B.C. and Washington state are moving ahead with plans to increase electrical grid connections across the border in the Cascadia region, Premier John Horgan and Gov. Jay Inslee say.
Horgan and Inslee announced the B次元官网网址渃lean grid initiativeB次元官网网址� Thursday at the annual Cascadia Innovation Corridor conference in Seattle. A working group to coordinate B.C. Hydro and Washington utilities will prepare for a B次元官网网址渃lean grid summitB次元官网网址� to be held in 2020.
Both leaders agreed that having abundant hydroelectric power to serve as backup gives them more opportunity to develop intermittent sources such as solar power.
Happy to be in Seattle with today, talking about , daylight saving time - and hockey, of course!
B次元官网网址� John Horgan (@jjhorgan)
Horgan and Inslee also reiterated their support for a high-speed rail corridor linking Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.
B次元官网网址淭his is the most rapidly growing area of North America, our province and our state,B次元官网网址� Inslee told reporters after the conference. B次元官网网址淲e have no choice but to increase the carrying capacity of our transportation system, particularly north-south. We canB次元官网网址檛 build another 42 lanes next to the I-5.B次元官网网址�
At the 2018 conference, B.C. contributed $300,000 towards a of a high-speed rail link between Vancouver, Seattle and Portland.
The study was submitted to the Washington state legislature in July, with a conclusion that an ultra-high-speed transportation system B次元官网网址渃ould be viableB次元官网网址� for the Pacific Northwest region.
The study examines corridor options, possible station areas and potential ridership, as well as governing structures to administer the line across state and international borders, and financing alternatives.
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Environmental protection has been a theme for the annual Cascadia Innovation Corridor conference, with joint efforts to improve salmon habitat and protect southern resident killer whales that inhabit coastal waters off B.C. and U.S. states.
Inslee has joined Horgan in opposition to expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which was built in the 1950s. It is still the only pipeline supplying crude oil to Washington stateB次元官网网址檚 refineries at Cherry Point near Blaine, March Point near Anacortes, and Ferndale.
ShellB次元官网网址檚 March Point complex began operations in 1958 with only Trans Mountain crude from Alberta, but in recent years the state gets nearly half its oil via daily tankers from Valdez, Alaska through the Salish Sea.
Oil train traffic to Washington started in 2012 and has risen rapidly. Volatile light crude from North DakotaB次元官网网址檚 Bakken shale oil deposits, the same product loaded on a train that exploded and killed 47 people in Lac M茅gantic, Quebec in 2013, accounts for much of WashingtonB次元官网网址檚 oil by rail.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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