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It’s been a long cold winter

Although it’s been a long, cold, wet winter in BC, with a higher than normal snowpack, there is an upside. When all of that snow and ice melts, as it has now started to do, reservoirs around the province will be more than refilled.

Dear Editor,

Although it’s been a long, cold, wet winter in BC, with a higher than normal snowpack, there is an upside.  When all of that snow and ice melts, as it has now started to do, reservoirs around the province will be more than refilled.  That means BC might just be able to generate as much electricity as we use this year, which is unlike most of the past decade in which we’ve been net importers of electricity.

However, this raises an important question: If we require a significantly higher than normal snowpack in order to meet the province’s electricity needs, then we obviously lack the capacity to meet the province’s electricity needs in normal years.  That’s not good.

With the energy resources we have in BC we should be able to more than meet our electricity needs even in years with lower than average snowpack levels.  We have the energy resources and it’s absurd that we’ve had to import electricity on a net basis for most of the past decade.  Getting back to energy self-sufficiency, as was the case in decades past, needs to be a top priority for this province.

 

Trudy Gordon,

Burnaby, B.C