Re: “WLNG comment period begins” and “No log dump, say activists” (Feb. 11).
Byng Giraud, vice-president of corporate affairs for Woodfibre LNG, said “Woodfibre LNG is not engaged in any upstream operations or activities but rather will be purchasing natural gas from sources in Canada, specifically British Columbia and Alberta.”
I was sorry to see Mr. Giraud’s problematic statement go unquestioned in The Squamish Chief. Woodfibre LNG is predicated on fracking, and fracking happens upstream.
The 2011 Cornell University study Methane and the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Natural Gas from Shale Formations concluded that, “LNG is a greater environmental threat than any other fossil fuel, including coal.” If anyone (such as Christy Clark) is still not convinced that fracking is unjustifiable, they should ask the woman currently seeking damages in Supreme Court because she can light her drinking water on fire.
To frack or not to frack should be answered nationally as it is in the U.K., France, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and South Africa, all of which have either banned or placed moratoriums on fracking. In Canada there are moratoriums in place in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The consequences of continuing to frack are too critical to wait for legislation to roll provincially westward.
I was sorrier still to read “No log dump, say activitists.” It is true that during the Harper Years, it was unavoidable, even impossible for a reporter not to use the word “activist” (often interchangeably with “anarchist”) as a direct quote from the Party at the wheel. But the wheel has turned. In the interest of clear communication, so that we can call a spade, a spade, let’s reclaim the language.
Following the definition of “activism,” there’s both John Buchanan, environmentalist, activist, and Byng Giraud, vice-president of corporate affairs for Woodfibre LNG, activist. OK? Or have we decided that we’re only being called an activist if we’re not getting paid?
Julie Malcolm
Brackendale
