Provincial government ministers, First Nations, independent power project (IPP) industry leaders and local business met at the McNair Creek IPP in Port Mellon Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, each group bringing its own concerns and questions about IPPs.
John Yap, minister of state for climate action, and George Abbott, minister of aboriginal relations and reconciliation, came to the Coast on a fact-finding mission. Neither minister is directly involved with the decision-making process for IPPs, but both have portfolios overlapping with them.
Yap said he was there to get "the look and feel" of a clean energy project and to meet with people involved in them, all in the interest of seeing the province meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020.
"As minister of state for climate action, this is obviously one area that is very important to British Columbia, not just for having self sufficiency in energy but also to have clean energy that will he allow us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
Abbot recognized that many of the nearly 200 IPP applications filed around the province sit near or on traditional First Nations territory. Sechelt Indian Band Chief Garry Feschuk was at the meeting and tour to press for consultation in the decision-making process and for the opportunities from IPPs to be shared with the First Nations on whose land they sit.
"We're not against IPPs. We're looking at quality ones within our territory where we can do partnerships or equity participation. We're looking at revenue sharing with the government. We would even like to push for a First Nations call on some of these IPPs so First Nations can have opportunity to get involved and start generating some wealth for their own communities," he said.
Abbot said the province would like to see future IPP deals include First Nations, especially if they can garner deals like the Klahoose Nation has done with Plutonic Power Corporation for the Toba Inlet run-of-river project near Powell River.
"It's probably going to be a kind of prototype for the province in terms of industry working with First Nations," Abbot said. "Not only have the Klahoose acquired an equity stake in the project, they've got their band members working on the project. They've got a training arrangement with a college and university. They're going to have a steady revenue stream. They've going to have jobs. They're going to have training. It's a win-win."
The McNair Creek IPP, owned by locally-based Renewable Power Corp-oration, was chosen for the first portion of the meeting because of its proximity to Vancouver and the fact that it has won several awards for its low environmental impact construction.
