Laura Keillkeil@therockymountaingoat.com

TransAlta Harnesses Bone CreekProject to power 8200 homes at peak

Other communities still mired in dense process to remove it

Vavenby resident Judy Alexandre initated the campaign to stop the whistle in 2004. CN rail had already installed lights, bells and arms to the crossing, so few upgrades were needed and the regional district paid for the safety assessment.

“Vavenby Stops Whistle” cont’ A3

Laura Keillkeil@therockymountaingoat.com

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Valemount graduation evening photos The Goat, one on one with Jeannette Townsend

Harnessing the spring run-off: not always as easy as dipping your hand in a creek. Construction began on the Bone Creek hydro project in March which will have the capacity to power 8200

homes at its peak. It is slated for completion next spring. The project is employing about 200 people: equipment operators, carpenters, and skilled labourers.Project Manager Doreen Johnson says they are still looking for skilled labourers for the project. The operation does not remove

any water, but rather diverts part of it into a pipe buried parallel to the creek. The water barrels down the 6-kilometre tube into the power house. After it passes through the power house, the water returns to Bone Creek, which is kept at a mini-mum height by forcing some water not to flow into the tubing. Fish are

kept out of the creek by a natural barrier. The project will sell its power into the grid, not on contracts, as it is not a continuous power source. The wa-ter fluctuates between the seasons, and is at its highest with the spring runoff. “Hydro” cont’ A4

“It was just heaven when they quit.” Judy Alexandre

Photo: Laura Keil

www.therockymountaingoat.com

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Vavenby enjoys first spring train whistle free

Rocky Mountain Goat

The

The clinking and clattering of train cars still lulls Vavenby residents to sleep, but their rest is no longer disturbed by the piercing whistle of trains approaching the crossing. Trains no longer have to sound their whistles when passing through Vavenby, a community of 700 resi-dents between Blue River and Kam-loops. Train engineers still use the whistle at their discretion and in emergency situations. The Vollans have lived 26 years in a house that backs onto the rail line. “Most of the kids can play out here now and it doesn’t both-er them,” Gord Vollans says. His son Chris Vollans says the grandchildren would sometimes fling themselves on the ground when a train came. “It would scare the crap out of the kids,” he says. “They’d scream in the middle of the night.” The whistle blew right behind their house. When they inquired about stopping the whistle several years ago, the Vollans learned 32

trains passed through the commu-nity each day. “There’s still that many now, but honestly you don’t even notice half the time a train goes by because they don’t honk,” Chris Vollans says. For years residents had complained of disturbed sleep and the hourly nuisance that interrupted conversa-tions, TV shows and phone calls. The rail line runs right through town, intersecting the main road that funnels traffic from the high-way across the tracks to the south end of town.

Larry Frisk used to cross the tracks each day to get to work. He dis-agrees with the decision to eliminate the whistle and says not everyone in

the community was consulted. “What happens if these lights and bars don’t come down and the whis-tle doesn’t sound and a kid is com-ing down on his bike?” Frisk does not live near the tracks, but he says the whistle is a small price to pay for protecting the lives of residents.