Whaletown Road was completely blocked near Robertson Road on the afternoon of Friday January 19th, for almost an hour.
Snowy conditions were too much for a heavy tractor-trailer rig carrying earthmoving equipment and what appeared to be a large generator. The driver, travelling from the ferry to a destination on the south end, lost traction on the hill approaching Bodington.
Continue reading Temporary Blockage of Whaletown RoadBC Ferries (BCF) is expanding its number of Island Class hybrid-electric vessels, with four more contracted to Damen Shipyards Group (Damen) as per their Jan. 16 press release.
While the six Island Class ships currently operating on various routes across the province use both electric and diesel power, the future ships are designed to run solely on battery, with the diesel engine as a fail-safe.
Two routes are slated to receive a pair of the future ships to operate the respective connections in tandem: Nanaimo-Gabriola and Campbell River-Quadra (Quathiaski Cove). Currently older versions of Island Class vessels operate on these routes. In contrast, the newest ships will be built to run powered solely by rapid-charging technology that will be constructed at the terminals to coincide with the 2027 deployment. The Island Class electrification project is estimated to reduce emissions by 10,000 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Continue reading Four fully electric BC Ferries vessels scheduled for 2027
Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
BC Hydro has been ordered to repay a small coastal First Nation more than $700,000 after unfairly charging them an extra annual fee for electricity for nearly a decade.
The $85,000 yearly fee, embedded in a 2014 electricity service agreement between the utility company and the tiny Gitga’at First Nation of Hartley Bay, wasn’t approved and was ruled as “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory” by the province’s energy regulator this fall.
Continue reading BC Hydro must pay up for overcharging remote First NationsEditor’s note: Some activities that are of interest to Cortes listeners as well are: the fact the proposed SRD housing service is designed to be virtually cost neutral to the electorate and how Quadra ICAN is mapping that island’s aquifers and wetlands, as well as monitoring water levels in a number of wells.
Robyn Mawhinney has learned a lot since she was elected Regional Director almost 14 months ago. As we enter into yet another new year, she gave her reflections of 2023 and what is ahead for Area C in the coming months.
“I’m really pleased that there are new avenues for having community voices heard and included in decision making,” she began.
Continue reading Mawhinney reviews 2023 in Area C and looks ahead to 2024
On Friday, January 5, Linda Solomon Wood joined Manda Aufochs Gillespie on Folk U Radio to talk about the state of the media today.
Solomon has been a professional journalist since the 1970s and founded the Vancouver Observer in 2009. As the bio on her website explains, this grew into a national publication:
Continue reading Folk U: Linda Solomon Talks about the state of the media today
