The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
IT'S A LOW MERCURY DAY
EDITORIAL - August 29, 2006
It's been such a long time since we took a ride in our time machine that we spent part of the weekend cleaning it up and wiping off the dust, running tests and finally firing up the plutonium reserves so we could propel ourselves into the future.
Since we hadn't used the time machine for well over a year, we only had enough plutonium for a short round trip and decided to visit the Compliance Energy Wood/Coal Generating Plant in the year 2015.
The trip was quick and smooth and the view was actually quite spectacular. Once we landed at the Compliance Generating Plant, we were stunned to learn that there had been so many changes to our home town and surrounding area.
The Similkameen was not the way we remembered it before we took off in August 2006. The forests were all dead, victims of a mutated version of the mountain pine beetle that had evolved into a bionic bug/monster that mowed down the Cascade Range as if it were someone's lawn. The hills and mountains all around the valley were bare and brown.
We were met at the Compliance Energy Gift Shop, just outside the power plant, which was not located at the former Similco Mine site, but on what was once Crown Land a short distance upstream from there. The Gift Shop carried hundreds of items, from fridge magnets to coffee mugs - all of which glowed in the dark!
Compliance had become the major employer after the forests shut down and had created a total of 450 jobs!
A large neon sign outside the plant glowed an eerie green with five foot high letters announcing "Low Mercury Day" and in smaller letters below that the statement: "Accident free for 15 days."
We also learned the energy plant was meeting most of the standards it said it would back in the planning stages in 2006 and actually exceeded a few.
The population of Princeton had ballooned to 25,000 and in 2010, instead of changing back to Vermilion Forks, then Mayor John Babiak changed the name of Princeton to Compliance.
The town (now a city) looked so very different. There were all-weather sports facilities in every neighbourhood, a community centre - complete with indoor pool - on what was once the Third Bench for 'Upper City' folks and another one where Weyerhaeuser used to be for the rest of the community. The complex included ball diamonds, soccer fields and another 19-hole golf course.
Sport fishing in Compliance (formerly Similkameen) River was attracting fishermen from around the world hoping to hook one of the famous three-eyed fresh water salmon reintroduced to the watershed in 2009 with mutations occurring every two seasons!
What we saw on the trip was far from what we had expected. We could not believe how much our valley had changed in only a few years.
We had to get back to the controversial year 2006 quickly!
