run-of-river facilities in Toba Inlet, and 17 in Bute Inlet.
McInnes believes projects offering large accumulations of power will win Hydro's favor.
"There are 35 run-of-river plants operating today, and the average size of those is only 10 megawatts. If the goal is self-sufficiency by 2016, there is no way way for the utility to get there 10 megawatts at a time," McInnes said in an interview.
NaiKun Wind Energy Group has bid 396 megawatts of wind power, enough to light 130,000 homes, via offshore projects east of the Queen Charlotte Islands
Offshore wind turbines are more costly to install, but NaiKun president and CEO Paul Taylor expects less competition for space on B.C.'s constrained transmission grid because most wind projects are landlocked in the northeastern corner of the province.
"There is no shortage of quality generation available for the province to develop over the next decade or so. I think the real challenge is going to be the transmission system rather than the sources and type of generation that's available," Taylor said in an interview.
"Cost is one factor but pure access is the other. Our project has very few constraints plugging into the system."
He said NaiKun is not interested in direct exports of electricity and sees BC Hydro, not a foreign buyer, as its sole customer.
Finavera Renewables announced earlier this week a memorandum of understanding with GE Energy Financial Services for financing of up to 295 megawatts of wind power in the northeast. Projected cost of the projects is $800 million.
Finavera CEO Jason Bak believes secure funding is a competitive advantage.
"People are still submitting bids. But the lack of financing available in the market, we think, weighs things more towards our end of the spectrum -- mature projects with major companies and big balance sheets. I think that's going to be a strong differentiator for Hydro."
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Ryan River project taking comments
By Jesse Ferreras
Whistler Pique Newsmagazine
30-Nov-2008
British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office is now taking comments about a proposed run-of-river hydro project to be located north of the Village of Pemberton.
The Ryan River Hydro Project is a joint venture between Ryan River Power Inc. and Regional Power Inc., a Toronto-based subsidiary of Manulife Financial that operates six hydro plants throughout Canada.
The Ryan River plant, to be located about 18 km northwest of Pemberton, is a 145-megawatt project that seeks to use flows from the river of up to 45 cubic metres per second so that it can generate electricity at a powerhouse.
It will utilize a 26.5 km transmission line and link the project to a substation near the intersection of Rutherford Creek and the Green River, according to the project’s terms of reference.
It aims to provide “clean, alternative” energy and help the province offset its use of energy imported from places like Alberta and the United States.
All water diverted for generating power will be returned to the Ryan River below the powerhouse’s location, according to the description. Developers expect to locate the powerhouse on the southwest side of the Ryan River, located just a short distance from a bridge crossing that was washed out in Pemberton’s 2003 flood.
The river has to be examined more deeply before the project’s proponents can decide how to divert the river’s flows through the powerhouse, according to a project description from Feb. 14.
The powerhouse will have three to five turbine-generator units and other equipment commonly found in hydroelectric facilities. Developers also hope to install a flood protection berm, tailrace and spawning channel with salmonid ponds.
The project’s terms of reference note that it is expected to cause “unavoidable” fish habitat losses, a scenario that has necessitated a Fisheries Act Authorization and a review process through the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
Regional Power Inc. hopes to commission the project in the spring of 2012, subject to approval from the EAO, which ensures that major projects are developed in a “sustainable manner,” according to its website.
Though the project has just begun “officially” accepting comments, it’s already generated controversy within Pemberton and elsewhere. Signs along Pemberton Meadows Road implore people to stop the project.
Comments can be submitted until midnight on Dec. 15 by mail to Project Assessment Director Derek Griffin or by e-mail to eaoinfo@gov.bc.ca.
There will be an open house for the project on Thursday, Dec. 4 at the Old Pemberton Community Centre from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. At 7:30 p.m. the EAO will offer a presentation on the assessment process and the project’s proponent will be present.
Several calls to Regional Power Inc. for information on the project were not returned.
The Ryan River project at the Environmental Assessment Office
Upper Pitt River hydro projects not dead
COMMENT: Run of River Power Inc. had its hopes dashed by BC's Environment Minister Barry Penner earlier this year when he stated that the Upper Pitt Projects would not be allowed to proceed with the proposed transmission line routing through Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. See article here: B.C. government rejects Pitt power project
But it didn't stop the company. In October, it submitted an application to the government for an alternative route through the park to build a transmission line to the Cheekye Substation near Squamish. And it has pitched the project into BC Hydro's Clean Power Call.
Third Quarter Report
Run of River Power
25-Nov-2008
Upper Pitt River Power Project
The Company continued feasibility and permitting work in the Upper Pitt
River and, subsequent to the end of the third quarter, submitted a proposal
for the Upper Pitt River Power Project into BC Hydro's 2008 Clean Power Call.
The cluster includes seven low impact run-of-river hydropower projects on
eight tributaries of the Upper Pitt River, located at the North end of Pitt
Lake approximately 35 km from Pitt Meadows, BC.
The Upper Pitt River Power Project will have a combined installed plant
capacity of 155 MW and will connect to BC Hydro's grid at the Cheekye
Substation, located just north of Squamish BC. A Feasibility Interconnection
Study Application for connection to the grid was submitted to the British
Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) on October 17, 2008 that incorporates an alternate transmission route from the original proposed for this project.
Run of River Power, CNW Newswire, 28-Nov-2008
$4 billion power project announced
By Paul Rudan
Campbell River Mirror
November 25, 2008
Plutonic Power Corporation and GE Energy Financial Services have submitted an unprecedented $4 billion plan to BC Hydro to build run-of-the-river power projects on the mainland coast east of Campbell River.
Plutonic announced the initiative Tuesday, calling it the largest single private sector hydroelectric generation investment in Canadian history.
"Today's submission is the culmination of four years of planning, engineering, consultation, permitting and licensing," said Plutonic Vice-Chair and CEO Donald McInnes in a news release. "We are grateful to our First Nations partners, and the cities of Powell River and Campbell River for supporting our bids."
The bid is in response to BC Hydro's "Clean Power Call" in June. Hydro wants 5,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year in order to help make B.C. electricity self-sufficient by 2016.
This must also be accomplished using 90 per cent clean domestic generation sources.
Plutonic and GE Financial have already teamed up to build the $600 million run-of-the-river power project in Toba Inlet, along East Toba River and Montrose Creek.
The power plants and lines are presently under construction and are expected to begin delivering 196 megawatts of electricity to the BC Hydro grid by mid-2010.
The new projects, proposed in the bid, would be situated in the Upper Toba Valley and in Bute Inlet, and would cost an estimated $4 billion. Once completed, they would produce 1,200 megawatts of electricity – enough energy to power 330,000 homes.
Funding for the project would come from GE Financial, an American-based firm which could also secure loans for financing. Both Plutonic (PCC: TSX) and GE (NYSE: GE) are publicly traded companies.
BC Hydro is expected to announce the winning bids between next April and June.
Plutonic is currently in negotiations with the Campbell River-based Homalco Indian Band whose traditional territory lies within Bute Inlet. An agreement would be required to move ahead with the projects in Bute Inlet.
The company has already signed working and financial benefit agreements with three other First Nations bands for the projects in Toba Inlet.
"These projects will provide long-term economic and social benefits to these First Nations and communities in addition to providing BC Hydro with clean electricity," said McInnes.
The Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project
The Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project, with a generation capacity of approximately 166 megawatts, consists of three generation facilities that will connect to the BC Hydro grid through a 230- kilovolt line already under construction for the Plutonic Power and GE Energy Financial Services East Toba River and Montrose Creek run-of-river project. The Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project is expected to be permitted by the end of the second quarter in 2009. The project will be able to take advantage of infrastructure already in place in the Toba Valley.
The Bute Inlet Project
The Bute Inlet Project, with generation capacity of approximately 1,027 megawatts, consists of 17 facility sites in three areas: the Homathko, Southgate and Orford Rivers. The Bute Projects have been registered with both provincial and federal permitting authorities. A formal application for an environmental assessment certificate is expected to be submitted in late 2009.
November 28, 2008
Enbridge brings experts to Burns Lake to inform locals
Lake District News (Burns Lake)
November 25, 2008 11:00 PM
 The proposed pipeline route for the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project will pass through the Burns Lake area. Two twin lines will be built along the route. Over 80 people turned out for the company’s open house in Burns Lake on Nov. 17. Officials answered questions on how the route will impact local property owners, emphasizing cooperation to get their approval of right-of-ways and easements. Enbridge also tried to ease fears of mountain bike park members by adjusting the route so that it goes around the bike park and not through it. |
Enbridge held an open house on Nov. 17 at College of New Caledonia (CNC) as part of its efforts to let the public know what is going on with its Northern Gateway pipeline project.
Several dozen people attended the open house, which was held from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm to allow people flexibility in attending the information session, and a dozen Northern Gateway engineers, environmental experts, and communications people were on hand to answer people’s questions.
Enbridge is proposing to build two pipelines from an area north of Edmonton to Kitimat, a distance of 1170 km.
The west line, 36 inches in diameter, will carry an average of 525,000 barrels of petroleum a day from near Edmonton to Kitimat.
The east line, 20 inches in diameter, will transport an average of 193,000 barrels of condensate a day from Kitimat to near Edmonton [condensate is a light oil used to thin heavier petroleum products for pipeline transport].
The east and west lines would be built inside a 25-metre right-of-way corridor, and buried one metre beneath the ground.
Enbridge officials estimated that approximately 85 people came to the CNC open house to ask questions, look at maps, and examine the various pipeline display boards that were liberally spread around the room, including several boards with lists of social and environmental topics, asking, “Is your concern listed here?”.
“We had some open houses last week in Alberta, where maybe a dozen people turned out. But here in Burns Lake, more people than we expected came out, and they came prepared, having done their research, and they asked some tough questions,” commented consultant Kevin Brown, who is helping Enbridge stage its open houses.
A dozen Lakes District residents who were concerned about the pipeline going through their properties and/or the Burns Lake Mountain Bike Park (BLMBP) had met earlier with Enbridge representatives on Nov. 12.
If regulatory approval is granted, Enbridge needs to obtain right-of-way or easement agreements with landowners along its 25-metre right-of-way corridor for the pipeline route, and arrange for financial compensation to those property owners for use of their land.
Neil Sweeney, Northern Gateway communications director, said, “We want to work with property owners, to try to come to arrangements with them; we want people’s cooperation; we don’t want to be fighting with them.”
Sweeney, asked what would happen if Enbridge could not sign right of way/easement agreements with property owners, said, “The National Energy Board would then come into the picture, and they would handle the expropriation process. But, we don’t want it to come to that. We want to make agreements with property owners, whose land the pipeline crosses.
Also, it will be much easier for Enbridge to obtain regulatory approval from the National Energy Board for the project, if we have negotiated easement/right of way agreements with property owners, rather than being in conflict with them.”
Another concern dealt with at the meeting was the impact of the proposed pipeline on the BLMBP trails.
Burns Lake Mountain Bike Association (BLMBA) members Kevin Derksen, Dawn Stronstad, and Pat and Patti Dube attended the open house. BLMBA members have been a driving force behind the design and construction of the BLMBP.
Derksen and Pat Dube commented, “As a result of our concerns, Northern Gateway seems willing to re-align part of its route through the Burns Lake area, so it goes around - rather than through - the mountain bike park.” [see map - yellow line: proposed pipeline route; red line: altered pipeline route, around mountain bike park].
Enbridge engineer Ray Doering, commenting on the diversion of the pipeline route around the BLMBP, said, “Yes, the alternate route around the mountain bike park is something that we’re considering to reduce the impact on local areas.”
Derksen said that further trails are planned to be built
in 2009, around Boer Mountain north and east of the present trail system, and that Northern Gateway is aware of the BLMBA’s plans.
As for Northern Gateway’s impact on those proposed bike park trails, Doering stated, “What we would do, is come in, build our pipeline under those trails, and then restore the trails to their exact state prior to pipeline work in those areas, at Northern Gateway’s expense.”
Pump stations to control the flow of petroleum and condensate will be built at 100-km intervals along the pipeline route; they will be automated stations, monitored 24/7 at a computer facility in Edmonton, but Northern Gateway plans to have teams of workers stationed along the route in case something happens to the pump stations or the pipeline.
“We’re looking at locating a pump station in the Burns Lake area, and such a station will have to be built close to the BC Hydro transmission lines that cross just north of Burns Lake, as the pump station will be operated with electrical power, rather than generators, to ease the impact on the environment,” commented Doering.
“We plan to be back in the Lakes District many times over the next few years for public meetings like this, as we want to keep the community and interested stakeholders totally informed throughout the process, as we undergo the environmental assessment process,” said Brown.
Northern Gateway’s expects to submit its application for review by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency sometime in 2009.
Following the submission, the National Energy Board (NEB)-led panel will hold public hearings along the proposed Northern Gateway route.
In addition, it is expected that the NEB will conduct community open houses in advance of public hearings, which will provide an opportunity for aboriginal groups, stakeholders and individuals to express their opinions directly to the NEB.
Because the pipeline crosses provincial boundaries, the NEB will regulate the Northern Gateway pipeline throughout its life.
If the project receives regulatory approval, construction is expected to begin in 2012, and pipeline operations will start up sometime in late 2014 or 2015.
Enbridge Northern Gateway Open House Schedule
Miller Creek IPP questioned
Megan Grittani-Livingston
Whistler Question
November 27, 2008
Despite initial uncertainties, comptroller felt comfortable approving project
Biologists working for the B.C. Ministry of Environment expressed serious concerns about the impact of the Miller Creek hydro project eight years ago while the run-of-river project was being reviewed for its water licence. But their fears were overruled as the province’s comptroller of water rights felt the amount of uncertainty was small enough to proceed with a licence, albeit one accompanied by a five-year monitoring period.
The dialogue about the 33-megawatt Miller Creek Hydroelectric Station reopened recently after the release of emails about the project sent between scientists working for the Ministry of Environment. The messages, primarily from the early part of the decade, were obtained by Gwen Barlee of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee in a Freedom of Information request, as previously reported in The Question.
In an email from September 2000, Marvin Rosenau, then a referral biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Section of the Ministry of Environment, expressed concerns about the impacts independent power projects (IPPs) could have on aquatic resources, pointing to what he viewed as a lack of resources for agencies and proponents to properly review the issues.
Now an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Rosenau said in a recent interview that he felt uncomfortable with the amount of water that would be diverted from Miller Creek and the lack of historical data to back up decision-making. He said there was a sense of frustration among some of the Ministry scientists that their concerns were going unheard.
“At that time (1999 and 2000), we didn’t have much information to go on, and so I guess we just felt decisions were made without a complete data set,” Rosenau said. “That doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be right even with a lot more information. But we were just pretty uncomfortable with where it was going.”
He said September 2007’s dewatering incident, which saw water levels dip quite low for about three hours because of a control failure, “basically was an empirical example of some of the things we were worried about.”
Current environmental consultant and conservation biologist Pamela Zevit worked for the Ministry of Environment from 1994 to 2004, and she was assigned to coordinate the review of the Miller Creek project in 1999 and 2000, working with specialists such as Rosenau to ask the necessary questions. Zevit said she felt the Miller Creek project predated full guidelines and policies for IPPs, so the government scientists were flying by the seat of their pants in terms of what they had to find out.
She said the government scientists were looking for more information about flow impacts on food and nutrients, the consequences of potential dewatering, what the project’s infrastructure components would do for sensitive ecosystems and wildlife, whether long-term monitoring would take place and how impacts could be mitigated.
“Miller Creek does sort of exemplify a lot of the issues, and so a lot of things have now come to pass in the last few years that are guiding these processes and making them a lot more stringent — but it’s still going to boil down to, ‘Is this the right project, the place for it, (and) what are the trade-offs you’re willing to make?’” Zevit said.
Jim Mattison, the comptroller of water rights for the past 10 years, said he was satisfied that enough studies had been conducted and information collected to put a plant in at Miller Creek. While he said he agreed with the biologists’ concerns about the lack of information to a certain extent, he felt “they just didn’t have anything substantiated.”
“I thought the uncertainty was small enough that we could make this decision and then monitor more to see if we had it quite right,” Mattison said, adding, “None of the decisions are totally without risk.”
Mattison included a five-year environmental monitoring period in the Miller Creek licence. He said that a report produced at the end of that period proved to him there has been relatively little change.
Mattison said he doesn’t think problems such as the dewatering incident can be directly linked with the biologists’ initial concerns.
“I don’t think those are evidence that the decision in 2000 was bad. I think they’re operational problems, and they’ve been fixed,” he said.
A Conservation Officer Service investigation is still probing the incident and whether fish were killed. But Epcor, the company that took over the plant after the licence was issued and opened it for commercial operation in 2003, has already acted to improve communications, mechanical and electrical systems, personnel, training, computer logic and parameters and procedures, Epcor Director of Environment Michael Smith said.
“We took the events of last year actually very seriously,” Smith said. He said the company put a team together to make sure everything at Miller Creek “was up to an Epcor standard — what happened was just as unacceptable to us and our organization as it was to the community and the people of B.C.”
Jay Shukin, Epcor’s manager of public and government affairs for B.C., said the Miller Creek project has been meeting the standards set by the licence terms — including the regulated in-stream flow rates — and the company has opted to commit to an extended period of environmental monitoring beyond the provincially mandated initial five-year phase.
The B.C. environmental monitoring firm Ecofish plans to at the overall health of the stream and collect statistical data that scientists can use, Smith said.
“We’re very hopeful and confident that what it’s going to show is that overall the project isn’t making any negative environmental impact,” he said.
Allen McEwan, whose property borders on the lower part of the creek, said he’s been quite pleased with Epcor’s communications and improvements.
“They’ve done their best to explain (the low-water event) to us in some detail, (and) it would appear that they’ve done an awful lot of work to make sure it never happens again,” McEwan said.
While he said he shares many of the concerns raised by scientists such as Rosenau and Zevit as applied to IPPs in general, Miller Creek’s fisheries value had been compromised before the plant, and Epcor is addressing the issue of an information deficit through its monitoring program.
Veronica Woodruff, a director of Stewardship Pemberton, said she speaks first for the concerns of fish, since that’s her passion, and she feels the Miller Creek project might not have been “one of the better projects to start with.”
But she’s been impressed with Epcor’s communications with residents and changes to make sure the possibility of another dewatering event is low.
“I feel right now that Epcor has really done their duty in regards to that project,” she said.
mlivingston@whistlerquestion.com
© Copyright 2008, Whistler Question
Approval Process for Enbridge Gateway Flawed: BC First Nations
First Nations Summit
Nov 28, 2008
MORICETOWN, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 28, 2008) - A resolution, passed at today's First Nations Summit meeting in Vancouver, calls on the federal government to establish an independent First Nations Review Process for Enbridge's Northern Gateway project.
The resolution follows a November 6 gathering where Hereditary Chiefs, Elected Chiefs and representatives from six First Nations shared concerns about the Gateway pipeline and coastal tanker traffic. They agreed that current consultation attempts by the federal government and Enbridge do not meet a standard of genuine engagement with First Nations.
"Regulators are not respecting the fact that we have a responsibility to protect our ancestral territories, rights, title and interests," says David de Wit, Natural Resources Manager at the Office of the Wet'suwet'en. "Gateway is a major project with significant risks. Yet the federal government is advancing a decision-making process for Gateway without any provision for addressing Aboriginal Rights and Title. This is unacceptable."
The Northern Gateway project proposes to move bitumen from Alberta's tar sands, across Northern British Columbia, en route to markets in the US and Asia.
Although the pipeline is slated to undergo a Joint Review Panel (JRP) process beginning in early 2009, the JRP does not account for risks from coastal tanker traffic and tar sands expansion that would follow pipeline construction. Moreover, the JRP process was developed without meaningful Aboriginal consultation; it is currently designed to grant approvals irrespective of potential harms in First Nation communities.
"The Haida Nation will certainly not accept tanker traffic where we would bear the burden of risk and oil spills in our waters. Our livelihoods would be jeopardized," says Robert Davis, Representative of the Council of the Haida Nation. "Many of our neighbour Nations are equally concerned about impacts on their lands and water. We are willing to stand united to protect our waters."
Today's First Nations Summit resolution, tabled by the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation, offers a constructive means of addressing gaps in the Gateway JRP. An independent First Nations Review Process would allow affected communities to genuinely evaluate risks and benefits and determine whether or not these are acceptable.
"Our communities are deeply concerned about the environmental impacts of the Gateway project," says Larry Nooski, Chief of the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation. "We also have a constitutional right to make decisions based on independent information about risks and benefits. Until such assessments take place, no-one has the authority to make commitments on our behalf."
"Our position is simple," says Anne Marie Sam, a councilor with the Nak'azdli First Nation. "We won't accept a decision-making process that undermines our rights."
For more information, please contact
Office of the Wet'suwet'en
David de Wit
(250) 847-3630
or
Nadleh Whut'en First Nation
Larry Nooski
(250) 613-7102
or
Council of the Haida Nation
Robert Davis
(250) 626-7125
or
Nak'azdli First Nation
Anne Marie Sam
(250) 649-8284
November 27, 2008
Emerson named CEO of B.C. Transmission Corp.
COMMENT: In this one week alone, the Globe and Mail has three items announcing new appointments for former federal minister and Canfor CEO, David Emerson. Two may be largely honorary, done for the corporate boasting rights, but the BCTC appointment indicates the expanded role transmission (budgets, projects, and electricity movement) will be playing in BC.
Another interesting factor that will have an impact on BCTC and the business it conducts, as well as on BC Hydro and the power it presently is well positioned to buy and sell, is the Montana Alberta Tie Line.
If an Alberta merchant power generator wants to sell to a US customer, it has to move its power through British Columbia or to a much lesser extent, through Saskatchewan. There is 1200 MW of transmission capacity between AB and BC. There is 150 MW between AB and SK, and that energy has a many more miles to travel before it finds a sizable US market.
The Montana Alberta Tie Line (MATL) is a proposed new 300 MW, 230 kV, international power line which would run from Lethbridge to Great Falls, MT. Once in the Montana grid, the power is available to the entire western North America market for which BCTC currently provides the primary gateway.
With a Montana routing for Alberta power opened up, one scenario for BC Hydro is a realignment of the price and availability of surplus Alberta energy that BC Hydro has purchased and resold, or used instead of BC-generated hydro power, for many years.
As of a week ago, the MATL had all of its Canadian and US approvals in place. But these are changing and uncertain times. The MATL, purely a merchant venture, relies on the commitment of users for its financial underpinnings, and some of those expressions of interest may not be expressed with quite as much certainty at the end of 2008 as they were months ago. If the MATL does start construction, David Emerson will have a new factor to consider.
Emerson named CEO of B.C. Transmission Corp.
Canadian PressGlobe and Mail
November 26, 2008
Vancouver -- Former federal cabinet minister David Emerson has been named CEO and board chair of B.C. Transmission Corp., which works in tandem with British Columbia Hydro in delivering electricity across the province.
He replaces departing chair Bob Reid and CEO Jane Peverett.
Mr. Emerson served in several federal cabinet posts, including Foreign Affairs and International Trade before deciding not to run again in the October federal election.
He says B.C. is already a North American leader in clean energy generation and transmission and he's looking forward to working with BC Hydro to develop the province's energy potential.
The Honourable David Emerson, P.C.
Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLPGlobe and Mail
November 24, 2008
Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP, one of Canada's leading law firms, welcomes The Honourable David Emerson, P.C., formerly Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the firm as Senior Advisor.
Mr. Emerson obtained his Doctorate in Economics from Queen's University. Nationally he has held senior positions that include Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Industry, Minister of International Trade and Minister for Pacific Gateway and Vancouver - Whistler Olympics. In British Columbia he was the Province's Deputy Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister to the Premier and later President of the British Columbia Trade Development Corporation. He has also served in leadership roles in the private sector, including as President and CEO of Canfor Corporation, the first President and CEO of the Vancouver International Airport Authority and Chairman and CEO of Canadian Western Bank.
Mr. Emerson has been deeply involved in the national public policy agenda, including economic policy, globalization and trade policy, transportation and logistics. In the private sector, he has undertaken the development of competitive global value chains and has been involved in strategically motivated financial restructurings, project financing and public/private partnership initiatives. He will assist Farris' clients in meeting today's practical demands and opportunities, provincially, nationally and internationally.
CAI lands Emerson
Andrew WillisGlobe and Mail
November 24, 2008
CAI Capital Management landed former federal Cabinet Minister David Emerson on Monday as a senior adviser to the $1.3-billion private equity fund.
CAI, a major player in infrastructure, added to its blue-chip roster by adding the former minister of foreign affairs and international trade. A senior member of both Liberal and Conservative cabinets, the Vancouver-based Mr. Emerson was also president and CEO of lumber company Canfor.
CAI was founded in 1989 by former Alcan CEO David Culver and veterans of Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers. Tracey McVicar, who heads CAI's Western Canadian operations in Vancouver, said: “Mr. Emerson's deep experience in international trade and his involvement with public/private partnerships will be of inestimable value to our firm in these challenging times.”
Last year, CAI was a central player in the $3.5-billion buyout of oil fields services firm CCS income Fund, one of the larger private equity takeovers done in 2007.
November 25, 2008
Green power bids flooding in to BC Hydro
Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Power corporation could receive offers of five times the electricity sought
Independent producers are expecting to flood BC Hydro with offers of green electricity by the time the 2008 call for clean power closes today.
BC Hydro could be looking at five times the 5,000 gigawatt hours of new green power it was seeking when it opened the call process earlier this year -- and the independents are speculating that the bid price for each new megawatt hour of power will be substantially higher than the last call in 2006.
The call has attracted criticism from independent power opponents who want Hydro to develop all new sources of electricity in the province and ensure that all electricity generation in the province is held by the Crown.
Meanwhile, Independent Power Producers association of British Columbia president Steve Davis described the call as competitive, saying the sheer volume of interest guarantees that Hydro's customers -- the people of B.C. -- are getting the best price on new sources of electricity.
"It's certainly competitive, 169 projects registered [earlier this year] to bid," Davis said in an interview. "BC Hydro's target is 5,000 gigawatt hours [but] I think they will receive something in the order of 25,000 gigawatt hours."
Run of river hydro and wind power projects are expected to comprise the bulk of the bids.
Davis said many of those in the bidding will come away disappointed, after months and even years of preparatory work.
"If we presume 100 of them are going to bid I'm still expecting a four to five times over-subscription ratio.
"Having been a bidder, I can say the last thing you want to do is price it just a little too high, and get nothing at all."
One certainty is that the price Hydro accepts will be substantially higher than the last call, which came in 2006.
Davis notes that Hydro was offering $55 per megawatt hour in 2003, which works out to 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and paid an average $74 per megawatt hour in the last green call, in 2006.
"I'm not sure this time the prices aren't going to be closer to the $90s," Davis said, noting that the higher price is a reflection of higher construction and financing costs, not profiteering by the independents.
"If somebody is pricing too high, to hope to make too much money, they simply will not get selected."
At present, independents annually produce about 1,000 megawatt hours -- nine per cent of the total generating capacity of the BC Hydro system.
BC Hydro is investing in refurbishing its own aging network of heritage hydroelectric facilities.
It recently spent $95 million to upgrade the 86-year-old Aberfeldie generating station near Cranbrook.
Hydro documents show the electricity from refurbished Aberfeldie will cost $78 per megawatt hour.
"Critics of the government's energy policy -- public power proponents, environmental groups, first nations -- won't be surprised by the onslaught of bids for the upcoming energy call," said Melissa Davis of BC Citizens for Public Power.
Melissa Davis, no relation to Steve Davis, said in an e-mail to The Sun that the government and private power companies seem to be "racing against the clock" to sign as many energy purchase agreements as possible before the May 2009 provincial election.
"The government must be counting on a lot of votes from the IPP sector. Because I doubt they'll get much support from British Columbians who care about the environment, or from British Columbians who oppose the privatization of our public services, or from British Columbians living on low or fixed incomes who won't be able to afford the two-tiered hydro rates and outrageous increases that are subsidizing private power."
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
BC Hydro's 2008 Clean Power Call
November 22, 2008
Wind, water, tide and garbage will power Van Isle
COMMENT: Not. This Pollyana-ish article may have a place in a marketing brochure, but it doesn't belong anywhere else. The Green Island Energy garbage burning plant is still a pipe dream, after six years now of promotion by its backers. In its first iteration, the pop singer Jewel provided funding and her family connections to the project, joining Gordon Campbell for a photo-op. It's difficult to say who looks sillier.
The Green Island project was originally pitched as a wood waste burning generation plant. When challenged as to where all this wood waste would come from, the company said it would barge it in from the entire west coast of North America, from California to Alaska. Nothing happened. Then the project re-emerged pitching itself to the then Greater Vancouver Regional District (now Metro Vancouver) as a garbage burning facility. Nothing has happened on that front, either, not unexpectedly, though Metro Vancouver has been talking about incinerating municipal waste in the Fraser Valley, and an application is now at the Environmental Assessment Office to expand the Cache Creek landfill. Green Island still talks a big story, and a mountain of construction and wood waste is apparently being stockpiled in Tahsis - not Gold River - but some of the old Bowater plant in Gold River is now a land-based fish farm.
In addition to the opposition a garbage-burning facility will face from those of us concerned about toxic emissions (drifting in all directions, including east into the Georgia Basin at times), there's the matter of a steady procession of barges crossing Georgia Strait, Haro Strait, running past Dallas Road, out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and up the stormy west coast to Gold River. That'll be popular. Victoria will stop dumping its shit in the Strait, only to have it replaced by Vancouver's garbage.
As to Finavera Renewables, and wave energy, it doesn't have anything at all off the west coast of Vancouver Island. It's a company that really doesn't have anything at all, come to think of it. Like Sea Breeze, it has funded a lot of empty promises through issuing shares, but has nearly run to the end of that road. Its share price has tanked with this global economic collapse, and its only prototype wave energy generator, named Aqua-Buoy, sank a year ago off the coast of Oregon, and is still there, on the sea bottom.
And as for wind on Vancouver Island, there is a lot of it in some places, notably on the west coast and the north end of the island. My understanding is that the wind in these locations is gusty, rather than sustained and consistent as is the northeast (cited in the article) and Alberta. Transmission is another costly challenge for wind developers on Vancouver Island, as there ain't no power lines running the necessary hundreds of kilometers out in the remote bush. Perhaps a critical mass of wind projects can cost justify transmission, but that's the sort of thing that would take co-ordination and planning, and we haven't seen any of that from any of the wind farms proposed so far.
Business Examiner
November 17, 2008
Despite the recent decline in world oil prices, the volatility of the energy market has made it clear that alternative energy sources need to be developed and encouraged. There are several proponents of alternative energy schemes on Vancouver Island.
Were bidding on an EPA (Energy Purchase Agreement) to sell power to BC Hydro, says Russ Hellberg, vice president for community and government relations for Nahwitti Wind Power Ltd. Were hoping to be up and running by the summer of 2011.
The proposed project, located northwest of Nahwitti Lake, would generate clean, renewable energy from 42 wind turbine generators.These generators stand 125 metres tall, with propeller blades that span 45 metres, each turbine capable of producing 2.5 Megawatts (MW)enough to power 250 homes.
One of the challenges we face is siting the turbines, getting them built in fairly remote locations and positioning them to take full advantage of the wind to produce maximum power, says Hellberg.
BC Hydro has initiated a call for power to Independent Power Producers (IPP) and will commission 5,000 gigawatt hours per year of clean, renewable energy using proven technologies, such as hydro and wind. There will be a competitive bidding process involving independent power producers across the province and will help many new power generating projects to be built and become
The potential of wind power will soon be demonstrated near Chetwynd, where, by the end of next year, B.C.s first commercial windmill operation is expected to generate 144 megawattsenough power to supply 34,000 homes.
Vancouver Island generates only about 25 per cent of its own power, says Steve Davis, president of the Independent Power Producers of BC. The island is uniquely suited to develop these alternative energy sources. The wide range of generation resources in the region such as rivers, oceans, wind, and wood waste allow for the development and innovation of energy technologies.
While the coastal areas are suitable for the production of wind energy and tidal/wave power, interior areas have the resources to provide run-of-river hydro projects.
One of the first alternative projects to be built is the China Creek micro-hydro plant near Port Alberni. Since it went on the BC Hydro grid in 2005 it has provided a steady six megawatts. Says Judith Sayers, Chief Councillor of Hupacasath First Nation: When the plant operates at full capacity, it generates enough power to supply electricity to all the homes in Port Alberni.
Opportunities for biomass generation also exist throughout the Island. Biomass energy derives from the burning of organic materials such as garbage or forest-iindustry by-products such as wood waste and hog fuelboth plentiful on Vancouver Island.
The island biomass project furthest along is the Gold River Power Project, begun by Green Island Energy of Vancouver in 2003. Using the existing Gold River pulp mill site, the company expects operations to begin in 2009. Phase one will see a 45 megawatt boiler burning 350,000 tons per year of wood waste.
Phase two will see a 45-MW boiler that will burn 450,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste, shipped in from Oregon and California. Financial backing has shifted since the projects inception but is still in place.
Wave technology has huge potential but, as yet, no projects have secured approval.
Finavera Renewables, based in Vancouver, is currently testing offshore power plants in Ucluelet. These consist of buoys that conduct wave energy into a turbine that produces electricity. Clusters of these AquaBuOYs are moored several kilometers offshore where the wave resource is the greatest.
The electricity is sent ashore through an undersea transmission line. The company expects this facility to produce 5 MW of power.
November 21, 2008
Storm Cat Energy bankrupt and delisted
News Release
Storm Cat Energy
Friday, 21 November 2008
Storm Cat has been advancing its coalbed methane project in the Elk Valley and until this bankruptcy, was believed to be close to a production decision.
STORM CAT ENERGY CORPORATION RECEIVES DELISTING NOTICES
FROM THE NEW YORK ALTERNEXT US LLC AND TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGES
DENVER, Colorado and CALGARY, Alberta – November 20, 2008 – Storm Cat Energy Corporation (NYSE Alternext US: SCU; TSX: SME) today reported that it has received a delisting notice from the NYSE Alternext US LLC (NYSE Alternext US) pursuant to Section 1009 of the NYSE Alternext US Company Guide. Key reasons for the delisting of the Company’s stock cited by the NYSE Alternext US include, among others, the subsidiaries of Storm Cat having filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code on November 10, 2008, its recent financial performance, and the low per share trading price of Storm Cat’s common stock for a substantial period of time, as addressed by the NYSE Alternext US Company Guide in Sections 1003(a)(i)-(iv), 1003(c)(3) and 1003(f)(v).
Separately, the Company received a notice from the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) stating that the TSX had decided to suspend trading of the Company’s common shares immediately and to delist the Company’s common shares as of the close of business on December 18, 2008. The delisting was imposed due to similar reasons cited by the NYSE Alternext US.
Storm Cat has a limited right to appeal the NYSE Alternext US’s decision until November 24, 2008, and is required to appeal the TSX’s decision before December 18, 2008. At present, Storm Cat has elected not to take any specific actions or responses to the NYSE Alternext US or TSX delisting notices.
News Release, Storm Cat Energy, 20-Nov-2008
November 20, 2008
Take Action to STOP CBM this Friday!
A quick phone call can help keep irresponsible oil and gas development out of Beautiful British Columbia.
Shell Canada and BP Canada wants to drill for coalbed methane in the Sacred Headwaters and the Elk Valley, but all the amazing work done by citizens together has prevented any work from being done on the ground.
A number of signs suggest the BC government, Shell and BP might just be rethinking their projects.
They've received thousands of resolutions against drilling from First Nations, municipalities, fishermen, unions and ordinary citizens in BC. They've heard from prominent Canadians, like Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and Wade Davis, Explorer in Residence at National Geographic.
So now comes the fun part!
On Friday, HUNDREDS of people across BC and Alberta will phone Gordon Campbell and let him know that we don't want CBM drilling in this province! Not anywhere in this province, not on Vancouver Island, not in the Similkameen, not in the Elk Valley or Sacred Headwaters.
Join us! It's as easy as making a quick phone call. Just pick up the phone between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, November 21st. With the amount of resistance shown to this development, Gordon Campbell will be forced to make the right decision.
Some places are too special to allow oil and gas drilling, and should be preserved as a legacy for all Canadians. Contact the Premier of British Columbia, and urge him to do the right thing and STOP irresponsible CBM development.
CALL BC Premier, Gordon Campbell: 250-387-1715
An assistant will likely answer your call.
Thanks everyone!
This message originated from the Citizens Concerned about Coalbed Methane (CCCBM) in Fernie (www.cccbm.org), but it could have as easily come from the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition (SWCC) in Hazelton (www.skeenawatershed.com) or the CCCBM-Vancouver Island in Campbell River (www.cbmvi.org), or from Princeton or Telkwa or Hudsons Hope or ...
SWCC ran this ad in the Calgary Herald in November.
Proposed power line to Lower Mainland draws intense environmental scrutiny
Route map and other links at bottom of page
Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Hydro line must be in place by 2014, officials say
The hunt for a route for a $725-million high-voltage power line to Metro Vancouver has begun in earnest, and it's a massive effort.
The British Columbia Transmission Corp. announced this week that it has formally submitted its application for an environmental certificate for a 500-kilovolt transmission line along a 255-kilometre route between Merritt and Coquitlam.
The Crown corporation wants the line in place by 2014, saying population growth in the Lower Mainland will soon drive electricity demand beyond the capacity of existing transmission lines to the B.C. Interior -- and that blackouts are likely if the line does not get built on time.
BCTC has submitted eight volumes of documents covering everything from the line's potential impact on a handful of spotted owls living east of Boston Bar to a shortage of tourist accommodation in areas along the route where numbers of migrant construction workers are concentrated.
The "Interior to Lower Mainland" line parallels an existing transmission line for more than two thirds of its length, but requires new alignment for 74 kilometers of the route.
It will also need to be widened to accommodate additional towers and wires for about 60 kilometres of the route.
The consultation phase is massive -- BCTC lists 126 federal, provincial and first nations contacts who are likely to comment and possibly raise concerns about the transmission corporation's plan for the route during a 180-day review period.
There are 30 fish species within the study area of the route, which will require 409 stream crossings and 97 road crossings. There are also 22 red- or blue-listed plant species, 11 rare and endangered bird species, two rare and endangered mammals, two rare and endangered reptiles, and four rare and endangered amphibians.
There are 60 first nations, and seven tribal councils or associations with an interest in the alignment of the route, 23 archaeological sites, 42 historic sites, and one paleological site.
BCTC senior project manager Melissa Holland is confident that the proposed route -- which includes a "thread the needle" section in a narrow Coast Mountain pass between critical habitat for spotted owls and grizzly bears -- is the one with the fewest environmental impacts.
"What we did find was a nice actual bench around the edge of the mountain where we can put the line. We wouldn't have been able to find that without hiking up and down the side of that mountain, which we did."
Gwen Farrell of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee is not so sure it's the best route.
"I'm surprised that the line will actually take away critical spotted owl habitat," Farrell said. "We are down to seven owls in the wild. I can't believe the project would even contemplate further encroaching on the habitat that's left."
Meanwhile, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said the chiefs have several concerns about the line -- not the least of which is a failure on the part of government to address the impacts first nations have suffered as a consequence of earlier transmission line construction along the route.
Phillip said the chiefs have flagged B.C.'s environmental assessment process as being "grossly deficient" and called upon Premier Gordon Campbell to work with first nations to amend the process "in a fashion that does recognize and acknowledge our aboriginal title interests."
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
  |
Interior-Lower Mainland Transmission Project Preferred Route Map here
Environmental Assessment Office file on ILM project here
November 17, 2008
B.C. gas patch poised for another boom
Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
November 17, 2008
Record levels of natural gas and oil drilling expected in 2009
Drilling for natural gas and oil in British Columbia is expected to reach record levels of activity in 2009, in the wake of frenzied bidding for new gas exploration leases in 2008.
Two organizations that track the Canadian gas and oil drilling industry predict a drop in exploration and well development in Alberta, but forecast a major jump in activity in B.C.
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada expects drilling activity will increase 29 per cent in B.C. -- which would bring it precisely back to the level that had drillers and service rigs going flat-out in 2005 and 2006 amid robust gas prices on the North American market.
This time, however, natural gas prices aren't the catalyst.
Instead, it's a buzz of on-the-ground activity in the wake of record-setting bidding for gas drilling rights in two non-conventional and under-explored basins, Monkman and Horn River in northeast B.C.
Those two areas have lifted gas-rights auction revenues in B.C. to record levels for both the 2008 calendar year and the 2008-09 fiscal year as both large and small companies scrambled to stake a claim to a portion of what are believed to be huge, long-term, world-class reserves.
Now that they have the land, it's time to work.
"We will run about 150 rigs in the first quarter of the year in B.C.
Everything that can run in the province will be there," said Don Herring, president of the Canadian Association of Oil Drilling Contractors.
Herring said there is only a limited number of rigs with the sophisticated drilling equipment necessary for the deep, multi-directional drilling needed to extract gas from tight shale formations.
The B.C. play is a "new, unique play to Western Canada" and has only one real counterpart, the vast Barnet Shale play that has the gas industry roaring in Texas.
At this point, the Canadian play is restricted to B.C.'s portion of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, the nation's primary reserve of gas and oil.
The lion's share of the basin is in Alberta, where most resources rest in conventional, cheap-to-access drilling areas that are producing less and less gas each year.
Alberta will still draw the lion's share of activity, but its higher gas-royalty costs are driving many companies to B.C.
"This non-conventional gas resource is a new, unique play to Western Canada. It is very much focused at this point in northeastern B.C.,"
Herring said.
"It could also, of course, extend across the border into Alberta. But the focus has been on B.C. in large measure and in part because the royalty regime in Alberta has discouraged a lot of investment, whereas the fiscal regime in British Columbia has done exactly the opposite. It has attracted investment."
At the same time, "very good drilling results" reported in 2007 and
2008 by companies exploring Monkman and Horn River are accelerating interest in B.C., Herring said.
"The investor certainly is speaking with his wallet and saying he believes there is some real opportunity in British Columbia. What makes it unique is that he is not saying that about Alberta."
Roger Price, Western Canada operations vice-president for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, noted B.C. has taken in more than $2 billion this year and calculates at least half of it has gone to the two key areas.
"Companies have spent a lot of money. They are now at the stage, with that kind of capital outlay, where they need to start getting a return on that investment," Price said.
"So they need to start investing further in terms of the drilling programs -- to start getting the production to pay for the capital they've invested."
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
November 15, 2008
Enbridge Coming to Town
By 250 News, Prince George,
Friday, November 14, 2008
 Red line represents path of proposed twin pipeline ( map courtesy Enbridge) |
Prince George, B.C.- Enbridge will be starting its public consultation process next week and will bring its case for the Northern Gateway pipeline project to Prince George on Thursday. The company’s open house sessions will talk about the planned twin pipeline project from the Edmonton area, through to a new marine terminal in Kitimat.
One line would carry petroleum to the coast for shipping to other regions. The east bound line would carry condensate from the coast to the Edmonton area. (condensate is used to thin petroleum products for pipeline transport)
The petroleum line will be 36 inches in diameter and 1170 kilometers long. It will carry about 525 thousand barrels of petroleum each day.
The condensate line would be 20 inches in diameter and carry about 193, thousand barrels of condensate per day.
Enbridge quotes Initiatives prince George CEO Tim McEwan as one of the supporters of the project “Northern Gateway represents a real opportunity for the North. It will create jobs and develop skills that will benefit northern communities over the long term.”
Enbridge has lots of ground to cover in more ways than one. There is public consultation and input an environmental assessment process, consultation and relationship building with first Nations and, if all goes well, preparation and construction. It is a path that will take Enbridge about 7 years to complete.
In addition to the environmental and safety concerns as the line covers the land, there is also the matter of issues as they apply to marine environmental concerns.
Enrbridge has publicly stated (on its website) that it is open to First Nations having an “Equity Investment Option for Aboriginal communities to benefit directly" in other words, First Nations are invited to make a cash investment in the project and become business partners.
The lines would cross B.C. north of Prince George, but there is an opportunity for Prince George to supply materials, equipment and skilled labour for the 4000 direct and indirect jobs Enbridge says the construction of the line would create.
The full open house schedule for the Prince George region is as follows:
Monday November 17
Burns Lake
College of New Caledonia
545 Hwy 16 West
4:00-8:00pm
Tuesday November 18
Fort St. James
Stuart Lake Seniors Association Recreation Centre
250 Simon Fraser Avenue
4:00-8:00pm
Wednesday November 19
Vanderhoof
Elks Hall
474 East Victoria Street
4:00-8:00pm
Thursday November 20
Prince George
Coast Inn of the North
770 Brunswick Street
4:00-8:00pm
November 12, 2008
Crews battle to contain fire at natural-gas well
WENDY STUECK
Globe and Mail
November 12, 2008
Crews yesterday were working to contain a fire at a ConocoPhillips natural-gas well about 30 kilometres east of Chetwynd in northeastern B.C.
The well is licensed to produce sour gas, which contains toxic hydrogen sulphide, but was producing sweet gas at the time the blaze started. Air at the site is being monitored. The fire started early yesterday after gas made its way into the well bore Monday afternoon.
The fire broke out in the course of routine operations and is not related to three recent attacks on nearby EnCana facilities, a ConocoPhillips spokesman said.
November 11, 2008
Sabotage fears flow around B. C. pipelines
Nathan Vanderklippe
Financial Post
November 11, 2008
Companies reviewing how to protect assets
VANCOUVER - The recent attacks on EnCana Corp. natural-gas infrastructure in northeastern B. C. have created skittishness across the industry, as other companies scramble helicopters to respond to perceived threats and consider design changes to bolster the security of future pipelines in the area.
"We're going to be looking for ways in our design to limit sabotage or anybody gaining access to [a proposed new pipeline]," said Darren Marine, president of SemCAMS, a Calgary-based sour-gas processor that is seeking National Energy Board approval to build a 150-kilometre pipeline near the area where the attacks have occurred.
In October, two explosions were triggered near interconnection points on EnCana pipelines near Tomslake, B. C., a tiny highway settlement hugging the Alberta border. A third explosion at an En-Cana wellhead was discovered on Halloween. It took nearly three days to stop the escape of gas, which contained trace amounts of deadly hydrogen sulfide.
The attacks followed a menacing letter published in a local newspaper demanding EnCana "and all other oil and gas interests" cease operating in the area, which has seen a huge boom in drilling and pipeline building in recent years.
That boom, however, continues, although those who are operating projects in the area now say they are re-examining how to protect their assets. EnCana has hired private security workers to help protect its assets while Spectra Energy Corp., which has built and operated gas infrastructure in the area for more than five decades, has put its employees on high alert. It is also taking reports of intruders far more seriously.
In the past, the company would send a truck to check out an unknown vehicle reported near a compressor station or pipeline right-of-way, a common occurrence this time of year as hunters frequent the backwoods. Now it is dispatching helicopters.
"We're reacting certainly more quickly to anything that sounds out of the ordinary," said Al Ritchie, Spectra's vice-president of operations. "We try to get there as quickly as we can just to make sure that we're on top of this."
Both Spectra and Sem-CAMS have also examined what they can do to better protect new assets in the area. SemCAMS hopes to begin construction next year on its Redwillow Pipeline, and Mr. Marine said the company is now adapting its plans to a reality where it "could be a target at any time."
"Safety's always a very high concern for us, but this certainly has heightened our awareness," he said.
SemCAMS is now considering erecting chain-link fences and barbed wire around surface pipeline infrastructure, Mr. Marine said. Gas pipelines are typically buried, but connection points and emergency shut-off valves are often above-ground, where they are generally left unsecured for ease of access. In the past, when pipeline security meant planning for equipment malfunction or corrosion, that was sufficient, since the risk of sabotage was negligible.
"Other than Wiebo [Ludwig's] fight with the guys up in Grande Prairie country, there hasn't really been any vicious attacks on oil industry equipment in Canada," said Rod Phipps, the managing partner of Concise Design, a mid-sized engineering firm that designs gas pipelines.
RCMP have not announced any arrests in connection with the three attacks.
With the current threat, industry may consider using more security cameras or encasing above-ground connections in bunkers. That, however, brings the risk of creating dangerous confined spaces, Mr. Phipps said. Companies could even consider using thicker surface pipe, a more expensive -- and not necessarily effective-- solution.
"If someone is really interested in causing destruction to something, you can't make piping so that it can't be blown up," he said. "That's not physically possible. If it's a large enough explosive and [the bomber] does it right, he'll cause piping to fail."
See also
Third blast rocks B.C. pipeline
Six recent pipeline incidents, commission says
Oil vandal questioned in B.C. pipeline bombings
Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?
2nd explosion rocks northern B.C. pipeline
RCMP terror squad probes pipeline bombing
November 10, 2008
Going Up to the Landfill in the Sky
by Delores Broten
Watershed Sentinel
November-December 2008
Its proponents call it “Waste to Energy” or WTE, but recycling advocates call it “The Landfill in the Sky.” The great incineration debate, which the environmental movement had pretty well won across North America, is back with a vengeance. Metro Vancouver is considering several incinerators as a solution to its municipal solid waste (MSW) garbage problem.
Right now, BC leads North America in responsible actions around waste. The Extended Producer Responsibility Program requires manufacturers to run “take back” programs for an expanding set of consumer residues, from paint to batteries to electronics. It is through programs like this that BC could eventually land on the negative side of the waste issue – Zero Waste.
In the meantime, the landfills are filling, and more jurisdictions are looking to dispose of their waste through assorted forms of burning, be it old fashioned incineration, even older incineration like Green Island Energy’s retrofitted pulp mill at Gold River , or newer concepts like gasification and PlascoEnergy’s plasma gasification conversion of garbage into “products” like syngas.
But even the most advanced incineration schemes resemble a three-for-one pollution option – you get to pollute the land, the air, and the water. This is made abundantly clear by the Recycling Council of British Columbia’s (RCBC) thoughtful examination of Waste to Energy in comparison to landfills. In particular, the report examines Plasco, which is targeting Vancouver among other cities around the world with a heavy sales pitch for its as yet unproven technology. A much-vaunted Ottawa demonstration plant has not yet dealt with fulltime loads of real garbage after 10 months of set up, due to operational problems.
In discussing air pollution, RCBC’s white paper, Examining The Waste-to-Energy Option, states: “If a Plasco facility performs as predicted, heavy metals will primarily be an airborne issue. In a landfill, heavy metals are primarily a water pollution issue. It is not clear which of these scenarios is preferable from a human or ecological health perspective. The priority, therefore, needs to be in removing these metals from the MSW stream in the first place.”
The report goes on to examine the various aspects of pollution, with particular attention to greenhouse gas generation, including trucking.
A big advantage of Waste to Energy is energy production. However, the energy produced is dependent on the energy-intensive materials left in the solid waste – wood, paper, plastic and compostable material, all of which can be largely diverted through recycling programs. Since the bulk of greenhouse gases are released during the initial raw resource extraction of any material, from oil to aluminium, the best line of action is to ensure maximum reuse. Which brings us back to Zero Waste.
Proponents of WTE point out that Europeans run state- of-the-art incinerators to dispose of their waste, but recycling activists assert that in Europe, reuse and recycling initiatives are more advanced than in North America. The entire EU has a target of 50% reduction in MSW by 2020, and countries like the Netherlands and Germany already recycle two-thirds of their materials. Incineration is truly a last resort in Europe.
RCBC says that the use of Waste To Energy does not encourage waste reduction, and that WTE would be quite unnecessary if full extended producer responsibility programs (product stewardship) and full organics diversion were in place. A Zero Waste strategy that relies on reducing, reusing and recycling waste will conserve more energy, produce fewer air pollutants and GHG emissions, and will help solve the residual problem still present in any WTE scenario.
Meanwhile, the Cache Creek landfill environmental assessment is underway to expand by 40 hectares, to take 15 million tonnes of Vancouver’s garbage over the next 20 to 30 years.
If that landfill expansion proceeds, perhaps by the time the great debate re-ignites, the need for sustainable resource use will have become an imperative which makes such waste unthinkable.
Download the WTE option paper at www.rcbc.bc.ca
For information on the Plasco process, see www.plascoenergygroup.com
Fraser Valley politicos trash incinerator plan
Glenda Luymes
The Province
November 09, 2008
Fraser Valley residents are trash-talking a Metro Vancouver proposal to burn the region's garbage in "waste-to-energy" incinerators.
"The people of the Fraser Valley are extremely upset about this," said Chilliwack mayoral candidate Norm Smith. "For years we fought SE2, and here comes a threat from within our own region that's five times the pro-blem."
Smith and the two other Chilliwack mayoral candidates will put politics aside for a few hours tomorrow to rally against the incinerators, which they say will further contaminate the delicate Fraser Valley air shed.
The rally, which Smith hopes will be the first of many, is reminiscent of
rallies against SE2, a huge power plant proposed for Sumas, Wash., in the early 2000s. The proposal was eventually denied.
Smith said he wants the Metro Vancouver board to reconsider waste-to-energy incinerators, which he claims release lead, mercury and nano-particles into the air.
Waste-to-energy proponents claim the waste will be turned to energy that could be used to heat and power businesses and residences near the plants and downplay the other by-products of the process.
- The rally is planned for Nov. 10 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. outside the Chilliwack court-house.
gluymes@theprovince.com
November 06, 2008
Pipeline company opens office - Roger Harris
Terrace Standard
November 04, 2008
A company proposing to transport oil through a multi-billion pipeline between Alberta and Kitimat will be officially opening their offices in Terrace and Kitimat next week.
Enbridge will use the offices in the two communities to inform the public about the project.
The project needs federal regulatory approval. Construction would require skilled workers.
The company's vice-president of communications and aboriginal partnerships, Roger Harris, said both offices will act as some degree as public outreach.
Harris is a former Liberal MLA for Skeena and is based in Terrace.
"I think it's important," Harris said of the offices being opened in the area. "I think local presence is always important for any project. I think it gives visible life to a project for people to see."
People can now come into the office and get more information about the pipeline project.
Enbridge will have an official opening in Kitimat next Wednesday, Nov. 12 in the old Alcan modernization office in the mall.
The official opening in Terrace will be Thursday, Nov. 13 at Dr. Elorza's old vet office on the 4600 block of Park Ave. across from the library. Harris says Enbridge is planning open houses in Terrace, Kitimat and Prince Rupert in the first week of December.
'Tape and twine' aid aging Hydro assets
COMMENT: " The "tape and twine" phrase certainly got everyone's attention. "The lights will go out" got everyone's attention in 2000, as well, when everyone from BC Hydro's CEO and its Board Chair to the pr flacks on the bottom were trying to ram through the GSX Pipeline and the Duke Point Power projects. The lights out threat was BS, but there was in fact a transmission system being held together at the time by tape and twine. It's been operating ever since, too - good tape, I guess - and soon will be given relief by the startup of the new Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement system (See New Vancouver Island Power Line Charging Up).
Big lies break down a lot of resistance, and open the way for big projects. BC is a "net importer" of electricity - that's another. "Weapons of mass destruction" - that's probably the all-time winner of the last generation.
So, is the "tape and twine" story just the opening volley of a new campaign of misinformation? Or a reasonably accurate telling of the current situation? Given the appalling state of BC Hydro's debt, that the policies of the NDP regime of the 1990's exacerbated the situation and did nothing to encourage proper maintenance of BC Hydro's facilities; and given that nothing has changed under the Liberal regime, I'm inclined to buy the "tape and twine" story.
But maybe that's just an indication of effective messaging.
Nevertheless, the phrase caught the attention of BCUC's Commissioner Milbourne. He asked if the degraded situation of BC Hydro's facilities stemmed from internal decisions, or whether there were other influences at play (page 2408).
"In terms of the general statement, the general theme of aging assets and deteriorated condition and so on, and I think I heard the kind of metaphoric expression here today of tape and twine holding a certain power station together, which I'm not too really would reassure a whole bunch of folks. But my question again is more of a policy nature. Is there any influence outside of B.C. Hydro's management decisions that's resulted in those circumstances, that you're describing today as being the driver of this whole investment program? Is there some policy environment that's prevented you from keeping current with respect to the condition of your assets, and dealing with the known demographics of the assets, which are no different than the demographics for people, which you've seen the programs in place to deal with? But you've -- is there any influence other than Hydro's management decisions that have resulted
in these circumstances?
Mr. O'Riley then probably realized the trap he'd set for himself, and his verbal dance to avoid falling into it is quite amusing. (again, it begins on page 2408.
Scott Simpson
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
BC Hydro is using "tape and twine" to keep some of its oldest power stations in operation, according to testimony at a hearing into electricity rates.
Hydro is seeking a 12.63-per-cent rate hike over two years for residential customers, and is proposing a massive ramp-up in capital spending to either upgrade or replace its heritage hydroelectric facilities around the province.
Some of those facilities are in exceptionally poor shape due to their advanced age, according to documents on file with the British Columbia Utilities Commission.
Meanwhile, major hydroelectric facilities such as Mica and W.A.C. Bennett/G.H. Shrum need large infusions of cash for new equipment that will make them more dependable during cold winter months when demand for electricity is greatest.
Hydro requires the BCUC's approval in order to impose the rate hike, and is making its case to spend $2.4 billion by fiscal 2011 on projects to sustain its heritage system.
Hydro also wants to increase spending on growth projects - such as adding additional generators at the existing Mica and Revelstoke Dams, as well as renewal and expansion of its transmission system.
All of those initiatives, if approved by BCUC, would boost total capital spending to $6.4 billion by 2011.
Renewal of the existing hydro system requires $2.8 billion of that amount.
David Austin, a B.C. energy sector commentator, suspects most people would be surprised by the scope of what Hydro is planning - and agrees all the work is necessary to maintain the reliability of the system.
"The general misconception is that the existing system is going to last forever and you won't have to put any money into it. That's not correct," Austin said.
Testimony at Hydro's rate requirement hearing before the BCUC, which wraps up Dec. 19, shows that senior Hydro officials are concerned about the potential for damage to local fish and wildlife resources from equipment failures at B.C.'s oldest power stations.
Hydro senior vice president Chris O'Riley testified that Hydro in September suffered an oil spill at Ruskin generating station on Stave River near Mission.
"But for the grace of God, it could have been an absolute disaster," O'Riley said. "It turned out we lost 100 litres of oil at a time of year when there wasn't really any impact on the salmon. [But] it could have been 2,000 litres of oil at a time of year when there were fish in the river, either the eggs and the smolts or the returning salmon.
"That's the risk that goes with having an 80-year-old plant that you're trying to hold together with tape and twine, essentially, until we get the thing replaced."
In an interview with The Vancouver Sun on Wednesday, O'Riley said Hydro has similar concerns about its 61-year-old John Hart generating facility on the Campbell River, one of the province's most famed salmon streams.
The facility's penstocks, which are the conduits carrying water from the dam into the generating station, are made of wood and need replacement to minimize risk that an earthquake or other breakdown would cut off the flow of water to fish downstream of the Hart dam.
"We have the risk of shutting off the flows to one of the best salmon rivers in the province. It's a very, very significant risk for us," Hart earlier testified at the rate hearing.
He told The Sun that Hydro has an electrician on site round-the-clock, rather than on call, in order to reduce the risks associated with a penstock failure.
O'Riley oversees engineering, aboriginal relations and generation for Hydro, and notes that in the past two years, his group has added 430 people as it prepares to accelerate its efforts to renew the system.
"We are not adding finance, and human resources and computer people. We are adding engineers, people to run projects, people on the ground turning tools and such," he said.
ssimpson@vancouversun.com
© Vancouver Sun 2008
BC Hydro's 2009-2010 Revenue Requirements
"Tape and twine" transcript, 21-Oct-2008
MR. O'RILEY: A: Well, I think we've talked a lot in the past about how we manage the business of B.C. Hydro and we're not like an investor-owned utility that all we care about is our income and our shareholder earnings. So, we have -- we consider very broadly the impacts on the shareholder, on the ratepayer, on other stakeholders in communities that are impacted by these assets. For example, the John Hart, the concern with John Hart is actually less of a reliability issue, less of a dollar issue, it's more of an environmental issue. Because we have the risk of shutting off the flows to one of the best salmon rivers in the province. It's a very, very significant risk for us. So, there is a very broad concern in B.C. Hydro about managing the risks that flow from these assets. Some of them are financial. Some of them flow through the deferral account. Some of them are externalities that we impose on society.
A recent example that had negligible financial consequences, in September, we had an oil spill at Ruskin and, but for the grace of God, it could have been an absolute disaster. We lost -- it turned out we lost 100 litres of oil at a time of year when there wasn't really any impact on the salmon. It could have been 2,000 litres of oil at a time of year when there were fish in the river, either the eggs and the smolts or the returning salmon. So that's -- and that's the risk that goes with having an 80-year-old plant that you're trying to hold together with tape and twine, essentially, until we get the thing replaced.
So that's a risk that doesn't, on the face of it, necessarily flow through the financial statements or the deferral accounts, but it's a risk we take very, very seriously as a company. So, we're not just motivated by the dollars that go to the shareholder, we're motivated broadly by the impacts that we impose.
Testimony of Chris O'Riley, Sr Vice-President, BC Hydro
B.C. Hydro Revenue Requirement F2009, F2010
Volume 13 Proceedings - October 21, 2008
Pages 2236-2237
November 04, 2008
Tony Duggleby, 1955-2008
COMMENT: Tony Duggleby's impact on energy matters on the coast was impressive; there were times in which his influence was evident wherever people were talking about wind, transmission, small hydro, and most recently, tidal energy.
Anthony Oliver Duggleby June 11, 1955 - October 15, 2008
Anthony "Tony" Duggleby died Wednesday, October 15, 2008, in Vancouver of complications from pneumonia. A brilliant and generous spirit, Tony was a Marine Engineer, a licensed Commercial Ship's Captain, private pilot, accomplished machinist, and truly one of BC's renewable energy pioneers. During his career in renewable energy, Tony made contributions to Sea Breeze Power, Katabatic Power and most recently Orca Power. As CEO or COO, he led or contributed to teams that achieved for Sea Breeze the first BC Environmental Assessment Certificate for a Wind Project, and for Katabatic, one of the first three wind energy EPA's in the province. He played a key role in initiating the Juan de Fuca transmission line between Canada and the United States. He was currently developing tidal power projects in BC. He strived to make the world a better, safer place, doing everything with full enthusiasm. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and colleagues. Tony is survived by his partner Nancy Levidow, daughters Auriane Chouinard-Duggleby and Elize Duggleby-Chouinard, mother Hester Elliott, brothers Mark and Dan, and sister Mary. A Memorial will be held on Wednesday October 22, 2008, at 3:30 p.m., at the Vancouver Museum, 1100 Chestnut St., Vancouver.
Published in the Vancouver Sun and/or The Province on 10/21/2008
link
ORCA ANNOUNCES PASSING OF CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
OCTOBER 15, 2008 CNQ Symbol: OP
Orca Power Corp. (the "Company" or "Orca") today announced the unexpected death of Anthony O. Duggleby, the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Duggleby died this morning of pneumonia at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. He joined the Company as a Vice President in June 2008 and played a key role in new business development. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer in October 2008.
President Patrick Lavin stated, "We are deeply saddened by Tony’s sudden and unexpected death. He was a British Columbia wind energy pioneer and a leader in every respect – extremely creative, passionate and driven to achieve excellence in his work. He will be missed by all our employees and his colleagues."
The Company is proceeding with its plans to develop its key assets and acquisitions brought to the Company by Mr. Duggleby.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Patrick Lavin"
President
Orca Power Corp.
http://www.orcapowercorp.com/releases/2008-10-15-tony-passing.pdf
November 01, 2008
Third blast rocks B.C. pipeline
WENDY STUECK
Globe and Mail
October 31, 2008
VANCOUVER — A third attack has been discovered on a pipeline in the Dawson Creek area of northeastern British Columbia.
The target was a natural gas wellhead about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, a small town near Dawson Creek.
A small amount of gas leaked, but the public is not in danger, the RCMP said in a statement. EnCana engineers were containing the leak, and the blast was in a rural, isolated area.
The blast site was discovered about 12:30 p.m. PT Friday.
RCMP explosive experts investigate a bomb explosion at an EnCana sour gas pipeline near Dawson Creek, B.C., Oct. 17, 2008. |
EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said there was “very minimal damage.”
“There are residents in the area but no one even living close enough that they would fall into our emergency response plan,” she said.
EnCana community representative Brian Lieverse, reached as he was driving to the scene, would not speculate on whether it was industrial sabotage or a Halloween prank.
“We are concerned,” Mr. Lieverse said.
The first two blasts occurred in October after local newspapers received a handwritten letter demanding that oil and gas interests leave the area.
Although residents had been on edge over the possibility of another attack, news of the damage at the third site still came as a surprise, said Cliff Calliou, chief of the nearby Kelly Lake Cree Nation.
“I was surprised; it is a surprise that someone would do that,” said Mr. Calliou, who lives in Kelly Lake, a small community in an area criss-crossed by pipelines.
“It's someone going and challenging the law, and it's really a serious matter.”
The attacks have targeted EnCana pipelines that carry sour gas – natural gas that contains hydrogen sulphide, which has a characteristic rotten-egg smell at lower concentrations and can be lethal at higher concentrations.
Several Kelly Lake residents have been questioned in connection with the pipeline investigation, Mr. Calliou said.
Members of the blast investigation team last week travelled to Alberta to arrest a man on outstanding B.C. warrants. The RCMP have not said whether the man, 21-year-old Kelly Lake resident Ian Gladue, is a suspect or a person of interest in the investigation.
The attacks have resulted in both EnCana and RCMP stepping up security around natural gas facilities.
Calgary-based EnCana is a major player in the region. The company's Steeprock plant, a $60-million processing facility opened in 2006, was the biggest such plant to be built in B.C. in a decade.
EnCana has been operating in the area for about 14 years. The company says its sour gas pipelines are equipped with automatic emergency shutdown valves that would “shut in,” or contain, an affected part of a pipeline if a change in pressure – from, for example, a rupture resulting from an explosion – were detected.
The RCMP's anti-terrorist unit, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, has taken the lead in the investigation because the attacks were directed at Canada's critical infrastructure, the force says.
In October, the RCMP took the unusual step of ruling out convicted bomber Wiebo Ludwig as a suspect, after media reports quoted Mr. Ludwig saying that he had spoken to police and was not a suspect in the investigation.
Mr. Ludwig lives on a commune-style property near Hythe, close to the B.C.-Alberta boundary and about an hour's drive from the area where the recent blasts occurred.
He was released from jail in 2001 after serving 19 months of a 28-month sentence for charges related to bombings and other vandalism of oil and gas wells in Alberta in the 1990s.
The attacks have brought back memories of Mr. Ludwig's anti-industry campaign in Alberta and triggered speculation there could be some connection between him and the incidents in B.C.
The Peace River area has been the focus of intense oil and gas activity for the past several years, with BP Canada planning to drill 132 new wells near Kelly Lake and the building of EnCana's $60-million Steep Rock gas plant in 2006. Along with all this activity have come growing concerns voiced by area residents.
Landowners near the hamlet of Tomslake, 28 kilometres south of Dawson Creek, protested on a gas-industry access road this summer and the Kelly Lake Cree Nation blockaded a road for two days to underline their safety concerns.
Investigators are at the latest blast site and the RCMP have set up a tip line in relation to the investigation.
With a report from The Canadian Press
Pipeline bomber sets off 3rd blast
Steve Lillebuen, with files from Alexandra ZabjekThe Edmonton Journal
November 1, 2008
Latest brazen attack in isolated area baffles landowners
EDMONTON - A third explosion site was discovered Friday near the Alberta-British Columbia border, close to the site of two earlier bombings that targeted EnCana sour gas pipelines.
It's not clear when the deliberately set explosion occurred at the isolated natural gas wellhead about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, near Dawson Creek, B.C.
There was no danger to the public.
Oil and gas pipeline owners expressed frustration over the third pipeline attack in the region in less than a month.
"We condemn clearly what is a criminal and cowardly act that has no place in a civilized society," said Jeff Angel, a spokesman for the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.
Since the two earlier October bombings, oil and gas companies have increased security.
Landowners who live close to the latest explosion were baffled that someone would be so brazen to attack a site with such heightened security.
Jim Zacharias, who lives near the targeted wellhead, said access to the area is only available through a private road that's had a man in a pickup truck stationed at its entrance 24 hours a day since the last two bombings.
"He's there when I go to bed and he's still there when I wake up," he said. "So whoever came in and did this, I don't think they could have come in from the road."
An EnCana contractor was driving by the site around noon Friday when he heard a small leak from the well.
Workers later found a "small amount of damage" to the wellhead and to some of the area surrounding it, EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said.
The leak was stabilized Friday night to the low-volume, low-flow wellsite, which contained natural gas with trace amounts of hydrogen sulphide, which can be deadly. No hydrogen sulphide was detected by air-quality monitors, she said.
"At no point was the public ever at risk," she said.
The pipeline was expected to continue leaking small amounts of gas overnight. Engineers will assess the pipeline again early today.
Investigators from the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were already in the area investigating the two previous bombings.
Dawson Creek Coun. Bud Powell said it was bold move to strike a pipeline, considering a specialized anti-terrorism police team is in the area hunting for the suspect in the two previous bombings.
"To hit the pipeline again is pretty serious," he said.
While some residents were anxious after the previous pipeline bombings, concerns have dwindled in the past few weeks, he said.
Two bomb sites were found in October after an unsigned, handwritten letter was sent to the Dawson Creek Daily News warning EnCana to close operations and leave the Tomslake area by noon on Oct. 11. "We will not negotiate with terrorists, which you are as you keep on endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands," the letter stated.
The first blast site was found Oct. 12 On Oct. 16, a second bomb was detonated under a pipeline, leaving a crater that caused a minor leak that was quickly contained. Some residents expected attacks to continue and were surprised that there was a lull in activity until Friday's discovery.
slillebuen@thejournal.canwest.com
Third explosion rocks pipeline in eastern B.C.
Lisa RossingtonCTV News
Fri Oct. 31 2008
CTV News has learned that the pipeline infrastructure in northeastern British Columbia has been hit by yet another explosion.
 CTV has learned that a third explosion has rocked northeastern B.C.'s pipeline infrastructure. |
Sources have told CTV that the latest explosion occurred in an area about 12 kilometres northeast of Tomslake, just west of the B.C./Alberta border.
Police say it was discovered at an EnCana natural gas well head containing sour gas at 12.30 p.m. on Friday. It appears to have been deliberately set, police added.
Word of the blast comes on the heels of two explosions, which targeted pipelines operated by EnCana near the B.C.-Alberta border in recent weeks. The first was on Oct. 11, the second on Oct. 16.
The RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team has arrived at the scene of this latest blast, which caused a small gas leak that is currently being contained.
Lisa Richmond lives about two kilometres from the well head blast. Oct. 31, 2008. |
While police say the public is not in any danger, it appears that this is another attack on the pipeline sector in B.C.'s Peace River area.
Last week, the RCMP's anti-terrorism unit arrested a 21-year-old man from Kelly Lake, B.C. He remains in custody but has not been charged in connection with the pipeline bombings.
Local residents shaken
Police say he is being held for unrelated and as yet unspecified matters.
Residents, who live in the vicinity of the Encana well head, were shaken up by news of this latest blast.
"They really need to get the guy before someone gets hurt,'' said Lisa Richmond. "It's bad enough when it happens 10 or 15 kilometres away,'' she said. "But it's really scary when it's right in your own back yard.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
3rd pipeline explosion in northeastern B.C. this month
CBC NewsFriday, October 31, 2008
EnCana pipeline targeted again
 RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields said the explosion on Friday appeared to have been deliberately detonated. |
Another explosion hit an EnCana Corp. sour-gas pipeline in B.C. Friday afternoon, this time near the small community of Tomslake, south of Dawson Creek near the Alberta border, the RCMP said.
"The site of an explosion was discovered at a natural gas wellhead at approximately 12:30 p.m. today," Sgt. Tim Shields said in a news release Friday.
"The site is about 12 kilometres northwest of the community of Tomslake … The explosion appears to have been deliberately detonated and is located in a rural isolated area," he said.
The explosion caused a small gas leak that was quickly contained by EnCana engineers.
The leak did not pose any danger to the public, and there is no report of any injuries, Shields said.
Members of the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team are at the scene.
'Right now I am very scared. I don't know what to do. I've been trying to find my family, load them up and get out of here.'— Eric Kuenzl, Tomslake resident
A contract worker discovered the gas leak at the well site and informed operations engineers, EnCana said in a news release Friday.
EnCana has notified the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission about the latest incident.
"Given the two previous vandalism events earlier this month in the region, EnCana immediately contacted the RCMP, and officers are at the scene investigating the cause of the leak and whether it is connected to the previous pipeline explosions in the region," the release said.
It's the third sour-gas pipeline explosion targeting EnCana's infrastructure in northeastern B.C. this month. All three have been in the same general area, but police have not determined whether Friday's blast is linked with the other two, which took place on Oct. 11 and Oct. 16.
A threatening letter was sent to Dawson Creek media prior to the first explosion. The letter called Encana, which is based in Calgary, and other energy companies "terrorists" for expanding deadly gas wells and gave the companies a deadline to shut down their operations.
Tomslake resident Eric Kuenzl said he only heard about the Friday blast from the media.
"Right now I am very scared. I don't know what to do. I've been trying to find my family, load them up and get out of here," Kuenzl told CBC News in a telephone interview.
He said local authorities should have notified nearby residents immediately after the explosion.
"Our own people wouldn't tell us what was going on here and apparently this happened at about 12:30 this afternoon. What took until six o'clock for the world to tell us about what's going on?" Kuenzl said.
Third gas pipeline bombed in B.C.
Larissa LiepinsCanwest News Service
Friday, October 31, 2008
Natural gas wellhead bombed near Dawson Creek; police say 'no danger to public safety'
OTTAWA - The third explosion in a month targeting sour-gas pipelines in northern British Columbia is scaring people in a nearby community who say they weren't warned toxic gas began leaking Friday afternoon.
Around 12:30 p.m. an explosion site was discovered at a natural-gas wellhead, about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, near Dawson Creek, B.C.
The RCMP say the explosion - at the Encana-owned pipeline in a rural, isolated area - appears to be a deliberate act.
The leak is not a danger to the public, officials say.
An Encana spokesman told Canwest News Service late Friday night that sour gas continued to leak from the pipe, and it could be several hours before the pipe was repaired.
But Tomslake resident Eric Kuenzl said both EnCana and the RCMP have been keeping people in the dark.
"I've never heard about any of this until about a half-hour ago," he said about six hours after the blast. "They haven't told nobody in this community. . . . nobody's had the balls to even warn the community."
However, Encana's Alan Boras said residents in the "near vicinity" were notified, and Tomslake did not fall into that zone.
Marilyn Belak, Dawson Creek's acting mayor, said RCMP confirmed no one had been injured in the latest bombing.
RCMP told her an "incident occurred in the wilderness," in the same area of the other bombings.
Investigators from the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were at the scene Friday.
EnCana insisted the volume of gas released from the pipe was "very small and does not present a danger to field workers, area residents or the public."
"Residents living near the well, located about 14 kilometres south of Dawson Creek, have been notified of the incident and there is no need for evacuation," the company said in a news release. "The natural gas from this well contains a trace of hydrogen sulphide, 0.0005 to .0010 per cent."
The assurances notwithstanding, news of this latest attack is certain to ramp up the fear level in this already anxious rural community.
On Oct. 10, an anonymous writer of letters received by news outlets in Dawson Creek - which is about 580 kilometres northwest of Edmonton - warned "EnCana and all other oil-and-gas interests" to close down operations near the community of Tomslake, and vowed not to "negotiate with terrorists" taking part in the "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands."
The writer set a deadline of Oct. 11 for the energy companies to get out of town.
Two days after that letter arrived, a blast crater was found beneath an EnCana pipeline in the district. Evidence of a second blast, which caused a small leak that was reportedly contained, was found by workers on Oct. 16 at another EnCana pipeline site about 500 metres from the Alberta border.
Police said they believe the two attacks are related.
The town has been the scene of considerable friction between energy companies and residents fighting the expansion of sour-gas wells in the area.
Sour gas is natural gas tainted with toxic hydrogen sulphide. Many in the area believe sour-gas wells pose a risk to human and livestock health.
With files from the Edmonton Journal
See also
Six recent pipeline incidents, commission says
Oil vandal questioned in B.C. pipeline bombings
Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?
2nd explosion rocks northern B.C. pipeline
RCMP terror squad probes pipeline bombing