Re-Live Ralph's fireside.

John Clark
14815 – 123 Ave
Edmonton, AB T5L 2Y7
February 21, 2006
cyberclark@shaw.ca

Honorable Ralph Klein,
Room 307
Legislative Building,
Edmonton, AB T4K 2C6
premier@gov.ab.ca

Dear Premier:
In anticipation of your TV fireside tonight I offer up the following.

Alberta Research Council – Coal Research centre “There is no such thing as clean burning coal.”

Electrical debacle: EUB has approved cost plus operations. That is full cost of construction, research, transportation and entertainment plus a profit running 9% and 12%. There is no audit of expenses to speak of. This means the higher the private company forces up the expenses the more money is returned in profits!

This same plan is in effect in the Oil Sands contracts with various oil companies. Albertans are giving their resource away at fire sale prices and about to get raped on their water as they did on their electricity.

Your people claim they are going to privatize all the water in Alberta. This is thought to be less expensive than maintaining individual treatment plants. I ask you less expensive for whom? The oil companies while retail consumers die?

Your determination is to put all the potable water under the control private industry one way or another. Your first project will be that of centralized water system including pipelines built and maintained by ATCO or BECHTAL.

In bringing this to bear you have systematically cut off support for infrastructure programs including maintenance and improvements over the past dozen years. In addition Alberta Environment has coerced communities into going along by threatening them with no support for their water treatment facilities unless they join the pipe lines.

How long before pictures of Alberta show up on the world media with our water credit card waiting in line with a bucket? Pictures right out of Bechtel drinking water operations in Africa!

The cost of such utility will show directly on consumer’s utility bills which will probably double. Cost plus profit added to the price of water.

Mr. Lougheed of ATCO recently said he would not build power lines as the EUB was not allowing enough profit. They were at 9% profit allowed at the time. Instead he said he would go into the pipeline business where he could see 11% profits comfortably. Profits compounded onto profits. Wow!

Are you going to bring in legislation to tell the cities they have to divest themselves of water delivery systems as you did with Electricity?

I think it is time for Edmontonians, Calgarians and all other community interested people to contact their elected official and ask them where they stand in this scheme! If they are for it, make sure they are not elected again!

John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca