GLOBE AND MAIL Virtual view of power projects renders a jolting reality check MARK HUME May 28, 2007 VANCOUVER -- Of all the ways there are to see beautiful British Columbia, few are scarier than the view provided by a new program on Google Earth, which allows you to fly down from outer space and land in the future. Or at least it is the future that will occur unless British Columbians decide to stop a gold rush for private power that could see dams and power generating facilities built on hundreds of wild and scenic rivers. Craig Williams, a computer programmer, backcountry hiker and skier from Vancouver, has mapped on Google Earth all the "points of diversion" for some 500 proposed independent power projects, or IPPs, in B.C. Once you launch the program, Google Earth zooms in on the planet, sweeps down on the rugged beauty of B.C., then plunges you into a display of teardrop-shaped icons that represent active or proposed power projects. The sheer number of icons will leave you dizzy. The program, "River$ at Ri$k, Public Resources for Private Profit," is at: www.ippwatch.info Take a ride. And be prepared for a shock. Power project icons seem to skewer just about every watershed in the province. If you magnify the satellite image by rolling the wheel on your mouse or selecting the Google Earth controls, you see that it is worse than it first appears, because there are layers atop layers. When you break through the outer crust, the icons separate. Click on any one and a window pops open that identifies the power project, tells you who the licensee is, and provides links to other websites containing land use applications, maps and environmental assessment records, among other things. Mr. Williams's program is both a powerful research tool and a visual slap in the face. It's one thing to say the B.C. government's energy plan has triggered a rush by private power producers - but until you see how many claims have been staked, you can't imagine the scope. Mr. Williams is not associated with any environmental group, he's "just a concerned citizen" who thinks people should know what's going on out there. "I'm by no means against micro-hydro. I think it's fantastic. But I also think it's putting in jeopardy public resources and converting them into private income," he said. "It's mind-blowing when you see that map," said Gwen Barlee, a director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. "There is a gold rush mentality by private corporations for a public resource. It's disturbing how fast it is happening. In 10 years, I'm afraid people are going to wake up and say, 'How did we give away hundreds of rivers to private corporations?' " The most articulate answer to that question is found in a report by John Calvert, an adjunct professor of political science at Simon Fraser University and a research associate of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. In his paper, Sticker Shock, he says the B.C. government's energy policy "is rapidly transforming the province's electricity system from one owned and controlled by the people of the province, to one that is operated in the interests of private energy developers and multinational energy corporations." Dr. Calvert said when the provincial government blocked B.C. Hydro from developing small hydro projects, and required that small hydro and wind power projects be developed exclusively by private interests, it created "a frenetic scramble by private investors" for the most promising sites in the province. Dr. Calvert, whose doctorate is from the London School of Economics, said that besides raising environmental concerns, private power will cost British Columbians a lot more than the power produced by B.C. Hydro. He said Site C, a big dam once proposed by B.C. Hydro in the north, energy that now flows to the U.S. under the Columbia River Treaty, and the construction of small projects by the public utility, would all be better ways to meet B.C.'s power needs. The shocking alternative can be seen on Google Earth. More details on the issue can be found at: www.publicpowerbc.ca mhume@globeandmail.com