This letter was copied to The Chief for publication.
When GAS first came to my attention I thought that Cat Lake was the main issue, but I have since learned so much more about the project, the issues and the men who are promoting it.
It is indeed incredible that the proponents think 300 metres, or even 800, is enough of a setback from the development to the edge of Cat Lake or constitutes leaving the lake as it is now; you can hear the lawn mowers from that distance.
Or that the Golf Club parking lot (200 meters from the lake) will be available as parking for the lake. On a weekend the current parking lot is overflowing. Where will the golfers park?
But Cat Lake is only a small part of the price we will pay in accessible and free recreation opportunities (hiking, camping, mountain biking, dirt biking, snowmobiling, swimming) in order to build expensive and exclusive ski and golf facilities.
And other even greater issues abound as is abundantly evident from perusal of Ministry of Environment (MOE) responses to Addendum #3. The memos and emails from MOE to the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) are rife with concerns about riparian habitat, insect life, water quality, sedimentation, chemical changes, temperature and inconsistencies in methodology, models, estimates, etc.
Words like commitment and mitigation abound. Mitigation, let us not forget, is what CN had to do after the spill in the Cheakamus Canyon.
It is with good reason that Brohm Creek (called "river" by the proponents to make it sound bigger than it is and by opponents to bring it the attention it deserves) has been listed by the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. as the fifth most endangered river in the province.
With the first blast, the Brohm watershed will be changed forever. The damage, from construction of containment ponds, extraction of water, building of roads and infrastructure, and landscaping for the golf course, will be devastating and can never be undone.
We will be paving paradise, no question, to line the pockets of a few at great cost to all. No promise of potential economic benefits or employment opportunities will make up for that loss.
Indeed, the risks are greater, with global warming, the depressed economy and poor viability of terrain and weather in competition with Whistler/Blackcomb, that the resort will fail and the District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 will be left with responsibility for a satellite community that it never planned.
At the public meeting Wednesday, June 24, not one attendee spoke in favour of GAS and many well educated, well informed speakers asked questions for which the proponents had no answers.
It is a wonder to me that GAS continues to pursue their plan at such great cost although it is clearly not wanted by any other than themselves.
Can it be that they are being encouraged by some facet of the provincial government in the same way that IPPs and fish farming operations are being encouraged and supported in the face of reputable science to the contrary and concerted protest from the public?
The bottom line, the one that really counts, the one that isn't dollars and cents, is that this project should not go forward. Please put an end to it before it is too late.
Dorte Froslev
Brackendale
