Stop Gateway...write one little letter NOW!

Help Stop the "Gateway to Global Warming" Motorway Expansion

A BULLETIN from www.gatewaysucks.org

Our Environment Minister in BC may be close to signing the environmental certification for the Gateway mega -project.

If Barry Penner signs the certification for this project, his legacy would be that of the Environment Minister who gave the green light to the most counter productive and in fact destructive transportation mega-project of our generation!

On Minster Penner's website he claims "The BC Government is working to aggressively address global warming and climate change." He even goes on to clearly state "there is still more work to be done if we are to meet our legally-mandated goal of reducing BC's greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020". That he could say this one day and then rubber-stamp what many are calling "the gateway to global warming" is unconscionable.

Concerned British Columbian's are writing letters and emails to the Minister of the Environment and the Premier insisting that the environmental assessment not be signed and that genuine consultation take place. This is your chance to have your voice heard and tell Barry Penner and Gordon Campbell to do the right thing.

Here are just a few key points to consider:

The various elements of the Gateway plan will drastically increase the Lower Mainland's contribution to green house emissions that cause global warming and pollution levels in the region. The tripling of shipping vessels and heavy truck traffic off delta port will feed into new induced traffic that will be find its way onto the SFPR, the Twinned Port Mann Bridge and then the widened highway 1 and then into the heart of the Lower Mainland. To make things worse the Gateway Project will induce car dependent suburban sprawl that leads to further global warming emissions
and less healthy communities.

The South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) will harm and maybe kill off Burns Bog, the lungs of the lower mainland our carbon sink!

The expansion of Delta port on Roberts Bank has serious impacts on migratory birds such as the Sandpiper that relies on the region to survive as they fly north. Also Port expansion at Delta Port may severally impact Orca Whales whose population in the area are already dwindling.

The Gateway Project as a whole would impact 1000 hectares of farmland, some
of B.C.s most fertile. The Gateway mega project contradicts the last democratic community planning process that was held around the region, the Livable Region Strategic Plan.

Gateway induces car dependent sprawl and starves public transit by monopolizing billions of dollars in public transportation funding. All of this while not examining the impact of rising fuel prices on the feasibility of the project compared to other options. In fact it has recently been un-covered through a freedom of information request that the project managers used the price of $0.80 a litre in their models for studying the project over the length of the contracts which is the next 25 - 40 years!

No contracts can be signed until Barry Penner signs the environmental assessment.

No meaningful public consultations have yet to be held with the Premier, the Environment Minister or the Transportation Minister. The open houses and community meetings that have taken place have been well orchestrated Public Relation campaigns that were more like focus groups than a genuine attempt to decide the fate of this multi-billion dollar mega -project based on the public will.

OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES TAKE YOUR LETTERS SERIOUSLY! They are an indication of where the public will lies...and how people will vote a year from now.

Letters are beginning to flow in now at an ever-increasing rate. Your letter can be brief and simply focus on one or two points which concerns you the most. Send an email today!

Minister Penner
101, 7388 Vedder Road
Chilliwack, BC
V2R 4E4

barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca

Premier Campbell
3615 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6R 1P2

premier@gov.bc.ca

Please CC a copy of your letter to gateway@@@wildernesscommittee---org

If you would like to stay informed about the campaign to stop "the gateway to global warming" and the campaign to get transit before freeways email gateway@AT@wildernesscommittee-DOT-org with the subject line ADD ME.