TL: James Bay Energy Campaign Outlook SO: Francois Tanguay, Greenpeace Quebec (GP) DT: 1995 Keywords: environment greenpeace quebec canada energy/ GREENPEACE QUEBEC 1994-1995 JAMES BAY ENERGY CAMPAIGN OUTLOOK FRANCOIS TANGUAY HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDER Quebec arrived in the 20th century around 1960 ! Until then it was more like a banana republic, a non-player on the economic playing field. The first major event that began to crystalyse it's evolution was the nationalisation of it's hydroelectric sector. From minimal that it was in the early sisties Hydro-Quebec has become one of the giants of electricity on the planet. With over 25,000 employees, nearly 30,000 mw of installed power and a 4% of the province's GNP, it's second only to the government in size. It is closely linked to the identity of modern day Quebec, and as of recently, could do no wrong ! But the Giant has outgrown it's capacity to control it's appetite and it must be held back before it dams every brook that flows in Quebec. Our role has been to insist that a public utility like Hydro must be more responsive to the public, and it has not been. We have also been making the argument that Hydro must have a special ethics since it's power to influence the course of our lives is so obvious. Energy, specialy hydro-electricity, is at the core of the social battles in Quebec. In fighting this war we fight all the battles since we can help bend the orientations of Quebec society as a whole. It's in this context that we pursue our quest for a more sustainable future for Quebec. PRESENTATION The main thrust of the campaign remains centered around HYDRO-QUEBEC ( HQ). Almost all of our electricity comes from HQ and almost all of it comes from hydroelectric power. We have a network of more tham 50 major dams giving us 27,000,000 of the 29,000,000 megawatts we produce. Quebec is a unique case, since electricity equals oil in our overall energy scenario. Each supplying a little over 40% of our total energy needs. Gas, at around 15 % completes the picture. We have reached a point where we, and all of Northeast America, are in an electricity glutt. We do not need more energy but a coherent attitude towards our needs and how to fill them. Efficency and energy transfer to renewables must be at the center of our campaigns. For sure major new additions of energy are not justified at present, the time is ripe for an energy revolution. So electricity production from maga hydroelectric projects,and their environmental and social consequences has been and will be at the center of our preoccupations at Greenpeace Quebec, but now we must concentrate on what the alternatives must be. A MATTER OF SCALE For most countries hydro power would be a God send, here it's become a major source of environmental and social problems . Quebec has constantly overestimated demand and as a result we have built projects we didn't realy need, and many times on Native lands. The size of our major projects surpass imagination. La Grande alone will produce 15,000 Mw by 1996 and has drowned over 10,000 Kms of Native land. At the same time Hydro Quebec has not been serious about reducing demand and being more efficient through demand side policies. Integrated Resources Planning is a novelty in Quebec. In 1994 HYDRO-QUEBEC still pursues this megadam policy and we are at present fighting the Great Whale Project ( 3200Mw), among others. The issue wont go away and to add insult to injury Hydro has been far from transparent as one would expect a public owned utility to be. SECRET CONTRACTS Thus, at the core of our worries is a less than transparent HQ and it's very arrogant attitude towards anyone that even questions the idea of mega projects or any other supply side projects it proposes. The bad planning of the Seventies has led to overproduction and this overproduction has led to the conclusion of " Secret risk- sharing contracts " between Hydro and energy intensive industries like aluminum smelters. These deals were signed under tremendous political pressure from the present government. Greenpeace Quebec revealed this story to the public two years ago and it raised an outcry from all sides. We are still pursuing this story as we get access to more and more information regarding those incredible deals. To give you an idea, in 1993 alone Hydro lost $ 325 (cdn) in lost revenues alone within the framework of those contracts. All of them are for a Kwh price that is below cost to HQ. In some cases, like the Reynolds Plant in Sept-Iles on the Lower St-Lawrence river, the " subsidies " represent more than TWICE THE ENTIRE PAYROLL, TOP BRASS INCLUDED ! EXPORTS TO THE USA In the first part of 1994 Greenpeace joined with other groups and we went to the New York State Power Authority hearings on electricity imports from HQ. We won a major battle there and two contracts were cancelled by NY state. Our point was that the so called surplusses to be exported were the result of bad planning and overbuilding. ( Copy of our memoire included here).We told the commissioners that they were not only buying a commodity but that they were purchasing their way into our social tissue. Yet this july Hydro is trying to get a 30 year open ended permit to export electricity through spot markets in the US and it wants nothing less than a blank check from the National Energy Board to do so. Greenpeace Quebec and a coalition of groups are fighting this demand at this moment. We will be going before the National Energy Board to make our point before the summer is over. This will be amajor battle , since it will have a bearing on future electricity exports, thus on justification for future dam construction. INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS Hydro-Quebec also has international interests through it's Hydro-Quebec International branch( HQI). We have begun a carefull watch of their involvements in Third World countries. HQI is present in over 50 countries, from China to Malaysia, from Columbia to Argentina and in South Africa also. HQI has admitted to not having an ethics policy regarding HQI. They say they go by World Bank standards ( ? ) and that they plan to establish an ethics policy before the end of 94...because we asked ! We have sought and obtained the support of other environmental groups and NGO's in our lobblying efforts with regards to this lack of policy. COALITION AND GOVERNMENT WORK. Greenpeace Quebec sits at a number of energy negociating tables with other organisations. There is an ongoing process with Hydro Quebec where we sit at Two tables and discuss within a legislated framework of Hydro-Quebec's proposed Plans. We are present at just about all government hearings on energy matters where we make presentations and file memoires. Greenpeace Quebec has been invited by the Minister of Energy to sit at a table on Integrated Resources Planning and we are part of a couple of environmental networks that center around the uses of energy. Greenpeace has been one of the principle players in the battle against gas generated electricity on the Quebec scene. In an era where we have too much energy, specialy too much electricity, the last thing we need in Quebec is gas fired electricity plants. Co- generation is new here, and our major job has been to make it known as an energy producing mode while arguing why we oppose such Climate Time bombs as co-gen plants. In that sense we keep tabs on our contribution to air pollution and to our commitments within the various international agreements on Global Warming. We have constantly asked for a public consultation gas generated electricity production ( knowing well it would not be accepted) but the government has sidestepped this open discussion time after time, even after it had taken a formal engagement to do so. We were present at nearly all the hearings where co-generation was discussed. We will continue our work in this field. The arrival of a new government in September ( elections due on sept 12 and the opposition is expected to win in a landslide. To us this is a major opportunity, specialy since the opposition party has made promises regarding more and better public consultation and an en to mega projects. ALTERNATIVES AND EFFICIENCY The potential of wind power here is so great that Quebec has been called the Saudi Arabia of Wind. Yet not a single turbine in on line as I write this ! Some contracts were singned this spring but the first turbines will not be on line before next year. We have lobbied constantly for wind power and we have good arguments since the best wind sites are where we have our big dams and drowned over areas, and the best winds blow in winter when we need most of our electricity. The most promising area energy wise remains efficiency and demand reduction. We have ordered a study on efficient items we will be making public shortly and we we put out a fact sheet on efficiency in the next month or so. As an energy campaigner I intervene in schools, social centers and in various conventions where our policies are put forward. MEDIA WORK This is without doubt the hardest part ! Dealing with the media is a complex thing. A sympathetic journalist one day can stab you in the back the next. So I have been very slowly building up our credibility with the media. When I started at this job, a year and a half ago we were not getting good press and not much of it. We have decided to work closely with regional medias and with the alternative press. I don't consider we have attained much there, but we have made progress. The coming year will give us tons of opportunities to gain credence with all concerned. CONCLUSION As I see it 1993 was satisfying year. Our level of collaboration with the other interveners in energy has kept us on top of the pack of respected and feared interveners. We are now invited at all government consultations on energy matters, and we have reduced the amount of cyniscism from both the media and the public. But it seems so little compared to what remains to be done. Being part of the Quebec team has been THE motivator for me. I like the togetherness of our team and I specialy appreciate the fact that we are solution oriented and that we have put a serious dose of humor in our public interventions, and it works ! OVERALL MESSAGE OF CAMPAIGN AND WORK PLAN FOR 1995 ENERGY AND JAMES BAY CAMPAIGN GREENPEACE QUEBEC BACKGROUND. The energy situation is evolving as fast as it ever has. The markets are exploding. In this sense it is a good period for us to continue to stress our major goals and introduce our solution oriented proposals. The arrival of a new government has to be seen as an opportunity for us. MAIN GREENPEACE DEMANDS : A fully opened democrating debate be held on Quebec's energy future. Within this debate we will strive for the implementation of an Integrated Resources Planning process. A moratorium on all new dam construction. The re-opening and renegociation of the so-called " risk- sharing contracts " with 13 major indusrial customers. That the huge wind potential of Quebec be finaly be put to use. This clean and environmentaly safe alternative remains largely untouched as of yet. A ban on all gas-fired co-generation plants. As part of Canada Quebec has to respond to the engagements it took in RIO. The implementation by Hydro-Quebec of an environmental ethics ethics policy with regards to it's international ventures.(Hydro is present in 54 countries and so far as not written a single line on it's ethics to environment commitments in Third World countries.) Should it be reminded here that Hydro has a dismal record with regards to Native Rights issues. CAMPAIGN STRATEGY LOBBY WORK: 1) With regards to IRP ( Integrated Resources Planning) we have already been asked to sit-in with other major interveners at a round table chaired by the government.We will also continue to promote IRP in our various interventions at energy hearings. IRP is not a sexy public subject but it's at the crux of our lobby work. 2) The arrival of a new government will permit us to remind them of their engagement to hold a public debate on energy. We will specialy use the election campaign of august and september to forward this demand through the media. This involves a fair amount of coalition work, since it's a demand put forward by most environmental groups. 3) New dam construction has been and remains one of our main demands. The economic approach will be used here. An action on Hydro's climbing debt ( almost $ 34 billion cdn at present !) will involve the installation of an electronic billboard pointing to the accumulating interests on HQ's debt. 4) The " secret risk sharing contracts " with 13 major industial users is a Greenpeace exclusive. I have fresh information on these deals and we will make public those documents in the early fall. 5) We will publish a fact sheet on renewables, concentrating on wind power potential. We will also publish a fact sheet on energy efficiency that will concentrate on the replacement of refrigerators 6) A Tour of Quebec centered around the Climate Time Bomb is in the makings for the fall. We will put out a french version of the CTB that we will put out during a two week province wide tour. Additional campaign material and general GP Quebec documents will also be part of this tour. 7) Hydro says it applies World Bank enviromemtal standards with regards to it's outside Canada interventions. We will publish data of it's disastrous involments in Third World countries. We will strive for Hydro to establishe a clear envinronmental ethics policy for it's International branch. EVENTS WE WILL ATTEND. Annual Canadian Wind Energy Association Meeting ( Sept.) Annual Quebec Association of Biologists meeting ( nov.) Parliamentary hearings on Energy policies ( spring 95) Canadian Solar Society Annual Meeting ( Late spring) ( This list is partial) VICTORIES We have played a major role in cancelling electricity export contracts that lead to new dam construction. We were front and center on the gas-fired co-generated electricity battlefront. As of this writing all now proposed plants are on hold. Francois Tanguay Energy Campaign GP Quebec