North Vancouver blogger Norm Farrell exposes B.C. Hydro's past failures to project future demand for electricity

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      For years, Norm Farrell's In-sights blog has provided an alternative to those British Columbians dissatisfied with the mainstream media's coverage of B.C. politics.

      If you've never looked at the North Vancouver resident's website, you might want to check out his latest post, particularly if you're interested in B.C. Hydro and its $8.8-billion Site C dam.

      Farrell has revealed, among other things, that B.C. Hydro has repeatedly missed the mark with its forecasts for increased domestic electricity use.

      For example, the Crown utility stated in 2005 that demand for power would go up by 20 percent by 2016.

      In fact, Farrell reported, demand rose by zero percent. It stayed flat.

      In 2011, the same 20 percent forecast was trotted out for rising domestic power consumption by 2016. In reality, there was only a one percent increase over this five-year period.

      B.C. Hydro claims the Site C dam is necessary to meet future increases in electricity demand. It will produce 900 megawatts of capacity and 4,600 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

      DeSmog Canada released this video to demonstrate the impact that the Site C dam will have on local residents.

      If you want to know how much business B.C. Hydro is doing with SNC-Lavalin under Premier Christy Clark as compared to her most recent predecessor, Farrell also has an informative bar chart on that topic.

      SNC-Lavalin is a large Montreal-based engineering program that was "debarred" from Word Bank-financed projects for 10 years after a subsidiary was linked to a corruption scandal in Bangladesh.

      For more on SNC-Lavalin's activities in B.C., read this article by freelancer Bob Mackin, which appeared in the Georgia Straight last year.

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