The B.C. Utilities Commission wrapped up the initial round of public consultations on Site C this week, gathering more than 100 submissions from experts, stakeholders and ordinary citizens.
They ranged from the terse — “I find it extremely irresponsible” was the entire submission from one Lynne Frerichs — to exhaustive detail running to the hundreds of pages.
Most called for the project to be killed. Reviewing the postings on the commission website Friday, I found there were three or four “nays” for every “yea.”
Together they raised legitimate doubts about B.C. Hydro’s claim — laid out in a 900-page submission filed with the commission this week — that Site C is on time, on budget, much needed and cheaper than any alternative.
But I was also struck by how many of the submissions raised matters that fall outside the narrow boundaries set down for the review by the NDP government.
“Whether the project is on time and within budget; the cost to ratepayers of suspending the project; the cost to ratepayers of terminating the project,” was the way the commission itself characterized the mandate in a plea to would-be respondents to be relevant.
Vaughn Palmer – Vancouver Sun – September 2, 2017.
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