Sunday, October 26, 2008

B.C. set for wind power as residents ponder life next to turbines

Canadian Press:
VANCOUVER, B.C. — After watching jobs vanish and saw mills close down amid the province's troubled forest industry, the mayor of the small northeastern B.C. town of Chetwynd sees hope in the wind. Evan Saugstad believes his community is poised to be at the front of B.C.'s newest industry: wind power. "Mostly in the construction area there are a lot of jobs," Saugstad from the town of about 3,100 people nestled in foothills more than 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver. "The jobs that will remain after construction are high-paying jobs, and they're jobs that are pretty much guaranteed for 20 years. Because of where we're situated, Chetwynd does have the potential to be an operation centre for many of these projects." When the 50-turbine Dokie wind farm just outside Chetwynd is up and running next year, it will be B.C.'s first commercial wind power project, making the province the last in Canada to have such a power project.A farm near Dawson Creek, B.C., called the Bear Mountain project is also scheduled to start generating power next year, and there are many other prospective sites being considered.

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