Our friends at the Citizens Concerned about Coalbed Methane (CCCBM) in Fernie, BC, point to a very interesting editorial that appeared in the Monday, November 6, 2006 online edition of the Vancouver Globe and Mail . . .
VANCOUVER -- When 400 people took to the streets of Smithers recently to protest against proposed coal-bed methane development in the Bulkley Valley, it was a signal of deep unrest in the heartlands.
Smithers, for those who haven't been lucky enough to visit, is a picturesque little town where the people are relaxed, openly friendly and clearly in love with the magnificent landscape that surrounds them. They hike, they ski, they hunt and they fish in the great salmon rivers that flow out of the Hazelton and Skeena Mountains.
The people in the Bulkley Valley appreciate how important resource development is. They see logging and mining trucks daily on the highway that runs through town. Pull up a chair in a coffee shop in Smithers and there is a good chance someone at the next table will have muddy boots on.
These are hard-working folk, in touch with the land, who are the epitome of the heartlands with which this government likes to identify. And when they get mad enough to spill out into the streets, you can bet something has gone wrong with government outreach.
Opposition to a government proposal to open the area to coal-bed methane drilling -- which extracts gas from coal beds and produces huge volumes of waste water containing salt and metals -- has been building for the past year. So has the sense that the people of the Bulkley Valley aren't being listened to by Victoria.
Read the full text at the CCCBM site . . .
North Fork landowners will soon receive a survey from the North Fork Landowner Association on maintenance of the North Fork Road. Be sure to complete the survey.
In case dust has fogged your vision and your commitment to gravel is wavering, don’t forget . . .
North Forkers accept a measure of inconvenience for the joy of living in one of the most spectacular places in the world. Outdoor privies, finicky generators, trucked-in propane, and our blessed (and cursed) gravel road—these are the small prices we pay to keep the North Fork special.
Paving the North Fork Road will undermine precisely what makes this community extraordinary. Paving will increase crowds and traffic, reduce wildlife, and change us forever. Consider this: Polebridge is a mere 35 miles from the nearest strip mall and the skyrocketing growth of the Flathead Valley. Paving will transform us from a rural haven to another cookie-cutter suburb.
With pavement, developers will descend upon the North Fork. Paving would encourage many more people to live here year-round, because commuting to the valley would suddenly be appealing. Urbanites who don’t understand our way of life will rush in, bringing more -- and much faster -- traffic with them.
Engineers know paved roads promote greater speed and cause more accidents involving humans, pets and wildlife. Pavement will trigger more fatal wrecks. In contrast, engineers know gravel roads are much safer than paved roads -- because people slow down.
North Forkers will always welcome a well-maintained gravel road, especially with dust abatement, but pavement between Canyon Creek and Camas would make it impossible to maintain our special way of life. The changes paving would bring are too heavy a price to pay for the "convenience" of a smoother ride.
Paving proponents are again organizing, and ratcheting up the pressure. To preserve the peace and tranquility of the North Fork, fill out and mail the survey today. Urge your pro-gravel friends to do the same.
SAVE DON’T PAVE!