RIVERS WITHOUT BORDERS

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Northwest BC Needs a Different Vision

Last month, the British Columbia government announced that it was going to support the development of a 287 kV transmission line north from Terrace to Bob Quinn on Highway 37. Premier Gordon Campbell promised that miners, energy developers and others would soon be able to rely on "clean, reliable power" to promote development. He neglected to say that the development that the power would promote would be anything but clean, and in fact would undermine his own pledge from only a few days before to implement an aggressive new climate action plan.

The heavily publicly subsidized power line will be a gift to the mining sector, who would not be able to develop a number of projects in the northwest without this handout. Within minutes of the Premier’s announcement, the mining sector was declaring it a great day for mining. Sadly it was not a great day for taxpayers, or for the biggest remaining wilderness on North America’s Pacific coast. The new powerline will provide vastly more power than is needed by the small communities of the northwest, and could power greenhouse gas belching projects like an open pit coal mine, coalbed methane development in the Sacred Headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers, and other dirty, unsustainable projects.

Do you feel that the Taku watershed should be maintained as the largest intact drainage on the west coast of North America, or should it be crisscrossed with mine roads and its waters opened up to hoverbarges hauling mine ore, fuel and chemical reagents? How about the headwaters of the Stikine and Iskut Rivers – a place that has been called the Serengheti of North America? Breadbasket for the Iskut people and a place where bears, stone sheep, mountain goats and moose thrive, or Royal Dutch Shell’s private money maker tapped by thousands of coalbed methane wellheads?

This magnificent place needs a special vision that reflects its global significance, and it is clear that we aren’t going to get that from the BC government.  If you are anything like me, you could not conceive of this place without its dense forests, rivers teaming with fish, glaciated peaks, and its moose, bears and wolves. So dig down deep into that vision in the coming months and share what you find, because Rivers Without Borders needs your help. One of North America’s last great wilderness areas is under siege, and it could be lost if enough of us don’t stand up to demand something different.

The time has come to step up and be heard for this special place .