NEB's Sumas 2 hearing ends

ABBOTSFORD -- The National Energy Board hearing into a power line for the proposed Sumas Energy 2 power plant wrapped up recently.

SE2 is seeking permission to build an 8.5-kilometre power line from the border to Abbotsford. It would connect the proposed gas-fired power plant in Sumas, Wash., to the B.C. Hydro power grid so the power can be sold throughout B.C. and the U.S. northwest.

SE2 lawyer Russell Lusk argued the power line would bring economic benefits to B.C. in the form of a new supply of power.

If the gas-fired plant goes ahead it will discharge 144.5 tonnes of nitrous oxides, 209 tonnes of particulate matter and 139 tonnes of ammonia a year into the atmosphere.

Lusk said the pollution will add only minimally to existing pollution and will not measurably affect health.

"So politics, not the public interest, has become the dominant consideration," he said.

Sterling News Service