Town Hall Meeting a Success!

Over one hundred residents from Lund to Saltery Bay left the town hall meeting Nov. 29th feeling inspired, proactively engaged and hopeful of environmental sustainability in the City and Regional District of Powell River! Powell River Legacy (PRL), a group formed to respond to Catalyst’s application to expand its industrial landfill in the residential neighbourhood of Wildwood, organized the meeting when Todd Monge of West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) stated he would be in Powell River November 28th & 29th. For the benefit of Todd, other local environmental groups and Powell River residents, PRL saw this as an opportunity to raise awareness of environmental issues in Powell River and to encourage “cross-pollination” and collaboration amongst groups.

“We didn’t have much time to organize,” stated Liz Brach, a PRL representative. “City Council and PRSC were formally invited to participate. PRL wishes to publicly apologize to the Powell River Regional District Directors and to Walter Paul, chief of the Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation for not receiving invitations. This was and oversight. PRL respects the importance of your involvement in working together for a more comprehensive and inclusive vision for Powell River.”

Within a week from deciding to host the meeting, an environmental network started branching as groups invited to participate suggested that other groups also be invited. Nine local groups & WCEL were represented. With the goal of being educational and informative each representative had a timed seven minutes to speak about his/her group’s environmental concern. Thoughtful and respectful discussion and questions followed. The Raging Grannies performed. ‘There was a lot of great energy,” reported Brach.

The environmental issues raised are occurring north of Lund and south of Saltery Bay, to the east and to the west. Denis Reinhardt presented the views of MalaspinaCommunities for Public Power. She discussed the long-term impact of privately owned power such as Plutonic Power Corporation. These long-term contracts will result in British Columbian’s paying significantly more for power that doesn’t have to stay in B.C. Five hundred water license permits have been granted, yet nobody is checking the environmental impact of the companies’ roads and transmission lines. Reinhardt encouraged attendees to, “Fight the energy policy that everything in B.C. is for sale, but not for the benefit of B.C.”

Involving the Regional District and the City of Powell River, Pam Brown presented the concerns of the Agricultural Land Emergency Response Team (ALERT). This group formed with the application to remove land from the Agricultural Reserve. She discussed the need to become sustainable. “Powell River grows only 1% of its food. The #1 priority in Comox/Courtney is its farmland She asked, “What are the plans for PRSC? Mixed farming – fruit and nut trees and grapes will grow on this land.” Wildwood has a history of farms that grew crops for sale.

Literature from the Agricultural Farmers’ Institute and the Food Security Project were available. Getting involved with local food systems was encouraged.

Dave Harris spoke for PRL. PRL is not in favour of mill closures or job loss; PRL advocates promoting responsible waste management. The specific objectives of PRL are1) Prevent the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) application amendment from being granted; 2) Require Catalyst to close and remediate the landfill site and 3) Find alternative uses for the flyash. WCEL is funding PRL in its campaign. Monge had stated at a meeting the evening before, “An industrial landfill so close to a highway or residential area is unprecedented.” This application amendment is for 37 years. What is Catalyst’s plan?

Also within City boundaries is the Townsite Ratepayers concern regarding the location of the wastewater treatment plant. There is a possibility of four large open ditches and four open clarifiers of raw sewage below the high school and neighbouring homes in a prime waterfront location that could tie the historic Townsite withWestview. On behalf of this ratepayer’s group, Patricia Aldworth also questioned an MOE wastewater permit decision made in 2004 that is being ignored.

Chuck Childress spoke for Texada Action Now (TAN). Chuck questioned why WestPac LNG is moving its headquarters to Vancouver when it has no operations in B.C. and no approval to proceed with any operations. Residents of Powell River, Texada and the whole of the south coast should be extremely concerned about the impact of the proposed liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) import terminal and natural gas-fired electrical generation facility on Texada Island. The amount of green house gases produced by the proposted LNG plant per year will be equivilant to the exhaust produced by 360,000 cars in one year.

Also outside of city limits but often photographed to advertise the beauty of Powell River is Eagle River. Thanks to the Friends of Eagle River and WCEL, a corridor along Eagle River will hopefully be saved from logging. Nadia Hawkins spoke of the historical research done by Dr. Michael Thoms proving that Island Timberlands owns the land not the trees on the land originally granted to Brooks and O’Brian. The Land Title Office found the original grant null and void as it was for homesteading and farming, not logging as had occurred. Powell River’s pearl would lose its lustre if Eagle River was logged.

The logging of Jefferd Creek has a direct impact on approximately three hundred Stillwater residents who rely upon this watershed for their drinking water. RitaRasmusen of the Committee for the Protection of Jefferd Creek shared the environmental issues of this group. Although documented by Dan Glover of the local health board that if logging proceeds their water may become unsafe to drink, Ministry of Forests is disregarding this data when determining logging activities in their watershed.
Lars Hawkes spoke for the Round Table, a group formed to discuss the need for a land and resource management plan. He stressed, “There are other animals than people on Earth.” We are one of the few areas without a plan.

David Parkinson represented V8A, a community visioning group. This group is focused on finding solutions and resource recycling. “The value and assets of a community are its people.”

The environmental sustainability issues within the distinct neighbourhoods and communities of Powell River and its Regional District impact the area as a whole. If the citizens of Powell River care about community, the issues raised by the above groups should be alarming for the City and District as a whole. They make one question the economic versus environmental tensions and the future vision for Powell River. David Parkinson quoted Jacques Cousteau, “Houses make a town, citizens make a city.” Decisions and activities in the area now will leave a large footprint. Now is the time for citizens to make a city. City Council is hosting a forum on environmental sustainability January 19, 2008. Hopefully many citizens will attend and be positively engaged to create a more comprehensive and inclusive vision forPowell River.”