Carr criticizes Liberals for backing gas-fired power plant

Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun, 27 Apr 2005
Robert Barron, Nanaimo Daily News, 27 Apr 2005

Glenn Bohn
Vancouver Sun
27-Apr-2005

NANAIMO -- Green party leader Adriane Carr said Tuesday that if the Liberal government was committed to environmental protection, it would be reducing B.C.'s use of fossil fuels, not supporting a natural-gas-fired power plant at Duke Point near Nanaimo.

Carr said BC Hydro, a provincial Crown corporation, should be getting new electricity for Vancouver Island by supporting wind, tidal and other alternative sources of energy -- not a fossil-fuel-burning project that puts more greenhouse gases and local pollutants into the atmosphere.

"You cannot be committed to clean air and be driving the fossil fuel energy path, as the Liberals are doing," Carr said, speaking near the proposed site of the 252-megawatt power plant.

"We have a global commitment, the Kyoto commitment, to reduce our use of fossil fuels."

A Green party document released last week proposes energy conservation tax credits of about $5,000 apiece for 10,000 homes, for an estimated cost of $50 million. The Greens also want to set aside $100 million for renewable energy subsidies.

"The biggest cost saving is in energy conservation," Carr said.

She said B.C. shouldn't be using a precious and increasingly expensive resource -- natural gas -- to generate electricity near Nanaimo.

"The pollution would drift over to Greater Vancouver, which already has its pollution problems," she added.

The Duke Point power project, which was initially supported by the former New Democratic Party government, was approved this February by the B.C. Utilities Commission. Hydro's top executives have said the gas-fired power plant is the best way to provide customers on the Island with the electricity needed or else face a power shortfall in 2007.

But Philip Stone, the Green's candidate for the North Island riding, noted an already-approved 450-megawatt wind farm on the northern tip of Vancouver Island is expected to generate enough power for 135,000 homes. He complained that BC Hydro hasn't committed to buying that wind-generated electricity and the power will be exported to the U.S., through a submarine cable that crosses the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

"Instead, we're selling ourselves into fossil fuel slavery," Stone said.

Carr, whose party won about 12 per cent of the popular vote in 2001, said the Green party would not allow the Duke Point power project to go ahead if it formed the next B.C. government.

When a reporter reminded Carr she has already acknowledged her party won't win the election, Carr chuckled and said "that's true."

But, she said, "Elected Greens can play an incredible role in the legislature."

She pointed to the effect of two NDP MLAs in the last legislature, Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail.

"We all have to acknowledge that even two feisty women in the last sea of Liberals played a big role, in terms of raising issues," she said.

gbohn@png.canwest.com

TOP

Robert Barron
The Daily News (Nanaimo)
27-Apr-2005

The burning of fossil fuels for energy, vote-splitting and the dangers of fish farms were just a few of the topics discussed by Adriane Carr, the Green Party's provincial leader, at Duke Point Tuesday.

Flanked by two local Green candidates in the provincial election, Nanaimo's Doug Catley and North Island's Philip Stone, Carr said if she were elected premier, she would consider cancelling the $280-million Duke Point power plant project.

"If the decision was made that building the power plant is wrong and the public indicated they were interested in moving to different ways to meet our energy needs, then a Green government would work out a deal to get out of the plant contracts," she said, standing in front of the entrance of the proposed plant.

"We need to move away from the entrenched use of fossil fuels as we're moving entirely in a different direction from our commitments under the Kyoto Accord."

Carr said the province has to move to alternative, clean and renewable energy sources that will cost less in the long run.

"The province has one of the greatest potential for wind power in the world and there's a proposal for a wind energy farm in North Island," she said.

"However, BC Hydro has never given wind companies a fair shake by offering them the same prices for their power as they've given the Duke Point operators, so the wind farm is looking to sell its power in the U.S."

VOTE-SPLITTING

Asked if she felt her party would split the votes between the NDP and Greens, ensuring a Liberal win in the election, Carr said votes for the Green Party "come from across the political spectrum."

"During the last election, people were leaving the NDP in droves so the party shouldn't be blaming us for their loss," she said,

"People are coming to us from both the Liberal and NDP camps, and about 30% who voted for us last time said they wouldn't have voted at all if we weren't in the running."

Catley said he's "insulted" by the notion the Green Party would be splitting votes with the NDP.

"This is a democratic process which allows people to stand up for what they believe in," he said.

"I find it incredible that we'd be accused of vote-splitting as it's an insult to the process to suggest that diversity of thought is not recognized. The Green Party is neither left nor right, but global."

FISH FARMS

Carr said salmon farms are not healthy for the wild salmon that swim nearby.

"I want to place a cap on current fish farms and replace the industry with a restoration of wild fisheries," she said.

"Wild fisheries provide more jobs and are more sustainable than fish farms."

TOP