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B.C. Hydro's controversial proposal for a new Vancouver Island gas pipeline will finally get a full public airing at hearings that begin today in Sidney.

Proposed by Hydro and project partner Williams, a U.S. energy company, the Georgia Strait Crossing (GSX) line was promised to be in service by December 2002 to address a looming electricity shortfall and the threat of brownouts on the Island.

But although the U.S. portion of the 136-km pipeline was approved last year by American regulators, events have moved at a snail's pace on this side of the border.

Costs jumped from $180 million to $340 million, project critics expanded almost exponentially -- and Hydro was delayed for almost a year after the federal Joint Review Panel hearing the application ordered more studies of the project's environmental and social impacts.

"We're definitely relieved that this hearing is back on track," said Hydro media relations manager Elisha Odowichuk, noting that the formal hearing was originally scheduled for June 2002.

She said B.C. Hydro does not have the luxury of time when it comes to power supply for the Island -- particularly because an aging pair of undersea transmission cables are now responsible for most of the Island's electricity.

"The cables are forecast to be taken out of service in 2007, but they have reached a critical point where they could fail at any time, despite our best efforts to maintain them."

For example, the Geological Survey of Canada warned two years ago that a major earthquake in the Lower Mainland would sever the lines and leave Islanders in the dark for several months.

Odowichuk said Hydro welcomes the opportunity to put forward its case for the project and to address its opponents' objections.

The pipeline, for example, would be built to a once-in-475-year earthquake standard.

Community groups and environmental organizations have been particularly vocal in their opposition, arguing that Hydro should concentrate on development alternative or "green" power sources -- such as wind and tidal energy -- before moving ahead with a project that relies on fossil fuel.

Hydro is planning to use much of the gas to fuel a natural gas-fired electrical generation plant at Nanaimo.

Groups such as the Sierra Legal Defence fund plan to argue before the panel that the pipeline will thus contribute to elevated greenhouse gas emissions on the Island at a time when many developed nations are looking to curtail emissions of carbon dioxide.

Odowichuk says Hydro's first priority is to ensure Island residents a stable supply of electricity.

"Repairing or replacing the cable system does not address the need for additional generation capacity to serve the electricity needs of Vancouver Island.

"GSX offers new infrastructure and a different transmission corridor to the Island, thereby enhancing the diversity and reliability of electricity supply on Vancouver Island in weather-related power outages."

The Joint Review Panel consists of members of both the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Authority, and the NEB expects the hearing to continue for four weeks.

Sierra staff lawyer Tim Howard plans to argue that the hearing process is premature.

He notes that Hydro has yet to receive a project approval certificate for the Vancouver Island generation plant which will be the pipeline's largest customer.

Howard noted that the B.C. government is requiring Hydro to prove that a gas-fired generation plant is the best solution to the Island's energy needs, and added that the province does not want Hydro to run a new plant in any event.

Those orders come in the new energy policy announced last fall by Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld.

"B.C. Hydro should get its plant lined up first, then we should have the pipeline hearing.

"The province has signalled that the private sector is going to build new generation. They've signalled that B.C. Hydro should not be building major projects," Howard said.

Arthur Caldicott of the GSX Concerned Citizens Coalition said he's not optimistic that his group's concerns will be addressed at the hearing.

"I wish it could be the day we've been waiting three long years to get to -- an opportunity at last to talk about B.C. Hydro's gas-fired generation strategy for Vancouver Island," Caldicott said.

"But it isn't going to happen. This panel won't risk treading on the province's toes by looking into anything that hints at energy policy. Except in a very limited context, they're not interested in electricity or alternative ways to address generation and demand."

Caldicott noted that in January 2002, preliminary hearings by the panel attracted hundreds of people "who expressed concerns about electricity conservation, sustainable generation technologies, new cable systems, air quality, environmental protection and many other things."