Dear editor,
The title of your June 3 editorial on the road Raven Coal must hoe in order to get its project off the ground made me think of the next biggest issue for the mine outside the mining halls themselves: Transportation.
Highway 4 is the quintessential winding, mountain road. It is already busy with trucks and commuters despite an August 2012 Ministry report stating it can handle all traffic, including from the proposed mine, for the next 25 years.
But there are bigger, $105 million, plans afoot of which your readers may not be aware.
The Alberni Clayoquot Regional District and Port Alberni Port Authority are working very hard together with industry to realize a long-held dream for a second link from Alberni to Highway 19 around Horne Lake to points north.
Their pronouncements that it will “benefit all” are only a thin veil to cover the fact they are petrified of the effect Raven truck traffic will have on tourism on Highway 4 and the cost to taxpayers on provincial and municipal roadways.
They also ignore the fact the proposed route would be much higher in elevation than, and just as winding as the existing roadway.
The alternatives?
Reactivate the railway to Port Alberni at half the price. Or no coal mine at all.
Both, I wager, would save taxpayers millions now and in the future.
Chris Alemany,
Port Alberni
