Finally Someone Conveying The Aburdity Of LNG Talking Heads And Their View of "US"

Stephen McIntyreLangley, BC

An expanded booklet with more of WestPac's LNG Corporation's details on its proposed LNG [liquefied natural gas] facility is not going to cut it with people who see that their homes, health and happiness are threatened by this corporate enterprise ["Clean power bridge," February 6].

There will be no "Oh, now I see" moments for Texadans reading the subtler points of such clarifications. For example, of how LNG is only flammable when it comes in contact with air. How likely is that during an industrial accident on planet Earth?

WestPac president, Stu Leson, appears to feel that islanders' bumpkin brains can't handle all that technical information "that can seem confusing or misleading" and that, if WestPac dumbs it down further and deletes some bits, it just might wash on the next round. Perhaps he has assurances from government that the LNG plant will be a go.

After all, the Liberals gave the green light to expanded fish farming despite all the science predicting doom for wild salmon. Only an appearance of public process and environmental concern and, perhaps some sleight-of-hand, is necessary to get those permits in a row.

As for WestPac's flawed mail-out, who can believe its claim of a mail contractor error? Accidentally missed one of only two communities on the island? I think not. This trick is employed regularly in the Fraser Valley.

Yet again, Langley township is embroiled in a scandal after a secret sale of public land at a bargain price. The law requires them to publish such intent in a local paper.

That obligation, officials claim, was fulfilled, though they must now investigate why their notice did not identify the address of the parcel for sale and why it appeared right at Christmas and then only in a tiny paper that is not delivered in the area of the land sale. Indications are--wait for it--it was a "contractor error.

"This time, the people of Texada Island will not back away. This is home and there is nowhere else to go. Exchanging a shot at fortune for the grief of others is immoral. It is time for Leson and his investors to give it up.
©The Powell River Peak 2008