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What did I say about Mark Jaccard & Blake Shaffer (son of #SiteC lobbyist Marv Shaffer)? The fact their names are back in the news (& federal Enviro Min. @JonathanWNV keeps dropping Jaccard's name) means BC & Canada are pushing #SiteC... #bcpoli #cdnpoli https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/road-ahead-alberta-bc-electricity-bridge-interties-1.5848042
Mark Jaccard's main argument for #SiteC back in 2017 was that #SiteC would be "dispatchable" power (available anytime) unlike wind/solar. He managed to get himself into every media outlet to repeat this. BC DOESN'T BEGIN TO NEED ANY MORE DISPATCHABLE POWER. He knows this #bcpoli
..Worse, the feds are really showing their hand here by throwing money at UNESCO site Wood Buffalo National Park, which the UN has warned will be impacted (desiccated) by #SiteC. The Park needs water, not money, Minister Wilkinson. Why are you pushing #SiteC on it & BC? #cdnpoli
..And you, @SFU: I got my graduate degree @SFU & expect more. Your Prof Mark Jaccard uses bogus arguments for #SiteC, Prof Marv Shaffer was a paid #SiteC lobbyist & you house Clean Energy Canada which claps like a trained seal for Horgan's CleanBC & won't oppose the dam. #bcpoli
SFU was always thought to be the university that speaks for the public not corporate interest, unlike UBC, yet all the strongest academic work against #SiteC has come out of UBC: UBC Water Governance, Karen Bakker et al.
@SFU churns out shills for a corporate welfare project.
@SFU churns out shills for a corporate welfare project.
. @Norm_Farrell: "Interesting that profs can collect $$$ salaries from universities but also conduct private consulting businesses where industry pays them unknown sums. There's a built-in potential for conflict of interest affecting opinions then used to influence public policy."
Now to dismiss Jaccard's & Shaffer's idea of an electricity intertie with Alberta. Above all, their tacit & false assumption that #SiteC can be operational & safe. No mention of the out of control & financially disastrous geotech problems. Why? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/road-ahead-alberta-bc-electricity-bridge-interties-1.5848042 #bcpoli
..2. OF COURSE Alberta would be happy to pay 4 cents a KWh for electricity that costs BC Hydro 12 cents to make. But we don't need #SiteC for that; BC can produce cheaper power via modern renewables; sell that to AB instead. BC has enough dispatchable power already; add wind.
This @cbcnewsbc article is just more obfuscation trying to convince the BC public there's a demand for #SiteC's power - just as BC Hydro has incorrectly & cynically predicted electricity demand increases for over a decade, but it never materializes (& won't, even with EVs).
...And you, @cbcnewsbc: you've repeatedly said you're too understaffed to cover #SiteC, the largest project in BC history, yet here you are participating in a strategy of dam proponents, private and public, to win the PR war on behalf of corporations at the #SiteC trough. #bcpoli
..CBC, you have also been giving Minister Wilkinson the opportunity to drop Jaccard's name when you asked him about #SiteC but where have you been for MONTHS of major #SiteC instability & cost revelations? Yet now you're a platform for #SiteC proponents? https://stopsitec.today/press/
..I'm suddenly receiving a lot of DMs and emails from people who are reading this thread & supplying me with more points:
"I'd love to see Mark Jaccard's tax returns for the last few years."
"I'd love to see Mark Jaccard's tax returns for the last few years."
And: "Right on re: SFU - It gave us not only Clean Energy Canada and Jaccard, but also Andrew Petter’s silence and acquiescence to the pipeline on Burnaby Mtn"
..As for you, @BCHydro: longtime commentator on BC energy and economics @Norm_Farrell has often pointed out that re: #SiteC, "recognizing the reality of flat demand would cause the loss of many high paying jobs at BC Hydro and their consultants and contractors." #bcpoli
As for the boosters of #SiteC, Norm, as usual, is right: https://twitter.com/Norm_Farrell/status/1341479127463809024 #bcpoli
..I consulted informed types this morning on whether this #SiteC electricity transmission "intertie" with Alberta is needed. BC & AB are already intertied in our electrical grid, & the Jaccard/Shaffer op-ed (& the recent AB study) don't say why a new tie would be req'd.. #bcpoli
..The reply regarding this northern BC-AB 'intertie' idea: "Transmission lines have turned into lucrative megaprojects so it's likely the basis for some of the argument for a new intertie. After all SNC has to be involved if there's any federal funding involved." #bcpoli #cdnpoli
Alberta does not need this electricity intertie with BC, especially as they are adding their own electricity capacity in many forms. This seems more like Minister @JonathanWNV & the Liberals doing the bidding of #SNCLavalin to flow yet more public money into private hands.
..There are some clarifications/corrections to this thread re: the need and rationale for a northern BC-AB electricity intertie. It's very complicated and I'm going to try and add it in here soon - but none of it supports a case for #SiteC.
If AB *does* need a second high capacity transmission line to AB near dams, the BC/AB/federal govts could nearly as easily build transmission lines from the WAC Bennett/Peace Canyon dams. You don't need #SiteC, which is essentially a big run-of-river project, for such a line.
I now have a crew of engineers and experts in electrical installation construction DM'ing me regarding this thread. Thank you all. All agree there's no need for #SiteC here, but are providing valuable extra info on transmission. Going to relay some of it over the next day.
