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Jun 14, 2010CanGEA Congratulates B.Bennett on his Appointment to Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources
Calgary, AB – June 14, 2010 – The Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) today congratulates Bill Bennett, MLA Kootenay East, on his appointment to Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources for the province of British Columbia. Minister Bennett previously served as Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts as well as Minister of State for Mining. CanGEA looks forward to building upon the work of outgoing Minister Blair Lekstrom and is grateful for his years of service.
CanGEA would also like to welcome the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources Robin Junger who until recently served as Deputy Minister of Energy and Clean Technology under the Premier’s Office. His work was instrumental in the formation of the recently announced Clean Energy Act which will provide greater ministerial authority to advance clean energy projects in the province. Mr. Junger replaces outgoing Deputy Minister Greg Reimer who is taking a position in the private sector as Executive Vice-President of Transmission and Distribution with BC Hydro.
With such overwhelming changes taking place at the Ministry, CanGEA is eager to build upon recent developments within the province’s geothermal program. After years of intermittent interest in geothermal power the province of British Columbia has renewed its focus and is seeking to embrace geothermal power in its portfolio of clean energy generation assets. In late March of this year the province held their first geothermal tenure auction since 2004 - a significant step in bringing this renewable, base-load power source online for the province. However, the industry was deeply disappointed to learn that the highly anticipated June tenure auction has been postponed to the fall due to delays in the referral process. Undeterred, CanGEA is actively working with the Ministry to make land available for development and expedite the tenure request and referral process.
For more information about BC’s Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources Geothermal Program please visits; http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Titles/OGTitles/geothermal/Pages/default.aspx
About CanGEA: CanGEA is a national industry association that believes we can provide competitively priced, emissions free, renewable, base-load energy to Canadians and to U.S. export markets. CanGEA works on behalf of our members to facilitate the growth of geothermal power projects and promote publicly listed companies on the Canadian Exchanges.
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Contact: David Gowland
Policy Director, Canadian Geothermal Energy Association
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