Stacey Gaiga, Alberni Valley Times, July 18, 2011

City council may think they've finally taken a step in the right direction after several delegations asked them to submit a letter to the Canadian Environmental Assessment agency, requesting the current comprehensive environmental review process for Raven Coal be referred to an independent review panel with public hearings, however this same request had already been submitted by thousands of people over the past year and it has already been denied by the Environmental Assessment Office.

Council is waiting for the results of the environmental assessment before taking a stand on whether coal should come to Port Alberni or not, but new information has surfaced that further proves council's approach is not going to ensure the right decisions are made for the people of Port Alberni.

Besides the fact that only one or two major projects out of 115 since 1995 have ever been denied by the environmental assessment office, light has just been shed on the flaws with the current system.

B.C. Auditor General John Doyle dissected the EAO, whose job it is to analyse potential environmental effects and potential economic, social, heritage, health and safety effects of major projects like Raven Coal.

The Auditor General found that once an environmental assessment certificate is issued, conditions and commitments aren't being monitored, measured or enforced by staff who are supposed to monitor major projects like Raven Coal for compliance, then follow up with evaluations.

So, who is going to ensure that all the potential significant adverse effects are going to be avoided or mitigated, that encompass the thousands of concerns raised by people across Vancouver Island about Raven Coal?

Who is accountable? The answer is, no one is accountable and this is why it's not good enough for council to wait for results, and it's the reason this project needs to be rejected and deterred by council now, because in the end, it's the taxpayers, like me and you, who will be holding the remediation bill in our hands, after the damage is done, after Raven Coal has used our community, made their money and after they're long gone.

Stacey Gaiga
Port Alberni

© Alberni Valley Times 2011

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