Thursday, February 23, 2012
www.northislandgazette.com 7
LETTERS editor@northislandgazette.com
Diamond Dinner If it sounds too good to be true ... rock solid fun Dear editor: I’d like to say a big Thank You to the Masonic Rainbow Lodge 180 for putting on the first Diamond Dinner event on the North Island. The men — dressed in tuxes — took very good care of us. A bus, driven by Bud Masales was also provided to ensure the women a safe ride home. The entertainment was fun, the food delicious, and who wouldn’t mind men dressed in their tuxes bringing our desserts, water etc. Sixty prizes were handed out, with the last being a beautiful $2000 diamond ring! A good number of us have reserved tickets for next year’s event. It’s the best $100 I’ve spent in a while! Thanks again fellas. Anita Harvie Port Hardy
Dear editor: I always shake my head when someone claims renewably-generated electricity supplied by independent producers is more expensive than electricity produced by BC Hydro. I ask myself: How can people be so easily fooled by a claim that is so obviously wrong and illogical? The only way anyone can support the claim that BC Hydro can produce electricity more cheaply than the private sector is if they are comparing BC Hydro facilities built decades ago — and fully paid for — to newly built energy projects that have current construction costs associated with them; costs that need to be included in the energy cost calculations.
By the same token, if you compare a newly built electricity generating facility built by BC Hydro to a newly built generating facility built by the private sector, the truth becomes very easy to see, namely, the cost of electricity generated by ANY new energy generating project — public or private — is going to cost more than electricity from a facility that was built and paid for decades ago. The real question people need to be asking is who can build new electricity generating facilities more costeffectively and supply the new electricity the people of BC need at the lowest cost? And on that count, with the possible exception of major megaprojects like
the Site C Dam, the private sector has shown that it is the best equipped to deliver the product with the greatest cost-effectiveness. As a famous saying goes: If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, government probably shouldn't be doing it. So if the private sector is able to supply the new electricity we need with the greatest cost-effectiveness, then that’s how we should be going about things. And as with so many other things in life, mythical claims of unbelievably cheap “public power” that sound way too good to be true probably are. Mike Taylor Port Moody
Vision needed in PM Dear editor: Is that all we have to offer? As a young resident who moved to Port McNeill in 2007, I was disappointed on Feb. 9 to hear Mayor Gerry Furney being interviewed on CBC about the towns decreasing population — 4.5 per cent; the highest on Vancouver Island — and continually referring to the town as “a logging camp.” There is no denying Port McNeill’s economy is industry based, and this is the main reason new workers are drawn here. However, as I have seen over the years with an overwhelming number of friends and co-workers, there is no reason to stay. Furney also blamed the decreasing population on the radical anti-forestry and anti-mining campaigns, none of
which have been very prevalent on the North Island. The real reason is we have an out of touch mayor and a town that has no vision and absolutely no draw for new, younger residents. Mayor Furney and the older residents of Port McNeill who continually vote him in and don’t want change should realize that without change this town’s population will continue to decrease, predominantly in new and young residents, no matter how the industry is doing. Promoting Port McNeill and the North Island in a in a new light is key, and not referring to your town as a “logging camp” on a national radio interview would be a good start. Ben McGibbon Port McNeill
Environmentaly, we're on the hook Dear editor: How much longer is B.C. going to rely on imported coal energy from Alberta and Washington to top-up our provincial energy supply? I’m really starting to wonder. Importing dirty coal energy is not something we should be doing when we live in a province that is so exceptionally well suited to producing clean hydroelectricity, from big hydro dams and from smaller run-of-river projects. Relying on imported coal energy not only places B.C. at the mercy of future energy cost fluctuations, it also gives us the false impression that our provincial energy supply is cleaner than it really is.
Just because the pollution and carbon emissions from imported coal energy are generated beyond our provincial borders doesn’t mean we are off the hook for the environmental impacts of burning coal. Importing dirty coal energy defeats important environmental objectives we have as a society and it goes against the clean hydroelectric tradition of our province. To my mind, if we want our conscience to be clean on the environment, then we should make every effort to ensure that our energy supply is clean too. Sandra Robinson Maple Ridge
It was a howl Members of the 1st Sointula Cubs and Scouts recently dropped by the Gazette office for a visit and learned a little bit about how a newspaper operates. Mike D'Amour photo
B.C., one great, green place to live and ready for the future Dear editor: How often do people stop and think about the incredibly sustainable province we live in? Virtually all of B.C.’s electricity comes from clean, renewable hydroelectric sources, and we have enough untapped hydro potential to do the same again several times over — particularly if we make use of a distributed network of low impact run of
Letters to the editor
river projects. We also have vast, renewable forests that suck up carbon like a vacuum cleaner and store it for long periods of time, if not indefinitely as wooden objects, furniture and other structures. I can’t think of another place on earth that can make the same sustainability claims we can here in B.C. Add in the renewable wind energy, biomass, geothermal,
wave and tidal energy B.C. is capable of generating, plus the strong commitment to the environment shown by the people of B.C., and it’s clear that B.C. is well-positioned to meet the challenges of the 21st century sustainably as well as renewably and prosperously. Marney Hogan Langley, B.C.
The goal is to publish every letter, so keep them brief, clear and to the point. Be hard on the problem, not the person; skip quotes except where readily confirmable; accept editing for length and legality. Include full name and home community (plus phone number to confirm authorship). Mail, fax, email or drop off c/o the editor by 4:00 pm Friday.