MacPhail says cross out the GSX project By Jennifer Hourihan The Liberal government’s vision for the Georgia Straight Crossing Project — and the Vancouver Island power plants it would feed — won’t benefit average British Columbians, says Joy MacPhail. The Official Opposition leader stated her disapproval of the multi-million dollar projects Tuesday, during a brief meeting with opponents in Duncan. “The original purpose has changed,” MacPhail told a small crowd of about 50 at the Silver Bridge Inn. “Originally there was to be a real benefit to the community. “Well, that model has gone out the window.” The subject of natural-gas fired power plants for Vancouver Island first came during the 1990s under the previous New Democratic Party government. Former Energy and Mines minister Dan Miller issued a directive for a cogen plant in Port Alberni, which would have been connected to the then MacMillan Bloedel paper mill. The goal was to bolster employment, and strengthen industry on the Island. But the project proposal went sideways when Pacifica took over the M&B mill, and expressed little enthusiasm for the idea in 1998. Since then, the need for power plants has become even fuzzier, culminating in the Liberal government’s new focus on using them as revenue engines, says MacPhail “None of those bottomline benefits for the community are there,” said MacPhail, who was candid about her own government’s “schizophrenic” energy policies, and the dissension they caused within her former cabinet. “Now it’s just taking natural gas, firing up a plant, and electricity comes out.” One of B.C. Hydro’s plants is already operating in Campbell River, with two more planned for Duke Point near Nanaimo, and one in Duncan. The Georgia Strait Crossing Project — the $260- million pipeline being pitched by Hydro and U.S.-based Williams Gas — is currently being reviewed by an independent federal panel. MacPhail also raised concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, and a growing number of scientific studies that point to them as a legitimate cause of global warming. “We have learned so much more in the past three to four years about climate change,” she said. According to B.C. Hydro, natural gas power plants are needed to meet Vancouver Island’s increasing power needs, and are cheaper than replacing existing transmission lines from the Lower Mainland. Opponents question Hydro’s need predictions, saying conservation and green technologies could make up the difference. MacPhail’s Duncan stop waspart of a southern Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast tour about the proposed gas plants, and other issues. Tuesday’s meeting was organized by the Malahat-Juan De Fuca NDP constituency association. |
