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May 10, 2002
Hydro dams for Nunavut?
Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean
says Nunavut residents may have to accept the construction of hydro-electric
power dams as a necessity for economic development, and to break Nunavuts
dependence on fossil fuels.
McLean praised the Nunavut
government for entering into an agreement with the province of Manitoba to work
on the idea of building electrical power lines running between the two jurisdictions.
He also said Nunavut should
look into generating its own hydro-electric power, some of it for sale to Manitoba
and the United States.
"Our dependency on
fossil fuels is never going to go away and its a pollutant of the environment,
and I know the minister wouldnt say it on the radio, but somebody, some
day, is going to have to make a tough decision and politicians are elected to
make the hard and tough decisions about building a dam in Nunavut.
"I know its
a scary word, dam, in Nunavut, but for self-sufficiency, and if we are building
a power grid from Manitoba, why cant we export power to the United States?"
The Nunavut Power Corporation
is already beginning to look at the idea of hydro-electric power, including
small-scale hydro projects in and around Iqaluit.
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