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Site C fiasco

Many Citizen readers claim to care about how heavily they are taxed and how effectively their taxes are used, so it mystifies me that there is not more discussion of the Site C dam in these pages.
pen for letters

Many Citizen readers claim to care about how heavily they are taxed and how effectively their taxes are used, so it mystifies me that there is not more discussion of the Site C dam in these pages.

For those who haven’t been following the story, the cost of the project has ballooned from about $7 billion to over $12 billion, in large part because of the seismic instability at the dam site. It turns out that over a 20-year period, BC Hydro anticipates only being able to sell about $2.5 billion of the electricity, so guess who gets to pay the remaining $10 billion? That would be you and me.

In addition, the break-even cost of the electricity produced would be $120/MW-hour but you can buy electricity right now from our friendly neighbours in Alberta for less than $50/MW-hour from wind farms, which will only be getting cheaper over time.

One of the major utilities in Florida is currently purchasing wind energy contracts for $20/MW-hour.

And that does not even consider what we will owe when an earthquake collapses the dam and wipes out the downstream communities.

Please, if you care at all where your tax dollars are going, take a minute right now to contact your MLA and Premier Horgan and let them know this is not how you want your money spent.

This boondoggle makes the fast ferries look like a wise investment.

Stephen Rader

Prince George