The Cost of Natural Gas [was Re: The Cost of California Liberalism]

Tim May tcmay at got.net
Sun Dec 17 17:19:02 PST 2000


At 3:31 PM -0800 12/17/00, Raymond D. Mereniuk wrote:
>
>The consumer price for natural gas here is based on the delivery
>price at Sumas Washington which is a pipeline crossing into the
>USA and a major supply point to California.  The cost to heat my
>home will have more than doubled by January 1st.  The price I must
>pay is heavily influenced by demand in California.  It is always cold
>here and the furnace is even used in the summer.  There are more
>people in California than in all of Canada and most Canadians live
>on the other side of the continent.  This market is much too small to
>influence the price of natural gas.

Size of a market is a shifting concept. British Columbia and 
Vancouver are certainly large markets.

If there were a nuclear power plant in western Canada, much of its 
output would likely go to Vancouver. Guess what? No nuke plants in 
western Canada.


>
>tanker.  I believe I would rather have nuclear power plant in my
>neighbourhood than a liquidified natural gas facility.

Perhaps you can lobby your politicians to allow nuclear power plants 
to be built in your region, then.


>
>It would be nice if Californians took responsibility for their lifestyle,
>built the power plants in California and dealt with environmental
>issues themselves.  You have a choice, if you don't want power
>plants, don't use power.

This whole post shows a shaky understanding of economics. You are 
bitching and moaning that someone else's bids on power exceed what 
you would like to pay.

"I would like to have a Ferrari Testarossa, but there are so many 
people around the world willing to pay such outrageous prices that 
the prices have simply gotten out of control. If Californian would 
take responsibility for their outrageous lifestyles, there would not 
be so many Californians buying Ferraris and we people in British 
Columbia would have a chance to afford them."


As for your own energy needs, install propane. This is what I have. 
And fill the tank well in advance of when spot market fluctuations 
drive the price up.

Or move to a warmer clime. Living in the far north _does_ carry a price.


Also, bear in mind that a lot of off-peak power is shipped into 
Canada from the Bonneville Power Administration. It seems we Yanks 
had the foresight to dam the Columbia River back in the 1930s. It's a 
reason the Hanford Nuclear Reservation was located in the Tri-Cities 
area--cheap and plentiful power--and it's a reason several aluminum 
smelters, including a Canadian one, located there.

And a bunch of chip companies.

I don't have the time to spend doing detailed research, but with the 
many nuclear plants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, etc., and the zero 
nuke plants in the western part of Canada, and the Bonneville Power 
Administration, I wouldn't be surprised at all if more net power 
doesn't flow across _into_ B.C. than out of it.

Just a hunch.


--Tim May
-- 
Timothy C. May         tcmay at got.net        Corralitos, California
Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns





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