Regional board rejects motion

Powell River Regional District directors have declined to adopt a motion mirroring a resolution passed by the Comox-Strathcona Regional District in August./

Laura Walz, Editor
Powell River Peak
November 29, 2007

Powell River Regional District directors have declined to adopt a motion mirroring a resolution passed by the Comox-Strathcona Regional District in August.

Texada Action Now (TAN), a group opposed to a proposal by WestPac LNG for a liquefied natural gas storage facility and natural gas-fired generating plant on the north end of the island, asked that the Powell River Regional District adopt a similar motion "or at the very least" endorse the Comox-Strathcona Regional District resolution.

The motion stated the board would request Premier Gordon Campbell to extend provincial policy requiring 100 per cent carbon sequestration to all fossil fuel-fired projects in British Columbia, including any liquid natural gas electricity generating facilities.

Powell River directors passed a motion at the November 22 board meeting that stated, in part, "the board believes supporting the Comox-Strathcona Regional District motion regarding 100 per cent carbon sequestration of all fossil-fuel fired projects in BC would be premature given the provincial government's review of its current policy and intention to announce a new energy policy in 2009."

Dave Murphy, the Texada Island director on the regional board, voted in opposition to the motion, which passed without debate.

TAN chairman Chuck Childress told the Peak it was "unfortunate that the Comox-Strathcona Regional District is more concerned about the greenhouse gas emissions from a gas-fired generating facility on Texada Island than the Powell River Regional District is."

It was the perfect time for the regional district to make a comment, Childress added, because provincial government would take it as input to help develop the energy plan. "That's when you want to do it," he said. "You don't want to comment after they formulated it, because you're probably not going to change it. You want to put your input in advance."

The province has announced that as of February 14, 2007, all new electricity-generating projects in the province will have zero net greenhouse gas emissions. The province also requires that any coal-fired projects have 100 per cent carbon sequestration.

Powell River Regional District directors also voted at the board meeting to advise TAN the regional district is "legally unable to comply with its request for a referendum."

The regional district will provide a copy of its legal advice on the issue to TAN.

Group demands LNG moratorium

An organization has called for no liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility anywhere on the BC coast./

JUST SAY NO: Denise Reinhardt, spokeswoman for Malaspina Communities for Public Power, presented a resolution to New Democratic Party (NDP) MLA Nicholas Simons [middle], who represents Powell River-Sunshine Coast, and MLA Shane Simpson, the NDP's environment critic, during a rally on November 14. The resolution calls for no liquefied natural gas facility anywhere on the BC Coast.

Laura Walz
Powell River Peak
November 22, 2007

An organization has called for no liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility anywhere on the BC coast.

Denise Reinhardt, a spokeswoman for Malaspina Communities for Public Power (MCPP), presented a resolution to New Democratic Party (NDP) MLA Nicholas Simons, who represents the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding, which calls for no LNG terminal and plant on Texada Island or "anywhere on the coast of BC."
Reinhardt made the presentation at a rally on Wednesday, November 14 at Simons' office on Marine Avenue. About 80 people attended the event, which was organized by MCPP. People carried signs that read, "Develop Renewable Energy Sources Now," "Say No to LNG," "Fight for Our Power," and "It's not Safe for the East, It's Not Safe for the West."

Shane Simpson, the NDP's environment critic and MLA for Vancouver-Hastings, also attended the rally.

WestPac LNG, an Alberta-based private company, has proposed a combined LNG import terminal and natural gas-fired electrical generation facility on the north end of Texada Island. Plans for the $2-billion project include a marine jetty, onshore LNG storage tanks, and an interconnection with the existing Terasen natural gas pipeline and a transmission line connecting to the existing Cheekye-Dunsmuir line, which supplies power to Vancouver Island.

WestPac had planned to submit a project description to the province's environmental assessment office this fall, but announced recently it wouldn't be proceeding with the application until late next year.

Chuck Childress, Texada Action Now (TAN) chairman, a group opposed to the facility, told the crowd that TAN did not side with any political party. "We look at it as an apolitical fight," he said. "The plan itself does not meet any political party's vision of fighting climate change."

Rather than helping Texada's economy, Childress said the proposal was hurting it because it was scaring people away. "The very threat of an LNG plant has put a very cold bath on the real estate industry and housing industry on Texada immediately, because people don't want to come there and invest," he said. "When you're looking for a healthy economy, even if you're looking for growth, you don't have to have a great big smokestack. That may be the way of the past, but it's certainly not the way this coast should be developing."

Simpson agreed that there was nothing about the project that could be considered green energy. He also said that NDP MLAs have asked questions about WestPac's proposal, but the government has said it can't answer any questions because it is just a proposal. "They may be saying we won't be talking about this until we get an application," he said. "I believe there's been a nod and a wink from the government here to WestPac to say, 'Bring this project forward and when the time comes, we'll let you go ahead.' Nobody puts $2 billion on the table potentially and says we're going to build without having a pretty good idea that the people who have to rubber stamp it at the end are going to give the rubber stamp."

WestPac has backed off for a year, Simpson added, only because of the work of the people in the community who oppose it. "The people in the community deserve all the credit for that," he said. "But as you know, they have backed off for now, but they have not gone away."

Plant hired for his influence

This was a meeting of power and influence. Housing Minister Rich Coleman, of course, has the power. Geoff Plant is all about influence. It is what the former B.C. attorney general sells. In case you were wondering, Plant is on the board of a company called West Pac LNG. That's the Alberta based outfit that wants to build a $2 billion liquefied natural gas plant at the north end of Texada Island./

Allen Garr
Vancouver Courier
Friday, November 16, 2007

On Oct. 12, as a small crowd waited for a provincial government housing announcement at the Lookout Shelter on Yukon Street, B.C.'s Minister of Housing Rich Coleman strode into the room and headed directly for Geoff Plant. "Mr. Commissioner," he said as he grasped Vancouver's civil city commissioner in one of those warm, two-handed handshakes. They smiled in the way friends smile at each other while sharing a private joke.

This was a meeting of power and influence. Coleman, of course, has the power. Plant is all about influence. It is what the former B.C. attorney general sells.

In case you were wondering, the city isn't his only customer. Plant is on the board of a company called West Pac LNG. That's the Alberta based outfit that wants to build a $2 billion liquefied natural gas plant at the north end of Texada Island. It will mean bringing in LNG tankers into Georgia Strait. They will then either burn off the gas to produce electricity or turn the LNG into a gas, most of which will be shipped south of the border.

The locals are freaked out about emissions from the gas burning and the security issues around steering those tankers in inland water.

According to the B.C. lobbyist registry, Plant has been working for West Pac and bending the ear of the B.C. minister of energy and his old boss and former roommate (they shared a condo together in Victoria) Premier Gordon Campbell. (see lobbyists report below, and notice the registry error - they have him registered as Paul Plant!)

He is also using his connections to get what he can for the city. He is the second high profile lobbyist Vancouver has paid for. The first was and still is Ken Dobell, who is Campbell's former deputy minister and a guy who has connections to Campbell that go back to the days when Campbell was mayor of Vancouver and Dobell was his city manager.

This strategy of hiring people with influence in Victoria, and to some extent in Ottawa, to deal with the problems of homelessness coupled with drug addiction, mental illness and poverty was cooked up by city manager Judy Rogers. She was mentored in the skills of effective political persuasion by her former boss Ken Dobell.

And you could not find two people closer to the premier than Dobell and Plant. So far Plant is on record as lobbying Campbell and 10 other cabinet ministers on Vancouver's behalf.

On Tuesday, Plant delivered his first progress report as civil city commissioner to council. His mandate was to work on pledges made by Mayor Sam Sullivan: By 2010 homelessness, panhandling and the city's open drug market would be reduced by 50 per cent. Public satisfaction with the city's handling of public disorder would increase.

Plant points out that aside from homelessness, which apparently affects 2,000 people, the other matters are near impossible to measure when trying to set benchmarks.

Opposition councillors were not impressed with this, nor were they impressed with the overall report, which spent much of the space it took up reviewing existing city programs.

Questions were raised about why we needed Plant and the $300,000 budget that goes with him. We have city staff to work on these issues, and the mayor should be the one convincing people in Victoria and Ottawa to help us out. But obviously Rogers and her senior management team have looked at their own resources and the mayor's abilities and found them wanting.

They are convinced that regardless of the problems setting benchmarks for Sullivan's promises, Plant and Dobell before him have access to people in power that is unique and unparalleled. They look at the recent housing announcements as proof of that.

And, you may well ask, will Sam Sullivan take credit for the work done by the influential hired help? You can count on it. But then we will have those new units of supportive housing, too.

© Vancouver Courier 2007