Dear Editor,
Pemberton’s Mayor Jordan Sturdy and his fellow councillors have issued a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) for a so-called “Community” Power Project on Pemberton Creek. Yet more taxpayer’s money wasted by politicians that choose to ignore a considerable portion of Pemberton residents, who do not want a river diversion project on Pemberton Creek because of the environmental impacts of these projects.
Residents also oppose these river diversion projects because they are based on flawed Liberal energy policies and legislation, which force BC Hydro to buy power at above market rates from independent power producers (IPPs), indebting BC Hydro to the tune of $50 billion. This massive debt and the environmental destruction caused by IPPs is all the more unnecessary, as BC Hydro has predicted a 10-year energy surplus.
Residents who think a river diversion project would generate money for Pemberton should think again. The project will cost at least $40 million, money which the Village does not have, and the return under BC Hydro’s Standing Offer Program, which Council has been pursuing, “would only be marginally economic” (see page 8 of the RFEI’s Supplementary Report – Financial Discussion).
Like Innergex’s Upper Lillooet River diversion project, developing Pemberton Creek is sheer idiocy from an environmental and financial perspective.
Louise Taylor
Pemberton
