West Coast Environmental Law
Research Foundation
NewsletterWest Coast Environmental Law
Research Foundation
NewsletterThe BC Energy Coalition will argue vital environmental issues in a BC Hydro hearing before the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) in September, building on its successful intervention in two recent BCUC hearings. The issues involved are the need to properly value conservation as a future resource option and the urgent need to set greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The hydro hearing is important, since over 87% of BC's electricity comes from hydroelectric dams and BC Hydro supplies 92% of the population with electricity. It is crucial to know what BC Hydro's plans are for developing future power sources, what priority conservation has in its plans and how it intends to incorporate environmental costs and involve the public in its decisions. Unfortunately, the public can find it difficult to stay abreast of the issues which are often obscured by technical terms and "energyspeak" known only to those involved with the issues on a daily basis. IRP (integrated resource planning), MATA (multi-attribute tradeoff analysis), DSM (demand side management), megawatts, negawatts, decoupling, carbon sequestering -- who can follow it all?
The BC Energy Coalition has mastered the jargon. The Coalition is an umbrella organization of environmental and ratepayer groups, including the Sierra Club of Western Canada, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, the Worldwide Home Environmentalists Network and the Kootenay Okanagan Electric Consumers Association. Carol Reardon, a lawyer from WCELA, represented the Coalition successfully at the two recent BCUC hearings, and will represent the Coalition again at the upcoming BC Hydro hearing in September, from her current position at the law firm of Heenan Blaikie. The EDRF is partially funding the Coalition's legal assistance for this hearing.
The three hearings that the Coalition has participated in all involve integrated resource planning, which is a name given to the power planning framework that recognizes load uncertainty, embodies an emphasis on risk management and reviews all available and reliable resources to meet future loads and seeks to minimize total consumer costs.* In 1993, the BCUC ordered all utilities to file an Integrated Resource Plan every two years demonstrating how the utility intended to incorporate social and environmental costs in decision-making about future resource options.
The first hearing in March concerned the West Kootenay Power Ltd. IRP. The Coalition identified serious flaws in the plan's public involvement process and social costing methodology. The BCUC adopted all the primary recommendations made by the Coalition to remedy the flaws.
The second hearing concerned BC Gas Utilities Ltd., which filed its IRP for review in a June hearing. The Coalition played a pivotal role in this hearing by presenting a full decoupling proposal for BC Gas since they had failed to file such a proposal themselves, despite being ordered to do so by the Commission. Decoupling is a regulatory design that breaks the link between energy sales and revenues to remove the disincentive for utilities to practice energy efficiency and conservation*. Although the Commission did not adopt the proposal, it supported the following recommendations of the BC Energy Coalition in its decision:
1. The Commission agreed that "the emerging government policies with regard to the stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions should be taken into account in the BC Gas IRP" and directed BC Gas to do so in both the objectives of the IRP and the risk assessment component of the IRP;
2. The Commission directed BC Gas to develop a proposal for conservation incentive mechanisms in consultation with intervenors by December 31, 1994;
3. The Commission agreed that the evidence advanced in the BC Gas IRP regarding the environmental impacts of its fuel substitution programs (i.e. replacing electricity with natural gas) was inadequate, and disallowed these programs until a proper analysis is done;
4. The Commission agreed that greater efforts may be required to incorporate monetized environmental impact measures (especially the emission costs associated with natural gas) in the BC Gas IRP.
The BC Hydro IRP will be filed at a hearing scheduled to begin on September 12, 1994. The Energy Coalition will intervene to pursue their objective of entrenching technically and environmentally sound integrated resource planning for Hydro as the largest utility in the Province. The Coalition will identify problems with the Hydro IRP and offer alternatives in three crucial areas:
Public Involvement
Public involvement is a requirement of the BCUC IRP Guidelines. The Coalition will critique Hydro's plan, particularly in relation to the Demand Side Management collaborative. DSM is a utility strategy for changing the demand for electricity or natural gas, while still meeting customer needs, through programs that encourage customers to use energy more efficiently.*
MATA
Multi-attribute tradeoff analysis is a method of comparing the costs and benefits of proposed resource options. The Coalition will present evidence that the IRP does not fully recognize the significant environmental costs of thermal power generation, and will present a written proposal for improvements to Hydro's MATA.
Monetization of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In the hearings to date, the utilities have paid inadequate attention to greenhouse gas emission costs associated with its proposed resource options. The Coalition will argue for a more technically sound methodology for measuring the environmental costs associated with controlling air emissions. Future resource options identified in the Hydro IRP include the development of fossil fuel powered plants which will contribute to global warming such as the Hat Creek and East Kootenay coal projects and natural gas turbines. Unless BC Hydro is directed to include the full environmental costs in planning, DSM and renewable projects will continue to be undervalued. The Coalition will also argue that BC Hydro's plans should be evaluated in terms of their ability to drive programs and resource choices which achieve greenhouse gas stabilization. BC Hydro should adopt a greenhouse gas emissions cost based on the cost of reaching the government endorsed target of achieving carbon dioxide emissions stabilization at 1990 levels by the year 2000.
The Coalition's participation in these hearings is important for environmentally sound energy planning in BC.
* These definitions come from a valuable book which demystifies energy planning and has a specific Northwest focus: Plugging People into Power -- An Energy Participation Handbook, published by the Northwest Conservation Act Coalition, available in the West Coast library.
NOISE POLLUTION
The Act should be expanded to allow for the regulation of noise pollution.
INTERVENOR FUNDING
The Act should include enabling provisions for a legislated program for intervenor funding and participant assistance.
ANTI-SLAPP MEASURES
The importance of public participation in environmental decision making is vital to both maintaining and enhancing the state of our environment. Despite wide acceptance of this principle, there is a growing threat that those individuals and organizations who advocate greater environmental protection may be subject to private litigation designed to retaliate against them for past advocacy and participation. The Act should contain anti-SLAPP measures ("Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation").
AIR AND WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
The Act should provide the basis for requiring the province to set ambient standards for air quality and water quality. Exceedances of these standards should trigger actions such as reviews of all authorizations in the affected areas and programs to deal with non-point sources of contaminants.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGISTRY
Given the importance of the environmental registry to the concerned public, we recommend establishing a mandatory environmental registry. This will ensure adequate resources are dedicated on a continued basis to establish and maintain the registry.
For a complete copy of WCELA's brief, call us at (604) 684-7378.
The provincial government has released a new draft of the British Columbia Environmental Protection Act. This new law has long been needed to replace the existing Waste Management Act and to provide an explicit change in focus from end-of-pipe waste management to pollution prevention. But does the Act go far enough in promoting pollution prevention?
For many years WCELA has supported the development of a long term pollution prevention strategy for British Columbia, combining strict law enforcement for environmental polluters with economic incentives to encourage polluters not to pollute in the first place. While we congratulate the government for moving to replace the outdated Waste Management Act, the emphasis on pollution prevention could and should be improved.
The definition of pollution prevention is a major defect of the Act. It does not follow the current trend in progressive North American environmental protection legislation which is to avoid the creation of pollution, not just control it. The definition is important, not simply as a matter of semantics. The concept of pollution prevention demands a conscious shift in thinking that prevents the creation of pollution in the first place. The current definition of pollution prevention in the Act is confusing since it includes some prevention, some pollution control and some pollution remediation.
Pollution prevention involves taking measures to address pollution at its source of generation, thereby eliminating toxic pollutants before they are created. Preventing pollution means a waste or emission is not generated in the first place.
Pollution prevention approaches can range from simple methods and techniques to advanced technologies. Simple preventive applications may include such activities as covering exposed containers of volatile chemicals or tightening loose and leaking pipe connections. Other low-technology options include personnel training, good housekeeping, improved business operations and inventory control practices. High-technology pollution prevention applications include redesigning manufacturing processes, substituting raw materials (e.g. switching hazardous solvents to water-based materials), increasing the efficiency of production, or redesigning and reformulating products.
Pollution prevention is an environmental protection method that is fundamentally different from approaches that focus on managing or controlling pollution after it has been generated. Pollution prevention occurs before the creation of a waste or a pollutant, and thus before the implementation of waste management alternatives such as pollution control, treatment, recycling or disposal.1994 Pollution Prevention Evaluation Report, published by the Minnesota Office of Waste Management.(1)
WCELA lawyers participated extensively in the consultation processes for the development of the Act and have submitted a detailed brief outlining our proposed amendments to the Ministry of Environment. We have pressed for changes to the pollution prevention sections of the Act in our brief.
Some of the other recommendations in this brief are:
The purpose section is a very important section of the Act and should provide a sense of vision for environmental protection into the next century. It should be improved. We strongly recommend strengthening the precautionary principle provision by deleting the reference to cost-effective measures. The achievement of zero pollution should be an explicit goal in BCEPA. One of the purposes of the Act should be the right of citizens to a healthy environment.
We strongly support the inclusion of the environmental bill of rights provisions, in particular the public trust doctrine and the civil cause of action. This will bring British Columbia's key legislation for setting environmental standards further into line with modern environmental legislation.
Have you read about the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund ("EDRF") grants in previous newsletters and wondered whether you or your organization qualifies for a grant? Do you know what the EDRF does and its potential benefits for you as a member of the public concerned about environmental protection? Have you had other questions about the EDRF? Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about this important program.
The West Coast Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund began in 1989 with funding from the Law Foundation of British Columbia. It was established to assist individuals and non-profit organizations with resolving environmental disputes which involve a legal issue or process.
The EDRF provides assistance in a number of ways. For example, a grant from the Fund can pay the cost of participation in alternative dispute resolution processes, or cover the cost of lawyers' appearances before bodies such as the Environmental Appeal Board or the BC Utilities Commission. It can also grant money to fund legal services aimed at examining, settling or pursuing environmental litigation. Lawyers contribute their services on a partially pro bono basis. The Fund pays for legal fees up to a maximum of $50 per hour .
The EDRF has made grants to a wide range of individuals and organizations. This year the environmental issues it has supported include:
Applicants hire lawyers to work with them. Those who apply for grants may request up to $50 per hour to be paid towards legal fees. WCELA can assist applicants by providing names of lawyers who may be willing to work at the $50 per hour rate. This year WCELA has received funding from the Law Foundation of BC for a one-year pilot project involving the hiring of an EDRF Liaison Lawyer. The EDRF lawyer will provide assistance to applicants for funding and to legal counsel hired by successful grantees.
More about the Fund?
Call Pat Houlihan, EDRF Liaison Lawyer, at WCELA, (604) 684-7378.
We regret to note the passing of John Artamenko, resident of Fort St. John and long-time supporter of West Coast, on August 1, 1994.
WCELRF Newsletter (ISSN #0715-4275) copyright 1994, is published by the West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation. This issue was produced by Bill Andrews, Morgan Ashbridge, Chris Heald, Ann Hillyer, Patricia Houlihan, Catherine Ludgate, Linda Nowlan, Denice Regnier, and Kim Stanton. Subscription information is above. West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation does research and education and maintains an environmental law library. West Coast Environmental Law Association provides legal representation and promotes law reform. The mission of West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation and West Coast Environmental Law Association is to provide legal services to protect the environment and to foster public participation in environmental decision-making. We are grateful to the Law Foundation of British Columbia for core funding of West Coast Environmental Law Association and West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation. Donations to West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation are tax creditable.