===== A message from the 'landwatch' discussion list =====


Hello All,
This article in todays T.C. The idea is to first build the gas-sucking plants that will require fuel from the mainland, and then argue about the enviro-consequences of the GSX!


Cheers, Ingmar

Port Alberni Power Plant get's go-ahead

By Malcolm Curtis
Times Colonist Staff


BC Hydro has reached an interim agreement with an unidentified partner to build a power plant in Port Alberni.
The natural gas-powered plant would be fuelled by the proposed Georgia Strait Crossing pipeline to bring BC gas from Washington State to Vancouver Island, Hydro spokesman Wayne Cousins said Tuesday.
The agreement on the Alberni plant is subject to approval by Hydro's board in early December, Cousins said.
Hydro staff is meeting with officials from the BC Environmental Assessment Office and others in Victoria this afternoon to discuss the project.
A plan for a $220 million co-generation plant in Port Alberni fell through this year after Atco Power and Pan Canadian Petroleum backed out.
The planned co-generation involved supplying steam to Pacifica Papers mill as well as producing electricity for the Hydro grid
But the latest plan calls for a generating plant not directly linked to the mill, Cousins said.
The Alberni plant fits in with Hydro's integrated electricity plan to boost power sources to meet growing needs in the province, he said.
The Crown corporation maintains it has enough capacity to meet future electrical needs until 2007. Beyond that, Hydro says it will need new power plants.
Hydro has teamed up with U.S.-based Williams Pipeline to push for the $180 million Georgia Strait crossing. The project is needed to both feed the proposed plant in Alberni, and the recently completed Island Co-generation plant in Campbell River.
The pipeline project has been referred to an independent environmental assessment panel by the federal environment department.
Arthur Caldicott, of Georgia Strait Crossing Coalition, said he was concerned about Hydro's lack of "transparency" on the proposed plant and pipeline.
The coalition, which is opposed to the pipeline for environmental reasons, said it has received information that the 260-megawatt plant is planned for downtown Port Alberni on Tebo Avenue.
Caldicott, of Cobble Hill, said Hydro is urgently looking for ways to justify the pipeline after the last deal to get a co-generation plant in Alberni failed.
Hydro has defended the need for the pipeline saying there is insufficient natural gas on the Island to support two power plants.
Port Alberni Mayor Gillian Trumper said council doesn't know who BC Hydro's partner is but has had contact at a staff level with the utility about the power plant.
No decision has been made on a site though discussions are ongoing, she said, adding nothing has come before council for approval.
We're pleased that they want to bring a plant here." Trumper said, saying iot will be a major boost to the community.
But any proposal for a power plant will have to meet environmental standards, Trumper said.


With files from Gerard Young