All posts by Roy Hales

Food

SRD Approves Funding For The Cortes Island Food Bank

At their May 27 meeting, the Strathcona Regional District Board (SRD) approved a motion to provide the Cortes Island Food Bank with close to $24,000 for its new outlet in Manson’s Landing.

Mark Vonesh (Regional Director, Cortes Island): “I’d like to move that a financial contribution of up to $23,425 be approved from the Electoral Area B Community Works Fund to the Cortes Island Food Bank Association to support construction of a food security hub, subject to finalizing a funding agreement between the association and the regional district.”

The minutes state that Michael Lott of Gold River seconded the motion, but the voice in the audio sounds more like Robin Mawhinney, Regional Director for Area C. 

Mark Baker (Chair of the SRD): “Discussion? All in favor. Motion is passed.”

Continue reading SRD Approves Funding For The Cortes Island Food Bank →
Energy

Alberta’s First Carbon Capture Facility Operational

Alberta’s first operational carbon capture facility, the Meadowbrook Carbon Storage Hub, quietly commenced operations in December. Bison Low Carbon Ventures Inc. (Bison), the developer, issued a press release stating: 

“The Phase 1 facility is licensed for up to 500 kilotonnes per annum of CO2 injection and we expect the project, once scaled, to be able to safely handle a minimum of 3 million tonnes per annum of CO2 injection for permanent sequestration.”  

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Energy

BC Hydro work continues on Cortes Island this week

The two 12-hour power outages on May 24 and June 7 were part of BC Hydro’s ongoing Jervis Inlet and Agamemnon Channel Power Line Replacement Project. Crews took advantage of this to replace poles and aging equipment, as well as trim trees that were too close to power lines on Cortes Island.

Precision Tree Service was brought in to trim trees. The company is based in Comox, and they worked two 16-hour days, leaving home at 6 a.m. and returning at about 10 p.m. Their work is now complete.

BC Hydro crews will continue to replace poles and aging equipment this week. Some residences have received outage notices specific to their street/area. A worklist copied from the BC Hydro planned outage map follows below. 

Continue reading BC Hydro work continues on Cortes Island this week →
Energy

What the Ksi Lisims LNG Deal Means for Canada, Germany, and Global Emissions

Germany is a leader in the global energy transition. It is also one of the few nations whose emissions are falling at a rate close to what Climate Action Tracker says is needed to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 1.7°C. Yet last week, Germany’s leading utility, Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE), signed an agreement to purchase one million tonnes of Canadian LNG per annum for up to 20 years. What does this mean for Canada, Germany and the world, in terms of emissions?  

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Health

Raising $50,000 to help find a doctor for Quadra Island

After serving at the Quadra Island Medical Clinic for eight years, Dr Steve Hughes will soon be retiring. That puts the island in a difficult spot and inn this morning’s interview Marc Doll, Chair of the Quadra Island Foundation, explains how his organization and the clinic have teamed and raised more than $50,000 towards finding Hughes replacement.  

Marc Doll: “Dr. Hughes, who I believe is the doctor for several people on Cortes as well, is retiring. He’s stretched out his retirement as far as he can. Come September, he will be doing the official retirement, which puts that clinic, which is anchored by a doctor, in a stressful position.” 

“The Quadra Island Health Society, which was formed last time a doctor left that clinic, has been searching for a doctor for some time now, and it’s been a rough rough ride. It’s hard to find doctors willing to come to specialized clinics in rural settings. So they decided, as a board, to reach out to a professional healthcare recruiter. That comes with a pretty hefty price tag, at least from my perspective, and the decision was to go to the community to find the funds to hire a recruiter to bring a doctor, to the island to keep that clinic open.” 

Continue reading Raising $50,000 to help find a doctor for Quadra Island →