Questions for Web Page on Hydro Project raised at a meeting on December 11, 2000

1. Why build the generating plant here when it would need 21.7 km of pipeline to service it?
   The plant should be where pipeline is. There is an established grid on the other side. We have atmospheric inversions here. Is it only because the City wants the taxes?
   
2. Why not reduce consumption?. Anticipated increase on Vancouver Island is 1.8% annually. This small increase could easily be filled by cutting down on energy use.
   
3. How much more will electricity cost if it is generated by natural gas?
   
4. Why take on a foreign partner if Hydro is willing to do it on their own? Is this the first step to privatizing BC Hydro?
   
5. How much is Hydro spending on developing alternative forms of energy?
   
6. What are all the pollutants and their amounts? Solid particulates? Carbon monoxide? Carbon dioxide? Nitrous oxides? Water vapour? How much ammonia will be needed to scrub nitrous oxide from emissions? Scrubber effluent?
   
7. Which neighborhood will be most affected by the plume shadow?
   
8. How much noise does the plant generate? What is the maximum noise to be emitted at any particular time?
   
9. Why do we need extra power when the expiring Columbia River Treaties will free up extra power for BC?
   
10. How will the proposed gas supply and costs be affected by NAFTA?
    
11. Why are we told that the turbine have already been ordered when the Environmental Impact Studies have not been completed?
    
12. How much more will gas-generated electricity cost? Why should we tolerate the higher expense of gas-generated electricity while hydro-generated electricity is exported elsewhere.
    
13. Why cross a body of water and an earthquake zone with a high pressure gas pipeline instead of producing electricity where the gas originates? Why not replace the aging underwater transmission line with a new one?
    
14. Isn’t this project in conflict with the Greening Communities Initiative and with the newly released BC Climate Change Business Plan.
    
15. Why are we considering a power facility that will increase air pollution in a community that has been concerned about respiratory problems in children for decades?
    
16. How do you think the stacks of a gas generation plant in the middle of the city will effect our efforts to reposition the Alberni Valley as a tourist destination and a residence of choice?
    
17. How can we as a community justify these greenhouse gas emissions (750,000 tons per year) when reducing them is critical to our global and environmental health?