Bill 50 is bad, very bad.

[freshprince1]

My boss just got back from some conference telling people about proposed Bill 50, to build huge transmission lines across Alberta going down to the US. Apparently this is so when the Nuclear Power Plants get built here the Power companies can sell their power to the States.

The bad part is that the expense will be paid for solely by us taxpayers...and this thing is huge. Enmax is apparently one of the only companies trying to fight it. The Cheif Executive was the one talking. He said "power bills will soar as he multibillion-dollar project is pushed through"

Anyone know any further details? I admit my knowledge of this is limited thus far - and being at work, I can't spend too much time researching right now.

[freshprince1]

http://www.enmax.com/Corporation/Bill50/default.htm

[YamahaV8]

Transmission costs will triple :eek: That's not cool.

[freshprince1]

Follow the petition links on the website and get your cowrkers to sign. We need to get the Legistlative Assenbly to vote "NO" on Bill 50.

[Ven]

Gary Holden is an exceptionaly bright guy and I think he's spot on with the assessments of Bill 50s repercussions. I think building modern, scalable, divertable, green plants in needed areas not only make more sense meeting distribution needs, but offers side benefits like creating long term jobs, introducing new technologies, and providing a usable means of emergency back-up to the infrastructure grid.

[battleaxe1]

More discussion should have been done with the public, and we should not be footing the bill. That said, Holden doesn't give a fuck about the common man, he is out there protecting his company... and so is our liberal mayor.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by freshprince1
My boss just got back from some conference telling people about proposed Bill 50, to build huge transmission lines across Alberta going down to the US. Apparently this is so when the Nuclear Power Plants get built here the Power companies can sell their power to the States.

The bad part is that the expense will be paid for solely by us CONSUMERS...and this thing is huge. Enmax is apparently one of the only companies trying to fight it. The Cheif Executive was the one talking. He said "power bills will soar as he multibillion-dollar project is pushed through"

Anyone know any further details? I admit my knowledge of this is limited thus far - and being at work, I can't spend too much time researching right now.


repost somewhat... (http://forums.beyond.ca/st/278494/new-power-line-higher-bill/)


I'm surprised how long it's taken people to to final pay attention this has been in the news for a long time....:dunno:

[TorqueDog]

I get the part about tax-payers paying more for transmission costs which is BS... but....

If the province gets the ability to sell power to the United States... wouldn't this increase provincial government revenues, in turn, putting Alberta in a stronger economic position? Or am I missing something here?

[Xtrema]

I don't know all the facts but

If our taxes paid to maintain all transmission lines and equipment, why the fuck am I paying transmission fee that's equal or more than my energy use?

And if the industry is privatized, why are we paying for transmission lines?

I don't really who to trust on this.

If we do build the lines, does it mean cheaper bill for me? If not, why do I want to support this bill? I got a feeling we'll get fucked like California did a few years back.

[J NRG]

.

[DENZILDON]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
All that is going on here is Enmax is trying to maintain a monopoly over available local power for distribution while the provincial government is trying to boost it's abilities to sell power South of the border.

Funny, both sides have no real interest in Canadians... just how much money they can extract.

A more moderate approach would be to lightly upgrade local power lines and instead build local power facilities that would provide long term employment for the people of Alberta.

I think if you had to pick; killing bill 50 would be the most beneficial for the local citizens. I would really rather my electric bill doesn't go up anymore.


Enmax already has plans to build power plants in Alberta and is currently working on green power.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by TorqueDog
I get the part about tax-payers paying more for transmission costs which is BS... but....

If the province gets the ability to sell power to the United States... wouldn't this increase provincial government revenues, in turn, putting Alberta in a stronger economic position? Or am I missing something here?

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Now I don't the first damn thing about this process but if the province wants to build this stuff so then can then sell excess power to someone else (USA in this case) wouldn't that HELP the tax payers in the long run? Isn't it kind of like building a new store for a new business? You need to spend the money to build the store to run your business? I'm sure there's more to it than that though.

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit


That's exactly what I was thinking.

Now I don't the first damn thing about this process but if the province wants to build this stuff so then can then sell excess power to someone else (USA in this case) wouldn't that HELP the tax payers in the long run? Isn't it kind of like building a new store for a new business? You need to spend the money to build the store to run your business? I'm sure there's more to it than that though.

Except this transmission line is just another line, from what my coworker said (who attended the Town Hall mtg.) this new line would be ten times the size of all the combined lines in the province right now. It's not like they're just adding an extension cord here. And we would foot the bill.

The real problem is that Bill 50 would eliminate the Public Hearing portion of Government deals with the private sector. Which means the Gov't would be able to decide how to spend tax payer's money without having to disclose any of the information to the public. That's the bigger problem here.

[DENZILDON]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit


That's exactly what I was thinking.

Now I don't the first damn thing about this process but if the province wants to build this stuff so then can then sell excess power to someone else (USA in this case) wouldn't that HELP the tax payers in the long run? Isn't it kind of like building a new store for a new business? You need to spend the money to build the store to run your business? I'm sure there's more to it than that though.

Guess who gets the profit?

[TKRIS]

Is there a way for you guys to bitch about this while still encouraging nuclear power?

I don't think I care what side you're on (I'll let you hash out what's best), as long as we all agree to build a couple nuclear plants...

[kdwebber]

Originally posted by TKRIS
Is there a way for you guys to bitch about this while still encouraging nuclear power?

I don't think I care what side you're on (I'll let you hash out what's best), as long as we all agree to build a couple nuclear plants...

why would you want to encourage nuclear power? high costs and leftover nuclear waste.... such a great idea

[kenny]

Originally posted by kdwebber


why would you want to encourage nuclear power? high costs and leftover nuclear waste.... such a great idea

Played too much Sim City?

[TorqueDog]

Originally posted by kenny
Played too much Sim City? :werd:

[TKRIS]

Originally posted by kdwebber
why would you want to encourage nuclear power? high costs and leftover nuclear waste.... such a great idea

Actually, Nuclear power is cost competitive (would be far lower if we actually started using it on a large scale), and far safer and better for the environment than our current methods, while requiring no new technological advances to be feasible.
It's also safer than most methods we currently use, and we have ways of easily running down actinides so we can store the incredibly small amount of waste produced in salt domes, completely safely, for 100 million years...
Additionally, it's not geographically restrictive like almost every form of alternative energy we're currently exploring, which means we can supply everyone with better, safer, more efficient energy.


If only we could get the hand wringers who have no fucking clue what they're talking about to shut the fuck up, we could drastically reduce our environmental footprint, and make huge strides in reducing world hunger, poverty, and disease by providing safer, cost effective energy to everyone.


Instead, we've let politics, and people with an incredibly tenuous grasp on science and technology, make decisions on science and technology, and we're now paying the price for that.


Originally posted by kenny
Played too much Sim City?

:rofl:

[Legless_Marine2]

Originally posted by Ven
Gary Holden is an exceptionaly bright guy and I think he's spot on with the assessments of Bill 50s repercussions. I think building modern, scalable, divertable, green plants in needed areas not only make more sense meeting distribution needs, but offers side benefits like creating long term jobs, introducing new technologies, and providing a usable means of emergency back-up to the infrastructure grid.

I'm glad that Gary Holden is speaking up against this bill, but what I really wonder is who is championing this bill, and what their vested interest/connections are.

[J NRG]

.

[TKRIS]

By that retarded logic, we'd never be able to do anything since someone is always going to bitch that we're not doing it properly...

[raymondman]

This is terrible :banghead:

Its one thing after another! First the ring road gets denied by the natives now this... gosh

[DENZILDON]

Just went into a meeting regarding bill 50. I'll write out tonight what was presented to us.

[Maxt]

I think this is strategic positioning for transmission of excess power 9-10 years down the road, after there are a few nuclear plants north of Edmonton. I don't like they are sticking Alberta residents with the tab, all that is happening is using a red herring to get the public to pay for their expansion. With all the Global warming fanaticism going on,its pretty much a given the oilsands is going to have go nuclear for its steam production.
Look at this fact that is being used in the promotion of the lines
"Due to inefficiencies, $220 million worth of electricity was lost as heat from transmission lines in 2008, which is enough to power more than 350,000 homes for a year."
To me that is even more reason to back Enmax's proposal of local generation.
But its not like Enmax's proposal is totally angelic either. I am sure there is some self interest at play there as well. They don't want to lose control of the market on home turf.
Altalink says they are not against Enmax's local generation project, of course not , they are into distribution, not generation, the more made in the province, the more there is to export, and guess who's gonna move it.
I have been searching for numbers on what the grid can take and how much we are actually using, can't seem to get any real hard data, just some silly its a tired old chevy comments from Alta link.

[LLLimit]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
All that is going on here is Enmax is trying to maintain a monopoly over available local power for distribution while the provincial government is trying to boost it's abilities to sell power South of the border.

Funny, both sides have no real interest in Canadians... just how much money they can extract.

A more moderate approach would be to lightly upgrade local power lines and instead build local power facilities that would provide long term employment for the people of Alberta.

I think if you had to pick; killing bill 50 would be the most beneficial for the local citizens. I would really rather my electric bill doesn't go up anymore.


I agree. Enmax is doing this to protect their market in Calgary. I was listening in on Enmax being against it, and even though it will add to the Transmission portion of the bill, their type of generation is expensive to produce or construct, so it will add to to another part of your power bill. But I dont have the whole story, since i was just listening in.

As for your upgrading power lines comments currently the Edmonton area is having the backbone of their system reinforced because the generation plants to the west is good to produce for Alberta. The rest of the province will benefit.

[Canmorite]

If consumers foot the bill to eventually sell power to the states, will we get kick backs? Doubt it, but it'd be nice.