SKEENA NDP MLA Robin Austin supports a proposed boundary change for the Nisga'a Lava Bed Memorial Park and wants the provincial government to deal with it as soon as possible.
The boundary change is needed so that a 1km section of the Northwest Transmission Line can be built as planned but it needs to be approved first by the provincial legislature.
Executive members of the Nisga'a Lisims Government last week gave their blessing to the boundary change and the Nisga'a legislature meets later this month where its approval will also be needed.
“I think that overall it is a very important project for our region,” said Austin of the power line.
“And the fact the Nisga'a are in favour makes for a very compelling argument for this [boundary] change and I will be making that case before the [NDP] caucus,” he added.
But Austin did hope the line will result in the least amount of disturbance as possible to the area in question.
There's no indication yet of when the provincial government will table the appropriate legislation because there's no word on when it will sit again.
“But I would think the legislature will sit very shortly because the new premier has said she wants to change the HST referendum date to June 24 so that would take a couple of days,” said Austin.
The MLA did note that the line's construction schedule is such that it needs to meet specific timelines.
The lava bed park is jointly managed by the province and the Nisga'a, making approval by both necessary for any kind of boundary change.
The park route is part of what's called the “western route” for the power line which also goes through Nisga'a core lands.
Construction costs and maintenance will be cheaper than going through an alternate route called the “eastern route.”
That route was tagged as an alternate by BC Hydro and could have been used had not a deal to use the western route been worked out with the Nisga'a.
Austin hoped BC Hydro will be able to reach agreements with all First Nations along the 340km power line length.