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LETTER: Kinder Morgan pipeline series helps to inform reader

I’m writing to applaud Black Press for the recently published five-part series of the controversial proposed Kinder Morgan expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
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I’m writing to applaud Black Press for the recently published five-part series of the controversial proposed Kinder Morgan expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Thank you for informing your readers in an unbiased manner of the many issues that complicate the single question, namely: Should the expansion project go ahead?

Given the time and resources that have been swallowed up since the 1950s by this project, the answer becomes more apparent with every passing year. If the same resources and support by the voting and the working public, the politicians (both federal and provincial), the scientists, the economists and the Indigenous People could have been fed into the development of more renewable energies such as solar, wind, and hydro; our federal government would not have needed to purchase the pipeline to ensure that the expansion goes ahead.

Renewable power projects would provide ongoing construction and engineering jobs, not just until the pipeline construction is completed. It would also completely avoid the confounding problem of how to clean up the inevitable future spill of the heavy bitumen on land and water. Finally, it would help to protect our extremely valuable tourism industry from the long-term fallout of accidental spills. It’s time for us to Think Innovation for the next 100 years, not just by election cycles or annual corporate business reports. There is an ever-expanding knowledge industry based on renewable energy. Let’s not just ignore it, or join it; let’s champion it.

If you missed the Black Press series on the Kinder Morgan pipeline review, it is available on the website at www.pqbnews.com. It’s an important issue for the future of BC, for Canada and, I believe, for the world. It’s still worth your time, and it’s a good read.

Dorothy Wignall

Parksville