I found Jeannine Mitchell's article "B.C. joins the race for clean energy" [Nov. 29–Dec. 6] to be both one-sided and misleading. Frequent references appear regarding the vast amounts of money to be made by investors in green energy stating that hydroelectric power will "be big" in B.C. given its tremendous resources.

Big in terms of profit for the hydro companies quick enough to get in early.

Yet here in the article we have Mr. Donald McInnes, CEO of one such hydro-power company, Plutonic Power Corp., saying that the public concerns about it being a gold rush are "horse shit". Way to go, Mr. McInnes; thanks for your concern.

Plutonic spent $3.15 million in "preliminary planning". If that isn't a direct indication of the huge financial returns these companies expect to make, I don't know what is. The article makes no reference to the fact that all these rivers and creeks are public property. Nowhere does it mention that BC Hydro has given assurances of millions of taxpayers' dollars to guarantee to buy all the electricity produced by these private generators. Nowhere does it say that the Liberal government has been hashing out these deals behind the public's back for the last four years.

Mr. McInnes also states that these hydro schemes just borrow the river's water and that it is tapped above steep waterfalls so no fish are harmed. Well, actually, up to 80 percent of the flow is diverted out of the river channel for a considerable distance, and when it is returned to the riverbed it has most of its volume and speed removed by the electricity-generating turbines.

That leaves a riverbed empty but for a small flow trickling at the bottom, but that's just "fear-mongering" according to Mr. McInnes.

> D.B. Mayers / Vancouver