The Livable Blog

Delta Council candidate Sylvia Bishop has come out swinging against the South Fraser Freeway. This could be a refreshing change, as all of the present Delta council member seem to think their job is to pave over Delta's farm land as quickly as possible.

A recent blog post on her website reads:

Delta, farmland, freeway, Gateway, SFPR, transportation
Stop! Thief! Arrest that freeway!
by Sylvia Bishop on July 13th, 2010

If we personified the South Fraser Perimeter Road and attributed human characteristics to it (in the spirit of Michael Moore’s “The Corporation“) we could charge the following: vandalism, property damage and loss of habitat. The freeway is a scar on the landscape as it carves its way through our precious farmland. In North Delta, is has destroyed family homes where in some cases, generations have lived. In North Surrey it runs a block away from an elementary school. With no regard for people, the freeway threatens wildlife confined to ever shrinking habitats. Endangered species are at further risk and may be lost.

And for what? An antiquated oil reliant transportation mode!

So we have two choices: act like a door mat and let them walk all over us or join forces in a mighty roar letting all levels of government know we want that freeway stopped. Arrest it.

Me? I’m for a loud and extended ROAR!
http://www.electsylviabishop.com/uncategorized/stop-thief-arrest-that-freeway/#respond

She has already gotten some media coverage on the issue:

Council candidate starts new campaign against SFPR

By Sandor Gyarmati, The Delta Optimist July 28, 2010

Delta council candidate Silvia Bishop helped kick off a new campaign against the South Fraser Perimeter Road project.

Attending International Bog Day at the Delta Nature Reserve Sunday, Bishop filled an envelope of sand taken from the pre-load from the South Fraser Perimeter Road, saying she'll mail it to Transportation Minister Shirley Bond as part of the "Sand for Shirley" campaign.

"I have traveled the full length of the 40-kilometre proposed freeway and am disturbed by the loss of farmland, demolition of neighbourhoods and destruction to the environment," said Bishop.

The Bridgeview Community Action Group and Sunbury Neighbourhood Association launched the campaign asking for the pre-load sand dumped along the route to be removed.

People are invited to join by filling out a form or signing an online petition at www.sandforshirley.ca

The SFPR will be a 40-kilometre, four-lane, route along the south side of the Fraser River, extending from Deltaport Way to 176th Street in Surrey, with connections to Highway 1, 91, 99 and the Golden Ears Bridge.

Construction of the new highway has been ongoing since 2008 with the completion date pushed back to 2013.

A community liaison committee was recently established to facilitate discussion between community representatives and the SFPR project team.
© Copyright (c) Delta Optimist

Read more: http://www.delta-optimist.com/Council+candidate+starts+campaign+against+SFPR/3332102/story.html#ixzz0v6tXBGTZ

It should be interesting to see what the other candidates have to say about the issue!

I missed this back in June. It is great to see that Vicki Huntington sees how much trouble Campbell and his South Fraser Freeway is in, and is fighting back. This province would be a much better place if all MLA's were as vocal in defending their constituents' interests.

Huntington Challenges Minister on Direction of South Fraser Perimeter Road

Thursday, June 3rd 2010

Victoria BC – Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington grilled Transportation Minister Shirley Bond today about the South Fraser Perimeter Road, laying out unanswered questions and increasing doubts about this troubled project. Using the last day of the legislative session to focus on this massive road development, Huntington raised serious concerns about the project and the real reasons for the one-year delay in completion.

“In a rather bizarre press release entitled ‘South Fraser Perimeter Road Moves Forward,’ the government announced a delay in the Delta portion of the project. I think we can all rejoice in that the government has finally admitted that in moving forward, it’s going backward,” Huntington stated during question period.

The official explanations for the delay - that the Environmental Assessment and Land Commission decisions took too long - are ridiculous, according to Huntington. She asked whether the preload was proving unstable, or if there has been a complication in the tendering process. Other possibilities are that the consortium, or the government, has run out of money for this project, or that a new environmental concern has emerged.

Huntington asked whether a better use of the existing road and distribution system (extending to 18 hours a day for example) had been considered. She also asked whether a widened Panama Canal (expected to be complete in 2013) will reroute container traffic to east coast ports, or if a delay in the development of Deltaport Terminal 2 means this massive four-lane divided highway is no longer justified.

“The government has announced a delay it is unwilling to explain. Delta is the community that must suffer this road and we’d like some transparency in the backroom discussions that affect us,” said Huntington.

- 30 –

For information, contact:

Delta South Constituency Office
4805 Delta Street
Delta BC V4K 2T7
ph: 604-940-7924
vicki.huntington.mla@leg.bc.ca

I just got an climate action email from Ben West at the Wilderness Committee about their new report - Coal: BC's Dirty Secret. He writes:

At the Wilderness Committee we have just published a new report entitled Coal: BC's Dirty Secret that explores the the glaring hypocrisy of the BC government on climate change . While our government projects its self to be a leader on addressing climate change it continues to support constructing new coal mines. Our report focuses on several of the proposed new coal mines across the province. Stopping these mines would be a very real step towards meaningful action on climate change.

The report points out that "Each year BC ships over 20 million tonnes of coal to foreign markets,where it is burned and adds to climate change, but not to BC’s reported
emissions. BC only measures fossil fuels burned here, not the end emissions of the dirty coal we mine and export to offshore markets in Japan, Korea, India and China."

The report also notes that Deltaport is the largest coal export facility in North America, and that expanding Deltaport is part of the 'Pacific Gateway Strategy'. Deltaport is on the front cover of the national version of the report, shown below.

What these short reports don't have enough space to cover thoroughly is that we re-import many of the products made by burning BC coal. Products like automobiles and auto parts are huge coal consumers, as is all the consumer crap pushed in big box stores. And the Gateway freeways are designed to stimulate demand for cars, and to create space for more big box stores on our best farm land.

So everything is connected, but it is not very complex. The things we need to do to reduce the consumption of tar sands oil are often the same as needed to reduce coal burning. And we need to tackle the consumption and productions ends at the same time. Both are essential to tackle the climate crisis.

To get involved in kicking our coal habit, sign up for the Wilderness Committee's climate action list at http://wildernesscommittee.org/coal

General Motors and many other auto makers are losing money for a simple reason, overcapacity. They have spent a lot of money to build factories that can build far more cars than there is a market for. Good lesson to learn.

Today, the front page of the Vancouver Sun business section has this lovely headline. "U.S. Economy is a Shambles, with no Improvement in Sight: President Obama's claim that a second depression isn't possible doesn't square with the relevant numbers".

Gateway is based on the idea that US shoppers are going to flock to Wall Mart and buy more and more plastic crap from China, and pay us well to ship it because they won't have room for it all at their ports. Not likely soon. Given the end of cheap oil, not likely ever. Given global warming, we had better pray it never happens.

Map - Gateway to Wall Mart

So considering that we have a massive overcapacity in port capacity in BC and all along the pacific coast of North America, building more would just make the overcapacity problem worse. More overcapacity built with public dollars means that we lose more money on new and existing facilities.

So our elected Provincial and Federal representatives have decided to throw $21 billion into making the overcapacity problem worse. That is three Owe-lympics worth!

Photo - Cranes wait for containers at Prince Rupert

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/PacificGateway/index.htm

Connecting Asia to North America
Government and industry partners have come together to fulfill the long-term vision of British Columbia as the preferred gateway for Asia Pacific trade, with the most competitive port system on the west coast of the Americas.

Today, Canada’s Pacific Gateway is a world-class transportation network. Its integrated, seamless supply chain includes airports, seaports, railways, roadways and border crossings, connecting Canada and the North American market to Asia and the world.

Major public-private investments will increase capacity, eliminate congestion, and streamline operations. Projects to expand and enhance port, rail, road and airport infrastructure currently planned or underway total over C$21 billion.

For those of you who don't know Jeff Rubin, the former chief economist of CIBC has been at the cutting edge of peak oil theory/evidence for at least 6 years. In this speech he gave on September 29, 2009 he talks about why transportation projects like our Gateway and the SFPR are all doomed to be out of date before they are built. That transportation costs, because of their integral oil dependence, are going to change our economies back to local ones where the more locally reliant businesses are the ones that have a chance of surviving.