It is a symbol of British Columbia — where hydroelectric power generation has reigned supreme as the chosen method to light our homes and power our sundry luxuries.
Extreme sacrifices have been made by the citizens and property owners of this province, as vast tracts of low-lying land has been flooded to accommodate the needs of thumping great dams, some built to assuage our American cousins’ worries of wet ankles.
Columbia Basin residents were among the hardest hit when the mad rush for hydroelectric power and dam building occurred in the 1960s and ’70s. Many were jackbooted off their land by an arrogant and power-drunk government that ruled from a sinister roost in Victoria — one that eyed the interior of the province as a place to plunder and abuse so the bloated and greedy who held their leashes could be content in their thinly veiled obscurantism.
B.C, has benefited from those sacrifices, though many of the approaches to building the dams during that era were cockeyed and rashly performed. Despite the environmental trauma laid upon the land, we all owe a debt to the people who received little to give up everything so we can lean on the comfortable realization that quick and relatively clean power is at a switch’s flick.
But now we need more power — because more and more people have to plug in.
And the latest mad dash toward B.C.’s golden water courses is in the form of run-of-river power generation, sold by those who stand to profit mightily off the graces of B.C.’s Crown as the most wonderful form of power generation in the history of hot winds. It isn’t BC Hydro that’s causing all the fuss. It is Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who are like gold prospectors of the previous century. They stake out a watercourse and start plundering the snot out of it so they can sell power to BC Hydro, whether it wants it or has the capacity to receive it or not.
Essentially, these brainwaves involve plenty of infrastructure, roads, vast tracts of forestland peeled back for power lines and environmental disruptions aplenty.
We have to trust our elected officials in Victoria to do the right thing and rushing into IPP-driven run-of-river schemes does not smell right. There was a stench in the air when our valleys were flooded several decades ago, too.
Trusting Victoria… hmm… that’s a tough one. Have they earned your trust? NDP and Liberal alike, they behave badly once they have the keys to the kingdom. And we peasants out here on the edges of that kingdom — we let space and time heal our wounds.
But do we really wish to allow another few to be inflicted upon us — upon our precious and vital waterways?
If you wish to understand more about IPPs and run-of-river power generation, check out the rally being held June 11 at the Invermere Community Hall, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald is leading a lineup of speakers who include former Socred cabinet minister and renowned radio personality Raif Mair.
Odd bedfellows to be sure — the lefty MLA and right-wing pundit — but they see eye to eye on this issue and one of their concerns is that trusting our government to do the right thing for our environment and the future of our province.
“The Environmental Assessment Act is nothing more than a fraud. They can’t stop any project,” Mair told The Echo, referring to the sketchy government lapdog agency that has more window dressing than the Miracle Mile at Christmas.
One word on the EA — Jumbo. Yeah, they got that one right. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.