The mayor of a forest-dependent community in B.C. raises questions about how rising hydro rates and a glut of hydroelectric power from the Site C dam project could affect pulp and paper companies in a recent opinion piece published by TheTyee.ca.

Bob Simpson, mayor of Quesnel, notes that 17 companies in B.C. currently produce a combined 850 megawatts of “biomass” power. But what happens when these power purchase agreements expire? “A strong possibility is that such agreements won’t be renewed and that as a result mills will be far less financially viable,” says Simpson.

“If Site C proceeds, we will not only be walking away from taxpayer funded bio-energy facilities but also risking future investment in B.C. for bio-fuels and bioproducts which the world desperately needs and losing the opportunity for this province to become a world leader in these emerging industries.”

Read the full article here.