A six-kilometre road and buried transmission lines would consume another $6 million. Many stemmed from the Gitga'at's insistence on self-reliance.Ī two-way fish ladder to protect local stocks and other mitigation measures would cost $1.5 million. The project's design evolved as funding doors opened, but costs were escalating. It would take 25 years to pay off, but after that the project promised to generate net revenue for the Gitga'at nation. Benton and the band negotiated $10 million in grants and an additional $12 million in financing.
In 2014, the Gitga'at signed an energy purchase agreement in which BC Hydro agreed to buy the power the village generates. Smart, articulate and intense, Benton soon found his skills in demand, first as health manager, then as band manager, and eventually as the hydro project manager. As it happened, Hartley Bay's energy file was by then in fresh hands.ĭavid Benton, a Vancouver lawyer and business grad, arrived serendipitously, accompanying his partner at the time, who was Gitga'at, on a visit to their home. They had struggled for decades to build a clean hydro plant and transition off diesel. He arrived knowing the community of fishermen, dependent on salmon and eco tourism, was vehemently opposed to his company's plan to turn their coast into a high-traffic oil tanker route.Īt a private meeting between Enbridge and Gitga'at leaders in February 2009, according to several band members, Harris argued that the Gitga'at rely on diesel for electricity, so why shouldn't people in foreign countries who need fuel for electricity be able to have that as well? Roger Harris, a former BC Liberal MLA and Enbridge's Northern Gateway point man for aboriginal relations, visited the isolated reserve, 140 kilometres south of Prince Rupert on British Columbia's north coast, in February 2009. The complexity of navigating multiple funders and governments with limited funds and human resources was becoming overwhelming. First Nation’s Four-Decade Fight for Diesel-Free Clean Energy Caught in Bureaucratic Limbo.īy the time the Great Recession of 2008 hit, Hartley Bay's decades-long struggle to shed its reliance on diesel was in a precarious place.
#DAVE BENTON NEWS ANCHOR SERIES#
Why me? There are a lot of people that do great things in this community, and they deserve a pat on the back.”Īnd Benton said the latest round of treatment appears to have added a few months.Part two of a two-part series from The Tyee. So when they presented me with this idea, I literally was quite shocked that was even possible. “You want to go out and do go things, I know it’s important to be involved in the community, and I wanted to do that and to do it effectively, but it never led to me thinking, ‘gee, I should get an award, or there should be an award in my name. “Having been in television now, it will be 30 years in April, I guess I never thought there could be an award named in my honor,” he said. Champaign County Crime Stoppers recently announced it would annually give out the ‘Dave Benton Crime Fighter Award’ for a citizen who exemplifies the crime-fighting spirit.īenton has been a board member with Crime Stoppers, and hosted a series of special programs on WCIA aimed at solving crimes. “It has helped them to be more positive and to look forward and be grateful for the good things we have at this moment.”īut he’s chosen to remain at work as long as possible, and live life as normal as possible.Īnd there will be a permanent marker of that hard work. “I’ve (heard from) some people that it’s helped them tell their side, and the situation that they’re facing,” he said. Benton said he’s getting lots of support from the community, and served as an inspiration from others who are ill. He said the latest round of treatment appears to have added a few months. But cancer returned earlier this year, and he announced during a broadcast with co-anchor Jennifer Roscoe that he may have just months to live. He went through chemotherapy, and had about six normal months. What I appreciate is that I see a lot of people getting treatment when I’m getting my treatment, and some of them are facing challenges I can’t imagine.”īenton first announced he had a brain tumor in November 2013. I sleep all weekend long, and I kind of bounce back. “I sleep a lot the week of treatment (on Tuesdays or Wednesdays every other week.) By that Thursday or Friday, I’m exhausted. “I’ve been fortunate not to have a lot of side effects so far,” he said. In the time he has, he says his goal is to live life to the fullest.
#DAVE BENTON NEWS ANCHOR TV#
It’s been three months since TV news anchor Dave Benton told viewers that his brain cancer was back, and doctors told him he had months to live. This interview was conducted in late 2014. Dave Benton passed away the morning of May 26.