Harper restrained by environmentalists

Murray Dobbin in The Tyee, points to the ability of sustained and strong resistance by environmental coalitions to keep Conservative economic single-mindedness in check. For example:

The rejection of the B.C. Prosperity copper-gold mine proposal and the saving of Fish Lake was a good example. Approving the mine in the face of very effective publicity on the part of opponents proved just too much for even Stephen Harper to pull off. Defying many of the pundits' predictions, the Conservatives backed off and actually listened to their own environmental review panel.

Now comes a bigger issue:  The Enbridge Northern pipeline plan:

It's a huge issue. Harper has invested a lot in supporting the project. But the opposition is formidable: an informal alliance of some half dozen environmental organizations, 61 First Nations, and many municipal governments that may well be unprecedented. Eighty per cent of British Columbians are opposed to allowing oil tankers in coastal waters. If Harper gives a green light to the project he will unleash an enormous backlash, and the movement which is now simply campaigning for a rejection of the project by a federal joint review panel will move into higher gear, including civil disobedience.
It would be a public relations nightmare for the Harper government. Enbridge, which between 1999 and 2008 had 610 spills releasing 132,000 barrels of oil, is now pumping dirty oil allied with Alberta's Harper. This against a diverse alliance who want to save the pristine wilderness, B.C. coastal waters and First Nations' livelihood. That alliance also has the backing of all the opposition parties, two of which have put forward private members' bills trying to ban oil tankers (an informal moratorium now exists).

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The Campaign to protect Fish Lake 

Teztan Biny / Fish Lake still in jeopardy

According to resource planner Tony Pearse in The Tyee, the recently-announced Federal environmental assessment leaves loopholes for the federal government to justify approving the Taseko plan, which includes using the lake as a tailings pond.

The panel had expert evidence before it that Taseko had substantially overestimated the economic benefits of its project and yet, in providing information to the ministers concerning justifiability, it did not pass on the only independent analysis available. This is bad news, because it is virtually certain that the ministers will examine the issue of economic benefits if they contemplate approving the project despite the serious environmental and cultural consequences identified by the panel.

This evidence, from resource economist Marvin Schaffer, "told the panel that the BC EAO's conclusion that 'there is no expected cost to future generations except for the loss of Fish Lake and Little Fish lake' was factually incorrect. There would be a very large, on-going cost to present and future generations from this arrangement."

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The Campaign to protect Fish Lake

Fish Lake / Teztan Biny 

The Battle for Our Rivers and Our Fish

Despite their victory in the last provincial election, the way is not open for the BC Liberals to continue their ceding of river access to corporate power-sellers. The tactical attempts to sneak through the legal requirements are being countered by an alert and growing resistance. The Tyee reports:

Far from being deterred by the denial of a meeting in Nelson, local environmental groups banded together to provide bus transportation and other means for getting people to the Kaslo meeting. The result was staggering.

People of all ages came with costumes, banners, marching bands, meticulously researched and passionately articulated speeches. First they rallied outside the school before the meeting, then they lined up one after another at the microphone to say a resounding "no" to the project and the whole idea of privatizing our rivers for power we don't need and can't use. Why can't we use it? Because the bulk of this power would come in spring, the time of our lowest demand and highest supply) vowing that this project would be stopped.

As local NDP MLA Michelle Mungall told the company to rousing applause, "These people are not uneducated about your project. They understand it. They don't like it. They don't want it."

After a disappointing provincial election for those who care about protecting our rivers, fish and wildlife, this night served to re-energize the movement around the province and showed this battle is really just getting started. And the people of the Kootenays, famous for their love of nature and commitment to protecting it, are once again leading by example.

More from The Tyee
Facebook: Help Save Wild Rivers in the Kootenays

The arts have great potential in the BC Interior

Here's an article from The Tyee that invites thought and may inspire more ideas and action. At least, here are a few extracts. If they interest you, check out the full article.

Some of Canada's most renowned work, Inuit and Northwest Coast aboriginal art, is some of the most remotely produced. End-of-the-road communities like Atlin and Wells have been put them on the map because of their artistic resources. Yet existing arts and culture in rural areas, particularly in B.C.'s northern region, have traditionally gone unrecognized by urban centres and remain largely under-funded.
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In its 2006-2007 annual report, the B.C. Arts Council recognized the importance of arts and culture in building community by noting that, "Cultural tourism, the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry, is emerging as a key element of new economic development plans in many communities. The need to develop the arts and cultural products in conjunction with the infrastructure of transportation, accommodation, restaurants and marketing is only now being understood."

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With Pitt River hydro plans stopped, what now?

Matthew Burrows in the Georgia Straight looks at plans some are making to introduce proposals for other private hydro operations. He quotes BC Liberal Randy Hawes:

Despite its sudden withdrawal in the legislature on March 31, B.C. Liberal whip Randy Hawes says he still plans to introduce his motion supporting independent power producers.

“It is going to get introduced, I would expect,” Hawes, a two-term Maple Ridge–Mission MLA, told the Georgia Straight by phone from Victoria that same day. “I haven’t got a date for you. It might be two weeks or it might be four weeks.”

and John Calvert of SFU:

SFU associate professor John Calvert, author of Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia (Fernwood, 2007), argues that B.C. Hydro’s large public revenue stream, combined with 20-year fixed-term power-purchase agreements, is being used as “collateral” by the smaller private producers to borrow money for getting the projects off the ground.

“Then they build the power plant,” Calvert told the Straight. “So when the water licence expires in 40 years, what does the government do? It is likely to renew it, because otherwise they are going to have to tell the company that owns the land and the power plant to shut everything down. I think it is very unlikely that future governments would be in a position to do that.”

Complete article

Tyee article sheds some light on BC Native land claims

Aboriginal land claims in BC appear so complex that, given so many other matters that take my time, I seek to find simple principles amidst the details. There is little written in the mainstream media that has brought me much closer to understanding. This opinion article by Dave Porter, Chief Judith Sayers and Grand Chief Edward John in The Tyee (which is not quite mainstream), seems to cast some light on the processes and principles involved:

New Day for BC Native Claims
'Xeni decision' casts doubt on provincial authority over First Nations land dealings.

The inspirational words in the judgment of Justice Vickers of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia ("Xeni decision") ought to convince both Prime Minister Harper and Premier Campbell of the existence of Aboriginal peoples, and to recognize and respect the Aboriginal rights and title of each.

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