Re: "PM says science to govern pipeline," Aug. 8.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper rightly says the only way to handle controversial projects is to have an independent scientific and engineering evaluation.
I presume he also expects such an evaluation to include the technical risks that are inevitably part of any project. With this technical evaluation cost and economic risk/reward assessments can be made creating a comprehensive picture from which a decision is feasible and more likely to be the correct one.
My concern is this: Why does Harper endorse this view for the Enbridge project and not for for the proposed sewage-treatment plant in Victoria? That seems to be governed by a federal edict that all towns must have a sewage plant with secondary treatment, whether it needs it or not.
I doubt if any scientist or engineer with any knowledge on this subject believes Victoria requires it. And now we are to have a commission whose remit will undoubtedly be: Build this plant. If a need assessment is now a thing of the past, we can only hope the commission will be capable of reviewing the current cost estimate before work starts.
James Brown
Saanich
