To the Editor,
Re: Municipality made up mind on Colliery dams long ago, Letters, July 29.
If city staff committed any error in this business, it was in underestimating the attachment of the community to the dams, and the damage that could be done by a few people stirring up trouble.
We have many relics of the coal mining industry, fortunately, most of them are benign. It is worth remembering that over 460 men died in the Nanaimo coal mines. It was a dangerous business. We should not risk any more lives preserving potentially dangerous relics.
It doesn’t matter what earthquake rating the dam may have, or whether the rules have changed to redefine the threat. The water they detain still weighs 220,000 tonnes at low summer flow and over 250,000 tonnes in winter.
The question to be asked by the people of Harewood is whether they want a legacy of risk, or safety.
Charles ThirkillNanaimo