To the Editor,
I applaud Stacey Gaiga for running for mayor. I believe every elected position should have competition and not be gotten by acclamation. But I have a few questions I would like answered.
What are 21st century jobs? Where are they coming from? How much do they pay?
I know she is against coal; is she also against logging? Does this all have to do with where she owns property?
What is that fortified-looking building with cameras at Third Avenue and Angus Street?
The people against coal love large numbers to scare people. For example, instead of putting down the number of trucks per hour, they need large numbers like the number per year.
Then there is a guy who used a huge number, for trees to be planted to counter the methane gas. When I went to school the process of photosynthesis did not use methane gas.
Some of the big producers of methane gas include elephant herds, cattle feed lots, garbage dumps and humans.
You can bring coal to town and you would not know it was happening. The late Charlie Haggard’s proposed route out of town could be built as a logging road. The coal trucks could come that way with no impact on traffic, plus shorten the distance in half.
Then the coal trucks could come in through the Cameron Valley to Cameron Shops. There are lots of areas out there that could be used as coal storage, plus you’d have a shop for maintenance.
From there, the coal could be transferred to ships by a system of conveyor belts.
If you don’t think that’s possible, go up to Port McNeill and look at the conveyor system that crosses the highway to the waterfront, where barges are then loaded for California.
With the start of coal, Port Alberni could also be the destination of container ships. So get out there and get your foot in the door. All problems are solvable.
Jim Irvine,
Port Alberni