To the Editor,
Re: Morden Mine restoration plan pitched to province, May 1.
Nanaimo waxes sentimental about the death of our coal industry and preserving the pit head gear at Morden.
Bellingham takes the opposite tack and is opening a coal port to export nine ‘unit train’ loads of coal per day.
Would that Victoria could speed up approval of the reopening of the Vancouver Island coal fields. We need the wealth that industry produces if Nanaimo is to remain a growing and vibrant community.
There is a mine project northwest of Buckley Bay that is financed by Japanese and Korean money that has been held back for years, yet there is an operating mine at Quinsam and the mines at Cumberland left no obvious permanent damage to the land or sea.
There are vast coal reserves under Gabriola loaded with coal-bed methane.
Why these are not developed is beyond me.
Alastair James Berry
Nanaimo