Marie Gaudreau, Comox Valley Record, September 07, 2010

Dear editor,

I am a resident of Fanny Bay. My husband and I moved here three and a half years ago.

We came to Vancouver Island from Alberta to get away from a life in the industrialized world and live in a relatively clean, sparsely populated place where suburbs and other blights on the land, water and air are not chewing up the countryside.

Imagine our surprise, shock and disbelief to find out last November that in fact, the rights to coal had been sold to a coal-mining outfit — 3,100 hectares worth! The fact that the Raven Project is only the first of other planned mines brought the whole thing to the level of nightmare for my family.

I am vehemently opposed to this mine going forward in any way. There is no such thing as ‘clean coal.’ Every aspect of coal production and use is dangerous to everyone’s environment.

I want to urge federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice to refer this mine application to a joint federal and provincial expert review panel process including essential public hearings with total transparency.

My major concerns and reasons why I am opposed to the Raven Coal Mine and demand a joint panel review are:

• The Raven Mine is only the first of many to come;

• Baynes Sound should be and must be protected from major polluters and I can think of nothing more polluting than a coal mine.

• Toxic contamination of surface water, aquifers and Baynes Sound, fresh water cannot be sacrificed to produce something humans must learn to use less and less of — there is no need for this coal in Canada;

• Destruction and disturbance of existing wildlife habitat and corridors

• The potential for grave harm to the existing and potential shellfish industry and jobs. This is a sustainable industry.

• Harm to the enormous potential we have in the Comox Valley as a mecca for retirement communities, agriculture, agri-tourism, eco-tourism, tourism in general;

• There is little benefit monetarily to my community — there are no out-of-work coal miners in Union Bay or Fanny Bay;

• There is no long-term monetary benefit to British Columbia, not compared with the true costs of destroyed habitat for fish, wildlife, and people;

• The Comox Valley needs to choose what it wants to be and this citizen of CV wants it to be a place of alternative lifestyles, retirement, eco-tourism, tourism and agriculture;

• This will likely cost the taxpayers of B.C. over the short and long term a lot of money, to build necessary infrastructure for the mine to operate and also to pay for the ongoing cleanup after they pack up and leave. Why should we pay for something that will not benefit our communities in the short or long term?

• Potential harm to real estate values, this is a retirement community where people rely on the healthy value of their property to see them through retirement and old-age — you will very likely ruin the financial health of many if you issue a permit to Compliance or any other coal mining operation;

I hope I’ve made it clear that I and many others will not stand for this coal mine insanity ... this is something worth fighting for.

Marie Gaudreau,
Fanny Bay

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