A letter to the editor quoted from NEWS/NORTH in Yellowknife:
( Mr Gzowski is a long time resident and well respected and diver in Canada's north)
Wednesday, December 9, 1998
Diavik has done their homework Northern News Services Editor:
After reading the editorial "Straight answers on Diavik, please"
(Yellowknifer, Dec. 4), I really wonder why we are hearing such
a negative spinoff about the Diavik project.
I really think it's about time that someone wrote about the
positive side of this issue. The last remarks were made by a
certain city councillor and now our own paper is adding fuel to
the fire. At this time, we really don't need these negative views
from misinformed do-gooders of our environment.
As a concerned underwater environmentalist and someone who
has spent many hours under water at Lac De Gras, filming,
collecting bottom sediments, deploying current meters under
the winter ice and investigating all major zones where the dike
material will be placed for each retention dam, I will say one
thing ... Diavik has gone the extra mile with quality control
standards, right down to installing miles of turbidity barrier
material, which will be called for in their documents.
In the general scope of work, each phase will be filmed
underwater for insurance reasons and good quality control. I
don't think the average person on the street can appreciate this
massive and highly-technical project, and I don't want to get
into long technical responses, but I will say one thing -- Diavik
has covered every phase of this project (I, for one, think they
don't blow their own horn enough). In simple terms, Lac De Gras
will be safe and the fish will continue to thrive. This project
will not affect the quality of water in the Coppermine river,
special protective measures have already been taken to record
data at the very source of this great river, which is everyone's
concern, especially Diavik's.
I personally have attended each information session and Diavik's
staff have answered all questions very professionally. Some
questions do demand technical responses and I don't know how
simple they can put it. Model dikes have been made showing
cross-sections of all materials being used, plus charts have
been positioned on the walls showing each phase of the
operation.
This is not new engineering technology, it has been done and
tested before. Some of the world's leading engineers have been
consulted on this great endeavour. Diavik have done their
homework.
In closing, I just want to say that the spinoff starting in the
year 2000 will bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars of
revenue for the NWT. As a marine contractor, yes, I want some
of the work on this project, but, if I thought for one second this
fragile environment would be threatened, I would not get
involved.
Wayne Gzowski |
