Thursday, June 03, 2004
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge
AB, T1J 3Z7
Dear Editor:
Can you believe this? Tears of gratitude to EnCana and BP began to well up in my eyes this morning as I read of their support for wind power and concern for consumers. (“Encana has no beef with wind energy”, 04/06/02, A6 and “BP globally is a leader in alternative energy”, 04/06/03, A6)
Then I remembered last night’s television news. Employees of another energy company were heard cursing low income California grandmothers and chortling over charging them 25 cents per KWhr for electricity. My tears dried quickly.
Electricity customers understand that significant wind turbine generated electricity in low population south-western Alberta will require transmission lines to get their product to customers. When the wind stops we will get our electricity from more dependable sources. The wind turbines and their transmission line will be taking time off. When the wind blows, the other systems and their transmission lines will be loafing. Electricity customers will be paying for both. C’est la vie.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast