New power link needs rethinking

Cecil Dunn
Times Colonist
August 20, 2007

Re: "Island power supply perilous: Affidavit," Aug. 9

A recent article says dredged materials from Deltaport possibly damaged a power cable to Vancouver Island. B.C. Transmission Corp. has not confirmed this and says: "BCTC has been able to continue using the system by reconfiguring its use of the remaining unfaulted cables." If a contractor damaged the cable by illegal dumping, shouldn't they be liable for repairs?

As the B.C. Utilities Commission said in their Vancouver Island Generation Project decision: "The supply to Vancouver Island does not deteriorate significantly or suddenly in 2007 if VIGP is not built."

This confirms that BCTC has several systems in place that can handle the load to the Island and will use the HVDC systems for several more years.

The Tsawwassen community is greatly affected by this new system and we have been working for three years to persuade BCTC to reroute the lines away from our urban area to an industrial corridor -- a route that costs $22 million less. We are not advocating no power to the Island, just a safer route away from residential backyards.

Unfortunately, the dogmatic approach of BCTC and B.C. Hydro toward residents' concerns is not constructive to planning new generation and transmission facilities. Consider the costs of battling the public for eight years, rather than a constructive compromise. The monies wasted could have been used to make alterations to the projects to satisfy all parties and speed up their projects.

Cecil Dunn, Tsawwassen.

COMMENT: Amen. The $120 million thrown away on the GSX Pipeline and Duke Point Power and other related generation projects on Vancouver Island (tip of the iceberg - the real costs will never be truly accounted for) underscores Mr. Dunn's point. Serious consultation and accomodation of citizen concerns, could bring an end to this ongoing repeat of avoidable costs and delays.