By Neil Horner, Parksville Qualicum Beach News, January 21, 2012

Opponents of a proposed coal mine in the Fanny Bay area converged on a parking lot across from the Buckley Bay ferry terminal Saturday to make their concerns known.

The event, dubbed Solidarity, not Compliance, was organized by the Comox Valley-based Water Dragon Alliance and drew about 400 protesters, at least 100 of whom arrived on the ferry from Denman Island.

The protesters, included Ken Wu, executive director of B.C.’s Ancient Forest Alliance, and Majority for a Sustainable Society (MASS) who stressed speak in Buckley Bay about coal as a global issue. “Climate change trumps all other environmental issues,” Wu said. “Wild salmon, old growth trees, everything will be lost if we don’t solve climate change. It’s the number-one issue facing our planet.”

Tria Donaldson, a campaigner for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, also spoke.

“It’s no wonder that communities all over Vancouver Island are standing up to a proposed coal mine right in their backyards,” she said. “On top of the health impacts, it is also the worst fossil fuel in terms of carbon emissions. Coal mining is a dirty industry that has no place in a climate friendly Vancouver Island.”

Watch Tuesday’s edition of The News for the full story.

news@pqbnews.com

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