MLA plans IPP meeting
Michelle Mungall speaks at the Glacier-Howser public meeting in Kaslo in June. The Nelson-Creston MLA is hosting a public meeting on the controversial private hydro project on July 15 at 7 p.m. at the Prestige Inn, 1301 Front Street.
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Updated: July 10, 2009 4:09 PM
Sam Van Schie
Star Reporter
If the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) won't bring a public meeting on the Glacier-Howser project to Nelson, then Michelle Mungall is going to bring Nelson to them.
The Nelson-Creston MLA is hosting her own Nelson-based public meeting on the controversial private hydro project, which will be video tapes and delivered to EAO Project Assessment Director Garry Alexander. She'll also bring him written comments and letters she collects at the meeting.
"I've heard from people that attended the Kalso and Meadow Creek meeting that they thought it was just about rubber stamps, and that's not acceptable," she said. "There needs to a meaningful public process."
She stressed that said she isn't doing this as a favour for Axor.
"This is about me spending my constituency dollars for my constituents," she said. "I hear what people are saying and it's my job to make sure their voice is heard."
The meeting will include presentations by COPE 378, a provincial union that includes BC hydro workers, who will speak on policy that allows for hyrdo privatization in B.C.
Joe Foy from the Western Wilderness Committee will also speak to environmental impact, and Lee-Ann Unger of the West Kootenay Society has brought together several technicians and biologists to analyze the 7000 page application, which Axor gave to the EAO for the project.
"That's not an accessible document for people to understand," Mongall said. "We're going to get somebody who is not the proponent to give an independent review and an explanation of the project."
There will also be a question and answer component for the public to raise their concerns. While it's likely to be a one-sided discussion, Mungall said she wouldn't discourage people who support the project from coming to the meeting.
"Everybody is welcome," she said. "At the Kaslo meeting I personally asked Axor [the would-be owners of the project] to have a meeting in Nelson and they said they were too busy."
Mungall's meeting will be held in Nelson at 7 p.m. on July 15 at the Prestige Inn on 1301 Front Street.
Comments can also be e-mailed to glacier.howser@gov.bc.ca or sent by post to Garry Alexander, Project Assessment Director / Environmental Assessment Office / PO Box 9426 Stn Prov Govt / Victoria, BC V8W 9V1 until July 27.
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