Originally published on the ECOreport. It has been a year since the Wilderness Committee drew our attention to the planned logging of old-growth trees in Vancouver Island’s central Walbran Valley. So far, the controversial heli-block 4424 has remained untouched. Since last November, Teal Jones has been logging 6 or 7 cutblocks in the more easily accessible areas south
Originally published on the ECOreport. The oil train you see above may be one of the last to pass through Hood River, Oregon. Last month, a near-catastrophic derailment/fire occurred in the neighbouring town of Mosier. Though the town is still dealing with the aftereffects from a 42,000 gallon spill, they mayor acknowledges they were lucky. The Federal
Originally Published on the ECOreport On any given night, there are 3,800 people sleeping in Portland’s streets, shelters or temporary housing. The city of Portland has received countless phone calls, e-mails, and social media messages requesting information about this problem. “We heard them, and we responded with an easily accessible warehouse of information,” says Mayor Charles Hales. Portland’s
Originally Published on the ECOreport Chief Roland Willson, of West Moberly First Nation, said his people celebrated the 100th anniversary of Treaty #8 in 2014. One of the provisions is that they will be allowed to use the land about to be submerged by the Site C Dam “as long as the sun shines, the grass grows
Originally Published on the ECOreport Though Elizabeth May was not as concerned about being left out of the “elite corporate” Globe and Mail or Munk’s debates, cancelling the English Consortium debate is an altogether different matter. Around 11 million Canadians watched watched the so-called “people’s debate” – televised by CBC, CTV, Global, and Tele-Quebec – during Canada’s 2011 election.
The Comment Period for BC’s Next Mega-sized Energy Project Ends June 11 Originally Published on the ECOreport The National Energy Board (NEB) caught everyone by surprise. More than half of the “comment period” had passed by June 3, when someone from Voters Taking Action On Climate Change (VTACC) saw a notice on the British Columbia’s
Originally Published on the ECOreport There are many reasons to oppose the proposed Site C dam. It will flood what is reputedly some of the province’s most promising farmland. Most of the inhabitants of the Peace River Area, where the dam would be built, oppose the project. There are alternative energy sources, such as geothermal, which BC Hydro has
Originally Published on the ECOreport The arrests began on Burnaby Mountain. Police pushed the protestors back to the “legal protest” zone on Thursday. Twenty-six were arrested. David Suzuki’s grandson, Tamo Campos, and at least two members of the Squamish Nation were among them. Today was more peaceful. There were around 150 people, ten of which
Originally Published on the ECOreport Legal Challenge to Idaho’s Wildlife-killing Contest is a podcast with Amy Atwood, Endangered Species Legal Director, Senior Attorney, The Center of Biological Diversity. The Bureau of Land Management has just issued a five year permit, so that Salmon, Idaho, can hold its’ wildlife killing contest on public land. Five hundred hunters,
A Review of “Salmon Confidential Documentary” Originally Published on the ECOreport What is killing BC’s wild salmon? Anyone simply looking for proof salmon farms are infecting wild salmon will find enough five minutes into Twyla Roscovich’s documentary “Salmon Confidential Documentary.” The evidence is laid so convincingly that one is tempted to turn the video off.
Originally published on the ECOreport The Skeena River is the most productive salmon bearing river in British Columbia. Thousands of years before the first European colonists arrived, it was providing First Nations with food. A week ago, First Nations throughout the Skeena Watershed declared their opposition to the proposed LNG project on Lelu Island, grave
Originally Published on the ECOreport Though it is not certain how whether the company was trying to exert influence, BC’s election results won’t make Kinder Morgan Happy. Vancouver and Burnaby have long been identified as “lightning rods” of opposition, where the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion is a central election issue. The 1,150 kilometre (714 mile)
Originally published on the ECOreport Prior to becoming an intervenor in the Trans Mountain Pipeline Review, Marc Eliesen was the CEO of BC Hydro, former chair of Manitoba Hydro, a board member at Suncor and a deputy minister in seven federal and provincial governments. He offered the National Energy Board (NEB) the insights drawn from 40
Originally Published in the ECOreport Questions arising from the Mount Polley tailings pond breach: Is BC’s Liberal government in the pockets of industry? Can large corporations be trusted to place public safety ahead of profits? Does the Federal Government have any responsibility? Can B C’s government be trusted? “How come no one has to resign?”
Originally Published in the ECOreport Naramata is British Columbia’s latest Bear Smart Community. Kamloops, Squamish, Lions Bay, Whistler and Port Alberni have previously been recognized and another 20 communities are actively pursuing this status. In order to achieve Bear Smart status, communities must: Prepare a bear hazard assessment of the community and surrounding area. Prepare a human-bear conflict
Originally Published in the ECOreport The Proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline, bringing diluted bitumen from Alberta to BC, has just hit another snag. On July 4 British Columbia’s attorney filed a motion with the National Energy Board requesting more detailed information on how Kinder Morgan would respond to maritime and land-based spills. There are 70 questions,
Originally Published in the ECOreport BC’s Salmon farms could face Multiple Legal Threats . Ignoring the Cohen Commission’s recommendation for a freeze on net-pen salmon farm production along the Fraser sockeye migration route until 2020, the Federal Government has issued licenses. This has prompted the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance to call upon the Harper Government to
Originally Published in the ECOreport With a decision imminent, a group of prominent Canadian politicians and businessmen are calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline project. The Premier’s of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as three former Conservative cabinet ministers, have joined with the heads of the Canadian Association of
Originally Published in the ECOreport “Renegades of Bike Culture” traces the origins of mountain biking back to the high wheelers of the 1890. Along the way, you listen to earn that anecdotes and information, such as: People sometimes lost control of the old high wheelers going down hill and modern bikes were originally called safety
Originally Published in the ECOreport The Canadian Government’s plans to fast track a pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to Greater Vancouver hit an unexpected snag. The City of Vancouver does not want the pipeline, the people of British Columbia do not appear to want it, but the Feds have been able to stack the
Originally Published in the ECOreport While the US has been embroiled in internal conflict about the XL Keystone, five more pipelines have been proposed in Canada. Two of those may go into British Columbia. Faced by opposition from local communities and First Nations along the route, the provincial government came up with a scheme to
Originally Published in the ECOreport Green Party Leader Elizabeth May describes her experience as an intervenor in Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion application in a column called “The Twilight Zone” (page 3 of attached). She found most of the National Energy Board’s 15,000 page report “deliberately redundant and impenetrable. Some pages are repeated dozens
Originally Published in the ECOreport The City of Vancouver will not be holding a plebiscite next November after all. Vancouver wants a Referendum on Kinder Morgan Pipeline. They will be calling on the Canadian Government “to provide for any local government affected by Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion project to hold a
Originally Published on the ECOreport The Federal Government responded within 24 hours of Vancouver’s calling for a referendum on Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain expansion project. Not by ensuring BC residents can obtain a proper hearing before the National Energy Board – Vancouver’s complaint – instead, Harper stiffens regulations for oil spills. The possibility of
Originally Published on the ECOreport While most of us are attempting to do away with fossil fuels, British Columbia is trying to ramp up production. Some plan to make this most beautiful of Canadian provinces a major exporter of American coal and tar sands bitumen. One of the most promising natural gas fields in the
A Continuation of BC’s Coal Saga compiled from stories in the ECOreport Lafarge Canada’s coal facility on Texada Island is involved in BC’s plan to become the biggest coal exporter in North America. It currently handles Close to 400,000 tonnes of coal a year, from Quinsam Mine in the Comox/Courtenay region of Vancouver Island. If
A compilation from stories in the ECOreport Not too long ago, there were plans to ship 80 million tons of coal through six terminals in Washington and Oregon. Now there are three. Domestic coal burning plants are being phased out in both states. Their Governors expressed concerns further expansion would lead to “air quality and climate impacts
