CURL GIRLS
The popular blues ladies are heading to Sooke for New Years.
Editorial
Page A8
Entertainment
Page C1
Sports/stats
Page A17
Page C2
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
40 Pages in three sections
Classifieds A17 • 75¢
Sooke is Selling!
3.125x1.2” Dimock
2013 Sooke Home Sales: 304 2014 Sooke Home Sales: 292 TAMMI DIMOCK
Black Press C O M M U N I T Y
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Personal Real Estate Corp.
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No firm answers for Jordan River residents Pirjo Raits
Sooke News Mirror
Knowing there is an earthquake and a tsunami risk at Jordan River hasn’t changed much for at least one Jordan River resident. Hugh Pite bought at Jordan River knowing there was a dam there. “The danger has always been there,” he said. “Nothing has changed as far as I’m concerned.” Pite was among the Jordan River residents who attended a December 12 meeting with BC Hydro representatives who wanted the residents to know why they wanted to purchase their properties in the tiny hamlet about 40 kilometres from Sooke. Susan Johnson’s voice broke as she asked Chris O’Riley, BC Hydro’s Vice-President for Generation, what Hydro’s immediate plans were for the residents, surfers, travelers, etc. At the meeting she said, “the dam can burst at any second, what are your immediate and long term plans for residents?” After the meeting she said, “When we were going to the meeting it felt more like a funeral,” said Johnson. “Friday is the day Jordan River died for us.” O’Riley outlined the results of the six year study, but what wasn’t known to the Jordan River residents was that the outcome of the study and the resulting and seismic hazards were known since early in the summer. “What’s most shocking,” said Johnson, “Is Chris O’Riley has known about it for six months, the CRD for three months and the media knew before us. For me, it’s incomprehensible. It’s seem ridiculous to have known for so long. Why so much urgency if they’ve known for six months, why three weeks before Christmas? We feel we were left out in the dark by BC Hydro.” At the meeting it was stated that this was one step in an ongoing process and it was not about making decisions but about getting information. O’Riley said they were also open to ideas. Three partners who bought the former Breakers restaurant were at the meeting and directly asked, “at what stage did you know?” They said they (BC Hydro) were buying out the community without consulting the community. They raised questions of exporting power to the Mainland, selling power to the U.S. and the environmental impacts if the dam gives out. “Why can’t the dam not be repaired or rebuilt?” they questioned. Stephen Rigby, Director of Dam Safety for BC Hydro, said it was a massive study and the absolute most stringent study possible. He said they now know more about the Cascadia Subduction zone, which is 40 kms. away from Jordan River. He said the study showed that in Jordan River the g-force is 1.5 and is the worst case with the maximum amount of ground motion - double what happens on the other side of Vancouver Island and the Mainland.
Continued on page A32
Merry Christmas 7x2.5 oliver katz
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