Straight Talk
March 10, 2008
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printStage set for next Pinecone Burke Provincial Park confrontation
By Stephen Hui
So many people packed last month’s meeting in Pitt Meadows
on a proposal to build a power line across Pinecone Burke
Provincial Park
that it was shut down by the fire marshal.
On March 25, the public will have another chance to ask questions and demand answers about the Upper Pitt River Water Power Project. The open house will take place from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pitt Meadows Secondary School (19438 116B Avenue). Presentations by proponent Northwest Cascade Power Ltd., B.C. Parks, and the Environmental Assessment Office will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by questions from the audience.
Northwest Cascade, a subsidiary of Run of River Power Inc., has applied to the province to remove 70 hectares—21 hectares permanently—from Pinecone Burke to construct the power line. The company plans to develop seven run-of-river power facilities on eight tributaries of the upper Pitt River, and needs the transmission line to connect the project to the power grid at Squamish.
“If this is allowed for Pinecone Burke, we can expect to see the floodgates open and proposals come forward from every industry in B.C. to start changing other park boundaries,” Elaine Golds, vice president of the Burke Mountain Naturalists, told the last Pitt Meadows meeting on February 28.
That meeting saw more than 400 people overflow a banquet room—approved for 140 people—at the Ramada Inn. When the raucous open house ended an hour early, Run of River promised to hold an additional meeting in a larger room.
The next venue, the gym at Pitt Meadows Secondary, can hold 1,000 people.
Run of River has also held open houses in Squamish and Mission on the park-boundary-adjustment application and the draft terms of reference for the project’s environmental assessment.
Environmentalists have demanded that open houses be held in Vancouver and Coquitlam, where hundreds turned out to meetings in the lead up to the park’s creation in 1995. They’ve also requested that the upcoming deadlines for public comment in the park-adjustment and environmental-assessment processes be extended.
Comments on the proposed park adjustment may be sent to PineconeBurke@gov.bc.ca until April 2. The public can e-mail submissions on the environment assessment’s draft terms to UpperPittRiver@gov.bc.ca until April 8.
So far, the Environmental Assessment Office hasn’t received any comments from the public in support of the waterpower project.
On March 25, the public will have another chance to ask questions and demand answers about the Upper Pitt River Water Power Project. The open house will take place from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Pitt Meadows Secondary School (19438 116B Avenue). Presentations by proponent Northwest Cascade Power Ltd., B.C. Parks, and the Environmental Assessment Office will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by questions from the audience.
Northwest Cascade, a subsidiary of Run of River Power Inc., has applied to the province to remove 70 hectares—21 hectares permanently—from Pinecone Burke to construct the power line. The company plans to develop seven run-of-river power facilities on eight tributaries of the upper Pitt River, and needs the transmission line to connect the project to the power grid at Squamish.
“If this is allowed for Pinecone Burke, we can expect to see the floodgates open and proposals come forward from every industry in B.C. to start changing other park boundaries,” Elaine Golds, vice president of the Burke Mountain Naturalists, told the last Pitt Meadows meeting on February 28.
That meeting saw more than 400 people overflow a banquet room—approved for 140 people—at the Ramada Inn. When the raucous open house ended an hour early, Run of River promised to hold an additional meeting in a larger room.
The next venue, the gym at Pitt Meadows Secondary, can hold 1,000 people.
Run of River has also held open houses in Squamish and Mission on the park-boundary-adjustment application and the draft terms of reference for the project’s environmental assessment.
Environmentalists have demanded that open houses be held in Vancouver and Coquitlam, where hundreds turned out to meetings in the lead up to the park’s creation in 1995. They’ve also requested that the upcoming deadlines for public comment in the park-adjustment and environmental-assessment processes be extended.
Comments on the proposed park adjustment may be sent to PineconeBurke@gov.bc.ca until April 2. The public can e-mail submissions on the environment assessment’s draft terms to UpperPittRiver@gov.bc.ca until April 8.
So far, the Environmental Assessment Office hasn’t received any comments from the public in support of the waterpower project.
