Spokane CAPR: Shedding light on your property rights!! Avista Sale Alert!

CAPR ALERT--Do you want to testify?

THE PENDING SALE OF OUR FIVE STATE REGIONAL AVISTA UTILITY TO A CANADIAN COMPANY, WILL HAVE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME! So you're an American? What can you do about it?

Watch this fact filled power point video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMkTv44XxHA

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/E0n3l5s19Os

Northwest Property Owners' Alliance is very concerned about the Avista Sale!  See their website for more information and Idaho meetings!

Spokane CAPR supporters are being asked to present testimonies at two upcoming meetings of public officials:

Monday, June 11th -- Spokane City Council 5:30 PM at the West Central Community Center at 1603 N. Belt Street 99205 -- Sign in by 5:00 PM if possible. 

Tuesday, June 12th -- City of Spokane Valley City Council 6:00 PM at Spokane Valley City Hall --10210 E. Sprague 99206 -- Sign in by 5:30 pm if possible. (MEETNG CANCELLED)  NEXT OPPORTUNITY TO TESTIFY  Tuesday, June 19th -- City of Spokane Valley City Council 6:00 PM at Spokane Valley City Hall --10210 E. Sprague 99206 -- Sign in by 5:30 pm if possible.

We would really like to have at least 5 city residents speak at each!

IMPORTANT: Phone Cindy Zapotocky at 509-389-1141 if you want to join us so we know to go forward. (Phone Alene Lindstrand regarding testimony at the Spokane Valley City Council 509-869-7657.) Bring seven written copies of your testimonies for councilmembers, and 1 copy for the clerk.

We ask that if you live in the cities of Liberty Lake, Millwood, Cheney, Airway Heights, Deer Park, and more, that you consider presenting testimonies there as well as soon as possible!

We ask that you sign up for a testimony topic of your choice, or we can recommend one. These will be "gentle" testimonies....we are not going to condemn anyone or pick a fight. We are going to ask questions and then present our views, then

WE WILL ASK OUR CITY COUNCILS TO PUBLISH OFFICIAL RESOLUTIONS

AS FOLLOWS:

Whereas:

1. The full ownership of Hydro One of Ontario, Canada, is unknown. The government of Ontario, Canada, owns 49%. Under Canadian laws, they do not have to reveal the controlling holder of the other 51%.
2. Avista Utility will incur the debts of a foreign nation under foreign laws.
3. The Avista Utility, a monopoly, has been paid for by the ratepayers of the United States, and is therefore defacto, owned by the citizens of the United States, yet we do not get to vote on the sale of this public/private partnership that we have paid for.
4. The ratepayers of Ontario, Canada, pay the highest electricity rates in North America of 36 cents per kwh. Avista customers are currently averaging 8 cents a kwh. Hydro One has incurred debts due to bad management. Rates WILL go up to help pay for the horrendous Green Energy Act of 2009 that Canadian citizens are suffering under. Higher rates for U.S. customers will have a bad effect on our citizens and our economy.
5. Hydro One owns a nuclear plant that must eventually be shut down under the Canadian Green Energy law. That cost could be passed on to the ratepayers of the U.S.
6. Job losses for U.S. citizens might be substantial and hurt the economy of our state and area.
7. Training programs and apprenticeships programs may not continue under the Hydro One management.
8. Alternatives to this plan to sell to a Canadian company have not been made public or discussed publicly.
9. Seven dams that Avista owns will become the property of the Ontario government. These dams are of strategic national value to the United States.
10. Hydro One has said they want to snap up more utility companies in our area.

Therefore, be it resolved by this council that the sale of the Avista Utility to Hydro One of Canada, is NOT in the best interest of the citizens of the City of ______________. We believe that the sale of Avista to a foreign country, Canada, is bad for ratepayers, and will only further stress our social safety net."

So here are questions that may be offered in testimonies, to match up with the resolution items above:

1. Who owns the controlling interest in Canada's Hydro One? (Under U.S. law, this would have to be revealed. Under Canadian law, which Hydro One is now following, it does not have to be revealed.)
2. Will the ratepayers be responsible for helping pay off any of the current debt of Hydro One, or any of the debt incurred by their purchase of Avista? A look at Ontario's newspaper headlines shows us that bad management is being alleged there of Hydro One. In recent elections in Ontario, current officials lost seats, and there may be a purging of their current utility commissioners.
3. Why is it that only the "stockholders" in Avista get to vote to sell Avista? Why will the stockholders and employees receive huge payouts for selling out to Hydro One and we the trapped ratepayers receive nothing but the bill? (We estimate that the total payout to 13 top officials at Avista will be over $50,000,000. That payout seems excessive, and appears as a financial incentive that is driving the sale of Avista to Hydro One.
4. Will the electricity rates of U.S. ratepayers stay at or about 8 cents a kilowatt hour, or rise rapidly to the 36 cents a kilowatt hour that Ontario's ratepayers were struggling to pay in 2016? Higher electrical rates will have a huge economic impact on the business health of our region!
5. Hydro One owns an aging nuclear plant. Will the cost of shutting this down be passed on to U.S. ratepayers?
6. Will current Avista employees be guaranteed to keep their jobs until retirement? Is there a protection for them in settlement agreements?
7. Will the training and safety regulations for employees, like the gas line workers of Local #77, be kept in place, or will Canadian standards become the norm for Avista/Hydro One in the U.S.? Will the apprenticeship programs now in place at Avista be continued?
8. What alternatives to this sale have been considered by Avista? Why have we ratepayers not heard of them? Would a five-state co-op be possible?
9. What is the future of the seven dams that Avista owns? Do these dams and do their grids have a strategic value to the United States of America?
10. What other electric companies will Hydro One target to purchase once Avista is bought?