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If rain were beer
A few years ago, this newspaper ran a slightly tongue-in-cheek column promoting the idea of a nuclear power plant on Lesser Slave Lake.
At the time, oil and gas activity in the entire region was standing still due to low prices.
The same was true with lumber action.. We needed a kickstart. Like the April Fool’s story about a super-suspension bridge crossing the Narrows at Kinuso, it seemed a nuclear plant was a perfect “make work’’ project to create some excitement.
Besides the jobs created by the plant itself, there were also interesting side effects, good or bad, depending on your point of view. All power plants, and nuclear plants in particular, need massive amounts of cooling power.
This is why they are usually located on rivers. An example is Edmonton’s Rossdale plant in the river valley. Some are located on lakes, such as the plants on Lake Wabamun on the highway to Jasper.
Naturally, there is an environment impact from these plants. Our tongue-in-cheek column suggested this would not necessarily be bad. A big plant would create it’s own micro-climate in the area right around the plant. Lake water would be warmer, perhaps even open all winter. Hardy souls wouldn’t likely take to the water in boats, but there could be new, warmer water fish species in the lake, such as bass.
Most big business ideas floated in the area get a good laugh, then fade away. It isn’t so much the ideas don’t have good people behind them. Many do.
But somewhere along the line, the ideas run into a wall of apathetic locals who would rather piddle on an idea, instead of supporting the idea as much as they can.
We’ve had rapeseed and alfalfa plants. Meat packers. Ethanol processers. Beer and whiskey operations. Modular home builders. A casino. Heavy oil upgrader. There is a long list of ideas. So many ideas in fact, the MD of Big Lakes actually compiled a list of potential industrial projects three years ago.
The big book still sits on the shelf at the MD office. Why? Perhaps the reason is the dreaded “Yeah But Disease.’’
You know the one. It starts off with a thought. Then someone says “Yeah but’’ and proceeds to argue with the idea until it gets shot down. Yeah But Disease.
One saying goes, “If Yeah Buts were rabbits, and rain were beer, there would always be stew on the stove and we would never work again.’’ Another is, “If wishes and buts were candy and nuts, Christmas would be here every day of the year.’’
Strange? Just as strange, perhaps, as oil sands thoughts to use nuclear energy to drag oil from the vast tar sands deposits across Northern Alberta. And perhaps just as strange as the proposal floated last week to build a nuclear power plant at Whitecourt, or, perhaps at one other place in Alberta.
So how about that “Yeah, but ...?’’
Jeff Burgar
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