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A few recent Times Colonist Letters to the Editor
November 22, 2004
LIFT THE MORATORIUM ON OFFSHORE DRILLING
In September a resounding number of mayors and councilors, representing
thousands of British Columbians, called for the lifting of the federal
government moratorium on oil and gas exploration.
The massive support has been completely ignored by the report of
the Priddle Panel on Offshore Oil and Gas. The panel has caved in to the
shrill protests of all the usual suspects who object to any resource
industry activity that might help our economy.
It is shameful that the federal government continues to treat
British Columbia so unfairly by maintaining the moratorium. No other
province had been subjected to such a draconian edict.
It is time to treat British Columbia in a fair and unbiased
manner by lifting the moratorium now.
Gerry Furney, Mayor, Port McNeill
REPORT IGNORED SMALL-TOWN VOICES
British Columbians should not be misled by the findings of the Priddle
Commission on Offshore Oil and Gas.
What local communities believed was a fair-minded process has
ultimately become a simple process of "count the heads." Mayors of small
towns along the coast were discounted, while manufactured submissions
inspired by major environmental groups were given equal weight.
This process demonstrates the difficulty of economic development
in outlying areas. There will always be some major U.S-funded
environmental group to oppose it, and an out-of-touch bureaucrat to hear
them.
I trust the prime minister and our premier will understand what
has happened and lift the moratorium, put a sound regulatory process in
place and start to negotiate a Pacific Accord that will address the
concerns of the First Nations and the people of British Columbia.
Russ Hellberg, Port Hardy
November 24, 2004
PROMOTERS ARE OUT OF DATE
Gerry Furney, mayor of Port McNeill, and Russ Hellberg, former
Mayor of Port Hardy, have their knickers in a knot about the results of
the federal public review on offshore oil and gas ("Lift the moratorium
on offshore drilling" and "Report ignored small-town voices," Nov.22).
It must be hard for them to realize that communities no longer
support an unsustainable economic development agenda. It must be hard
for them to realize that coastal residents want a healthy ocean as part
of the foundation of their communities. It must be hard for them to
realize that their ideas are outdated.
But the people of the coast, both native and non-native, have
made their position clear and our prime minister now has a new mandate
to protect this coast from the treats of offshore oil and gas.
Jennifer Lash, executive director, Living Oceans Society, Sointula
OILY FOLKS ARE SORE LOSERS
It's interesting to see the sore-loser responses of the B.C
Liberal government, Port McNeill Mayor Gerry Furney and former Port
Hardy mayor Russ Hellberg, when they complain that their opinions
weren't weighted more heavily than everyone else's in the federal public
input process on coastal oil and gas extraction in B.C.
The panel's findings that 75 per cent of the people want to
maintain the moratorium, while only 23 per cent want it lifted, are too
hard for these oily politicians to swallow.
The faulty "logic" behind Furney's claim is that he represents
the 3,000 people in Port McNeill, therefore his submission to the public
input process should count for 3,000 people!
We could count the 60,000 members and supporters of the
Wilderness Committee, the 100,000 members of Greenpeace in Canada, and
the hundreds of thousands more represented by the other conservation
organizations, unions, and First Nations bands who spoke up against oil
drilling on our coast. At any rate, rural communities are clearly
divided on the issue, where many people are still employed in the
fishing industry, and where First Nations often constitute the majority
of the population.
The proponents of fossil-fuel extracting on B.C's coast should
recognize their own failure to win over enough people to speak up for
their side of the issue, despite having the enormous taxpayer-funded
resources of the B.C Liberal government's spin-doctors.
Ken Wu, Western Canada Wilderness Committee
November 29, 2004
TOO MANY MISINFORMED OILY OPINIONS
I was annoyed to read Les Leyne's uninformed opinion ("Priddle
report doesn't clarify much," Nov. 23) about the federal public
consultation results on offshore oil and gas. Those who support an
oil-free coast out numbered those who advocate oil and gas extraction by
three to one. That was what the consultation set out to find, so it did
its job.
Leyne is clearly ignorant about what actually went on at the
public input process when he states that "every signature on a
petition...counted as one vote" just as "every municipal delegation's"
presentations counted as one vote. Wrong.
There were no petitions
accepted. You either spoke up in person at the hearings held all over
the coast, or you made a written submission. Sixty-nine per cent of oral
submission supported the moratorium, 75 per cent of all submissions in
total.
The purpose of the public consultation process was to consult
the public, not the politicians. His logic is also faulty when he
believes that somehow, the opinions of elected representatives (e.g.,
mayors of municipalities such as Port McNeil) should count as the
opinions of all those in their jurisdictions! Why even have a public
input process then, if that's the case?
The people of Canada don't want dirty fossil fuel extraction on
our
coast. Look at the oil spill that just happened at Newfoundland's
"environmentally friendly" offshore oil projects!
Graeme Verhulst, Victoria
MAKE THE MORATORIUM A PERMANENT BAN
The Liberal government wanted and had its own public input
process regarding whether to lift the moratorium on oil and gas
development off the BC coast. It turned out that 75 per cent of
participants are against lifting it.
Oops, this doesn't seem to be the result the provincial
government wanted. What they want is that one mayor's submission count
as 3000 or even 10,000 people's.
Well, essentially what they want is to lift the moratorium -
despite the public's opposition to it.
Two huge oil spills off the east coast have certainly
demonstrated how much truth is in the government's claim that we can
prevent oil spills by applying "new" technology.
However, even before a catastrophic oil spill happens, seismic
testing - loud air gun blasting through the ocean to test oil deposit
sites - will have done our previous marine life great harm.
It will kill fish, deafen whales, and drive whales away from
their migration routes. In light of all the potential damages of
offshore oil and gas development, the government should not only
maintain the moratorium, but also place a permanent legislative ban on
oil and gas development off the BC coast.
Ziya He, Victoria
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