City council supports Bute Inlet proposal

One councillor opposes motion to write a letter to federal and provincial agencies
Published: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 2:27 PM CST

Plutonic Power Corporation's Bute Inlet project has written support from all but one of City of Powell River councillors.

Councillor Jim Palm made a motion at the February 9 council meeting to send a letter to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office in support of Plutonic Power. "This is very important to Powell River," said Palm, who is also a School District 47 employee. "It is an economic driver for our community and our region. I work very closely with the people from Plutonic Power. They're great corporate citizens."

Councillor Maggie Hathaway, who is also the constituency assistant to New Democratic Party MLA Nicholas Simons, voted in opposition to the motion. She pointed out changes in legislation in 2006 made local government input irrelevant. "We have no jurisdiction on this matter," she said. "It is inappropriate for us to act in our capacity as locally elected representatives under these circumstances."

Councillor Dave Formosa supported the motion, pointing out Premier Gordon Campbell addressed the issue of the province's carbon footprint and its energy needs in his remarks to the British Columbia Economic Summit. "Our government is very behind green projects of this type," Formosa said. "It is common knowledge right now there is $34 billion worth of projects in the environment assessment process that could be made available now in these hard economic times." The provincial government has moved to create a one-step process for projects, Formosa added, to amalgamate the federal and provincial processes, in order to speed up the process.

Councillor Debbie Dee also supported the motion, saying she supports green power and Plutonic. "I personally, on behalf of one of the other hats that I wear, have sent a letter of support for the human equation, as I call it, not the environment or the economic driver, but the corporate citizen and philanthropy Plutonic Power has shown in Powell River in many, many areas that I have seen."

Councillor Chris McNaughton, who also supported the motion, said council's comments are "extremely relevant. We represent the interests of a large constituency and we're talking about not only a sustainable energy source, but an economic driver that will help to employ people in this community." McNaughton also pointed out that the provincial government is firm in not proceeding with a land and resource management plan for the Sunshine Coast Forest District. The process instead will be between the province and the first nations in the region. "Notwithstanding that, I would encourage this local government to continue to advocate on behalf of a land and resource management plan, not to interrupt what's happening with Plutonic, but to go concurrently with that."