VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC Hydro is offering itself up as a way to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) cleaner.
It could potentially mean a lot of pressure for the crown corporation. The more electricity that LNG producers want to use, the lower the greenhouse gas emissions, but the more demand it puts on BC Hydro.
President and CEO Charles Reid is telling producers he is here to help. “We’re flexible; we’ll work with you, we want to support your industry, and we’ll do whatever we can to do that.”
Reid’s comments came during the start of a two-day conference on LNG, which is being held in Downtown Vancouver.
You can expect to hear a lot about LNG in the coming months. Premier Christy Clark has put a lot of her re-election efforts on liquified natural gas, hoping that people will get excited. She’s hoping people will imagine the possibilities and says it could mean billions of dollars for the province.
Earlier today, the federal government re-announced a long-term export licence that’s been given to LNG Canada Development for a proposed terminal in Kitimat.
It’s all part of an effort to construct and develop the liquified natural gas industry. This is the third long-term licence issued since 2011.
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The unreported fact is that LNG is NOT clean energy…. it’s production and transmission produces massive methane gas releases into the atmosphere.. methane is a far worse greenhouse gas than CO2 in fueling global warming and climate change. It is not Hydro’s mandate to give handouts of public money to private industry… Ratepayers should not have to subsidize energy for industry.
And how is this going to work when you’re paying IPP’s $90 a gigawatt then selling it on the open market for $25?
Oh right, the ratepayer gets screwed to subsidize Gordon Campbell’s well connected buddies on a fatally flawed business plan.
Get your financial house in order BC Hydro, before saying you’re going to step up and massively support and subsidize LNG, and screw over your ratepayers in the process of doing so.
Throughout 2012 there was very little said about LNG terminals in the USA, because during an election year both sides would even mention anything that would increase gas prices to their voters. That gave BC more than a full year head start, and yet not a peep was said. Was that because the USA told BC not to bring up a sensitive topic, or was it because the liberals wanted to save the issue so it could be manipulated into an election issue?? Both possibilities, I think reflect a lack of sincerity on the liberals. Now the USA is taking steps with the terminal starting in New Orleans, and BC has not even started to make a move yet.
Taxpayers are being ask to share in the risk of mega dollar private projects. If it works out (bet that LNG record differential remain in place is highly unlikely as Japan will restart their nukes long b4 then) great for the corporations. If not guess who is going to end up picking up the tab?
Hydro continues to contradict itself. They have established a punitive second tier rate to “encourage conservation” and reward those who heat with natural gas. They tell us that they must increase rates because new power demands from a growing population cause them to build new generation that costs more per KWH. Now they want to use our limited “green” supply to compress natural gas! It makes more sense to bribe every resident to convert to natural gas heat from oil or electric!