Article by Scott Simpson in the Victoria Times Colonist: California eyes B.C. power

Excerpt: "Sea Breeze Power Corp., a Vancouver-based company trading in the 40-cent-a-share range on the TSX Venture Exchange, already has authorization from Canada's National Energy Board and the U.S. Department of Energy to run an undersea cable from the southern tip of Vancouver Island to Port Angeles, Wash., via the Strait of Juan de Fuca."

Ledcor, a private global company owned by West Vancouver's Ledy family, appears to be seeking some liquidity by moving a few renewable energy assets, BC Rivers, to Innergex, a Quebec stock marketer. Innergex press release: Innergex Renewable Energy to Acquire Rights to Develop 200 MW of Hydro Projects in BC.

Excerpt: "It's comparatively easy to keep Crown corporations accountable, since nearly all of their records have to be made available for public scrutiny and as their operations are susceptible to political pressure. This is not the case with private interests, which are sheltered from the electorate and which conceal their activities in commercial secrecy. Instead of intensifying its regulatory scrutiny in order to compensate for this, the government has actually weakened the environmental assessment process, reduced the regulatory burden, downsized staffing levels at the Environment Ministry by about a third, and promoted industry "self-regulation" or "voluntary compliance", thereby compromising environmental standards and making it much harder for the public to hold anyone accountable for the ecological havoc these private projects are wreaking."

Excerpt: "Anyone who thinks that Penner made that decision will no doubt be interested in a bridge I have for sale. Gordon Campbell cancelled the project and the cancellation had dick-all to do with parks or the environment. The premier can see that he's going to be in trouble all over the province on this issue. The advice given at the meeting -- and roundly applauded -- was that everyone ought to set aside party politics in the next election and, instead, only support candidates who oppose the Run of Rivers Projects and unequivocally support public power.

"Premier Campbell wanted to avoid having the Pitt used as a rallying cry in the election in May '09.

"I have news for Mr. Campbell. This fight will be taken right around the province and the Pitt will be a rallying cry -- a symbol of what an aroused public can do."

Excerpt: "Alcan's deal was wildly generous... It handed the company huge profits - in the hundreds of millions of dollars - for no reason. The mega-corporation got the agreement even though the government should have had all the negotiating power."

Excerpt: "There's the B.C. Ministry of Environment. Surely it can be depended upon to look after public interests in the great outdoors British Columbians like to boast about. Unfortunately, we know from other matters such as the Eagleridge case and the South Fraser Perimeter Road that the Environmental Assessment Act is only invoked after the decision has been made."