Another environmental disaster – how do we say “enough”?

As I read article after article about the recent tailing ponds breach at the Mount Polley copper and gold mine, I am overwhelmed with the facts and the many more questions that the incident has left us

. 

What we know is that 10 billion litres of water and 4.5 million cubic metres of metals-laden fine tailings were discharged into Hazeltine Creek.  We know that this water system is connected to the Fraser River,  one of our most important salmon bearing waterways. We also know that the breach happened after multiple warnings from the Ministry of the Environment about the pond exceeding its permitted height, the most recent warning coming this past May. 

Photo: Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press

What we don’t know is when communities in the area will be able to drink the water nearby.  We also have no idea what the medium and long-term impacts will be, in particular because the incident happened just as salmon are starting to enter the area.  Some say the region may never fully recover.  We don’t know.

But we do know something else - this incident was preventable and that it is guaranteed that similar incidents will happen again.  We know this because when industries are allowed to self- regulate and governments believe that economic growth can only happen one way – at all costs - harm is inevitable.

So what do we, the citizens of this province, do?

As issues of democratic reform and loss of democracy in this country bubble over, it is clear to me that the apathy that Canadians show regarding voting has left our governments with a false sense of empowerment.  Contrary to what Canadians say they want, they are deregulating our environmental protection laws and giving over environmental stewardship over to industry whose primary driver is profit, not protection. 

With every provincial and federal election that passes, fewer and fewer of us vote.  We have abrogated our right, and in my opinion, our duty to vote and take part in the most important opportunity we have to influence what kind of country we want to live in.  But it’s important to note, it isn’t our only opportunity. They are our governments, they work for us and that accountability has to be kept up not just at election time but every day in between. If we don’t like the way they protect our environment, we must let them know. 

Many of us our heartbroken about the Mount Polley incident, devastated by what we know will be impacts on our waters, salmon and other wildlife – for years to come.  But we can’t stop at hand-wringing.  If we want accountability, we must demand it.  If we want better environmental protection laws, monitoring and enforcement, we must ask for it.  

Please contact your MLA or MP and let them know that “enough is enough”.  We did not elect industry to protect our air and water, we elected our government and they must do their job.

We must raise our voices – because if we don’t, in a few weeks when this disaster fades from the headlines, things will go back to the new normal, where projects are approved without proper environmental assessment and monitoring of laws are left to this system which puts industry in charge.  And then, it’s just a matter of time before our communities, our environment and our economy pay another ultimate price. 

I say “enough”.

Helping the Kelp

Michael Mehta with the tools of the trade...
a GPS and rubber ducky thermometer

I'm very fortunate to have had some amazing experiences in my life, and last week while on vacation was no exception. I've recently moved to Gabriola Island, and was looking for ways to contribute to my new community...and Help the Kelp caught my eye. When I saw they were looking for volunteers to go out and map the bull kelp beds, I jumped at the chance, and am I ever glad I did.

Our crew consisting of Michael, Nancy, and I, mapped a chunk of the north end of Gabriola. My job was to take GPS waypoints and temperature readings, as Nancy took detailed notes. She noted everything from the temperature of the water, whether we were mapping single kelp, lines of kelp, or full beds, the density of the kelp beds, health of the kelp, and more. Not only that, but she swam out to get our 'sweet ride' and towed it back into shore...Michael figures she's about a half horsepower!


Me driving the boat!

Help the Kelp
volunteer Nancy Laird

Michael was our able Captain as we navigated shallow waters amongst kelp...of course...avoiding rocks and other hazards on a bit of a rough day. Rough enough to be fun, but rough weather also makes it more difficult to spot the kelp, and more dangerous as we had to get close to shore and over reefs where the kelp beds are found.

Not only did I have a fantastic time, as pretty much any day on the water is a good day for me, but I learned a ton about kelp, and got to meet some really great people too. As if that wasn't enough, I got to drive the boat...and so did Nancy!

But most importantly, this is citizen science at its best. There was no baseline data on kelp beds around Gabriola Island before this mighty and determined little group of folks came along. And baseline data is critical since Help the Kelp not only monitors the kelp around Gabriola, but advocates for its protection from threats (such as climate change, reckless boaters, and log booms), and plants kelp too.

So this is it...what we know about bull kelp around here, and a chance for its recovery, is thanks to a group started by Ken Capon, who sadly passed away in 2012. What an amazing legacy he leaves behind...I only wish I got to meet him.






Kinder Morgan hearings delay: a win for pipeline opponents

This week the National Energy Board (NEB) announced that it was ‘stopping the clock’ on its review of Kinder Morgan’s proposed pipeline expansion, which will delay the NEB’s final recommendation – and the ultimate federal Cabinet decision – until 2016.

Tanker under Second Narrows Bridge
Photo: Sarama (www.livingsalishsea.ca)

The delay is due to the fact that Kinder Morgan changed a portion of its ‘preferred route’ for the new pipeline after it filed its application to the NEB last December. The NEB is providing the extra time so that Kinder Morgan can carry out additional studies on the new route, which involves tunneling through Burnaby Mountain. When the route change came to light in May, many community members called for the NEB review to be paused or restarted, particularly those in Burnaby who could be most directly affected by the route switch.

There’s no doubt that major flaws remain in the NEB review process: there still won’t be any in-person cross-examination of the evidence presented, Kinder Morgan is still failing to adequately answer the questions intervenors have been asking, and the project’s climate impacts are still barred from discussion.

However, the delay is most definitely a win for all of us who have been criticizing both the project and the process.

The longer the review takes, the more likely it is that one of the many obstacles to the project’s completion will be successful, including changing market forces, a raft of lawsuits from First Nations and others, and citizens from across BC mobilizing to oppose the project. Perhaps most notably, the final decision to approve or deny the project will be made by whoever wins the next federal election in 2015, giving citizens a chance to hear where all the parties stand on Kinder Morgan, and the opportunity to vote accordingly.  

If you’re an intervenor or a commenter in the NEB review, here are the key new deadlines you should be aware of:

·         Deadline for commenters to file letter of comment: March 16, 2015 (commenter workshops will now take place in February 2015)

·         Deadline for intervenors to file written evidence: March 16, 2015

·         Deadline for intervenors to file written argument: July 29, 2015

·         Oral hearings: July 2015

·         NEB releases its final report and recommendations: 25 January, 2016

You can find out more from the NEB’s table of revised hearing events, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, please get in touch at alexandra@georgiastrait.org.win

Mixing concrete and asparagus on Granville Island

Why a polarized and non-transparent debate will hurt the future of Vancouver’s treasured waterfront hub

Years ago, someone came up with the idea of putting vegetables on concrete mixers to drive them around Vancouver, and guess what, it is working. Granted, the trucks aren’t used to bring veggies to market—quite the opposite: the larger-than-life ads depicting carrots and asparagus on cement trucks bring Granville Island’s public market to people’s attention and have become a familiar and endearing sight around the city. The trucks belong to the Ocean Concrete/Lehigh Hanson plant that is located right next to the market and keeps the island’s industrial heritage alive.

Ocean Concrete's cement plant is one of the last remaining 
industrial facilities on Granville Island
Photo: Joe Mabel (licensed under GNU Free Documentation License)

The marketing folks behind the ads knew how to make people pause and think. Their campaign encapsulates what makes Granville Island so special: it’s a place, in the middle of the city, where unusual things come together—like the public market, a cement plant, an arts school campus, theatres, galleries and other creative spaces, a next-door fishing harbour, and much more. The symbiosis of all these facilities is what has made Granville Island so popular with locals and international travelers alike.

Now the island is bracing for change. Emily Carr University is moving away to its new campus in East Vancouver, and the conversation about the future of the area has started to take off. In February, the Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham suggested that Granville Island was in need of re-imagination and renewal to inject new life, creative energy and local flavour.

Recently, the conversation has taken a much more antagonistic turn. News leaked that Port Metro Vancouver was negotiating to take over Granville Island from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. This was not well received by everyone, including the City of Vancouver, who according to a statement by Mayor Gregor Robertson would like to see a “transfer or lease to the City, or the creation of an independent local authority” to run the island.

There are two things that concern me about the place we’ve suddenly found ourselves in as we are talking about the future of Granville Island:

First, it didn’t take long for the debate to be framed around camps, positions, antagonists, and strong conclusions about what’s right or wrong. Arguments about whether the Port has a “proven track record of running things” or represents a bureaucracy that Granville Island must be saved from provide easily combustible fuel for a heated discussion, but they are unlikely to produce good outcomes for the larger community.

Granville Island is a core part of the waterfront in Vancouver, a maritime city that owes much of its allure and prosperity to its connection to the ocean and the world. Consequently, the Port and the shipping industry should be part of this conversation. But so should citizens and other stakeholders—which leads me to my second concern.

The secrecy surrounding the negotiations and the lack of transparency and engagement in the process so far do not bode well for the discussion moving forward. Granville Island arguably plays an important role for Vancouver: as a public space, a tourist destination, and a source of diverse economic and job opportunities in the city centre. So all those who make Granville Island what it is and who want to contribute to and benefit form it in the future need to be involved: tenants, the City, industry, civil society, and citizens.

Photo: Ruocaled/Flickr (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

If the polarization and lack of transparency and engagement continues, we risk squandering great opportunities for our city. Granville Island really is unique as an amalgamation of creativity, public spaces, industry, and other economic activities (such as retail, services, hospitality). And I believe that if Vancouver is to achieve the goal of becoming the world’s greenest city, moving industries elsewhere won’t cut it. Real leadership and innovation would mean making our industrial activities on the waterfront more sustainable and harmonizing them with the ecosystems and the communities that surround them—without having to move more people to jobs in the suburbs and trucking more goods back into the city.

Divisive debates are not going to get us there. The way to innovative solutions that benefit us all is through engagement, open dialogue, and collaboration, which is the approach Georgia Strait Alliance is taking with our Waterfront Initiative. We are the backbone organization for a growing network of partners and stakeholders that works to restore, protect, and revitalize Vancouver’s shoreline. Our goal is to ensure that the waterfront can continue to be a place where we live, work, play, travel, connect with and protect nature—in other words, all that Granville Island represents so unmistakably in the heart of the city.

Ryan joins GSA for the summer

Hello GSA supporters,

Ryan with his friend and classmate Rabbi Salih
during his recent convocation ceremony. 

My name is Ryan Butler, and I am excited to be joining GSA’s dynamic staff this summer as the Clean Marine Outreach and Engagement Coordinator. Prior to this position, I’ve worked and volunteered with several NGOs and student organizations, such as: Camp Hornby, The World University Service of Canada, and The Radio Malaspina Society.

Having recently graduated from Vancouver Island University with a degree in sociology and political studies, I am thrilled to have found a summer job that is relevant to my field. Come September, I intend to carry my summer experience forward into my Master’s program at the University of Victoria.

I believe that all Canadians ought to undertake practices that protect or restore our environment whenever possible. As such, I am excited about joining GSA where I can fulfil this belief while still working. Here, students are able to making significant contributions to our public discussions regarding both regional and global issues.

Identifying environmental hazards is, of course, necessary but insufficient for creating change. Instead, change requires social and political processes to create and implement a variety of solutions. GSA’s Clean Marine BC program is one such solution, and therefore, I’m excited to contribute to its expansion this summer. Having previously researched the establishment of B.C.’s Forestry Stewardship Council, I appreciate how such eco-certification programs provide businesses and consumers with an avenue for reducing their environmental impact.

I am excited about the Clean Marine BC program, but I also recognize that GSA’s current Spills and Tankers Campaign, against the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline and increased fossil fuel exports, is confronting the region’s greatest environmental threat. Many of the benefits of CMBC would be greatly diminished should the Strait experience a major tanker spill, but together these GSA programs show that achieving environmental sustainability will require both preventative and adaptive actions.

I am proud to be contributing to GSA’s encompassing environmental work to protect the Strait, its adjoining waters, and its communities.