Published: November 24, 2008 6:00 PM
Updated: November 25, 2008 2:55 PM
Revelstoke Times Review
Editor,
The North Columbia Environmental Society (NCES) is writing in regard to Environment Minister Barry Penner’s letter in last weeks Revelstoke Times Review. The main points that the NCES has brought up in three letter to the provincial government were not addressed in Minister Penner’s response.
1. The NCES has asked three times over the last six months for Energy Minister Neufeld, Environment Minister Penner, or Premier Campbell to come to Revelstoke to address the issue of Independent Power Projects (IPPs). The Columbia Basin is one of two concentrations of IPPs in our province, and residents deserve a public meeting with the government. As last month’s NCES River’s At Risk meeting showed, there is great concern in Revelstoke. Over 250 people filled our Community Centre looking for information and answers on rivers at risk in our area. There have been enough words written back and forth: we are asking again for a face to face meeting.
2. Furthermore we reiterate our previous request for a complete moratorium on all IPP applications and a stop to all IPPs in progress until local stakeholder input can be re-established (rescinding of Bill 30, Section 56, 2005). Re-establishing local stakeholder input has been requested by many environmental groups and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM), and to this date ignored by the provincial government.
Minister Penner wrote a very lengthy letter in last week’s paper and he did not respond to the issue of Bill 30, the repeated request for a meeting in Revelstoke, or our request for a moratorium. Enough words have been written; what needs to happen next is a stop to all development on our rivers until there is local input.
Sincerely,
Sarah Newton, President
North Columbia Environmental Society