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.

bc transport budget planning

this is the final report in PDF of the BC budget consultation, that we asked you to engage in against the gateway last month.

Some good things got in there: Starting around printed page 14 (26 of 114 on the pdf) is the transport stuff, and the cycling is on page 16 (28 pdf). Not much though. Rail for the Valley was quoted!

Stuff about Gateway on page 47 (59 pdf) and Tannis was quoted! Despite 3 of 4 insightful comments - (including by someone supporting Gateway), their conclusion on page 48 (pdf 60) to continue to make "strategic investments" in Gateway is assinine and appears to not be based in reason, coming out of nowhere according to this report. A bit of a sham really, but we knew that when we started. And, it is good to see a bit of dissent recorded officially -- and, the lack of official logic is laid bare.

So, I suppose one good next step in the case of this is to make sure MLAs and the media read the good parts (that don't make it to the summary) on the pages I've mentioned. Write a letter to your MLA or media today! (quote them the report)

While the provincial government's strategy has been to defy the overwhelming opposition (including municipal governments region wide) with nonsense by pretending it is already a done deal, all along (even before they started proposing it!)... Well, don't take the BS too seriously because it's a trick. We can and will stop this, but we still have to do a lot of work to get there.

Another common myth is that "the majority drives cars" and so are in favour of this expansion. So far, with millions and millions of dollars and control of government and corporate media --- all of that and the supposed truth has yet to be demonstrated. Many who drive are in fact quite well informed on this issue and have opposed this project a long time. Also, many people don't drive, or don't drive much - a number far greater than politicians think as has been proven in scientific studies. (See Bike Cult, David B. Perry) Sure, in some areas of Surrey, there is some signifigant support for the project. But that support is the exception. The great overwhelming majority that wants to kill the environment simply doesn't exist, fake PR 'polling' data notwithstanding. What it comes down to is people like you and I. We all make mistakes sometimes and can be confused by people who are trying to trick us, but in the end if we work together and spread accurate information then the truth will prevail! Yes, it is possible!

Take care and take that lane!
~rusl

2007 BC Budget Consultation

The BC Provincial government has extended the deadline for its online survey to this Friday, Oct 26th, 2007.

The results of these surveys are rarely made available, so the usefulness is questionable at best, since right-wing, authoritarian governments like this one just do what their funders want anyway.

I'm hoping that we can throw a wrench into their plans: if we flood them with responses that call for real change, and demand to know the results, maybe we will have some of our money spent where we want it.

In any case, it's 6 simple questions. I'm including my first answer, fyi. Just click on the link here: https://www.leg.bc.ca/budgetconsultations/...

~Dave Olson

(Ed: my sources say that the Liberal party is already flooding the survey
results with very unsavoury, and ignorant responses. Please take a moment
to write something from the perspective of those that actually want to
improve the environment)

EXAMPLE:

"Your Choices, Your Priorities"

Q.1 What budget choices would you make to help reduce B.C. s greenhouse gases by at least 33 percent below current levels by 2020?
Specifically, we need:

1) to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on bicycle infrastructure around the province NOW. Not over the next 20 years, NOW.

Making it safe to cycle allows almost anyone to reduce up to 50% of their GhG emissions immediately. Making it safe to cycle means building separated space from motorized vehicles, EVERYWHERE humans travel.

In the cities, it means building what Amsterdam did in the 1950s, which has resulted in a 40% modal-share for cyclists (that means 40% of all trips made in Amsterdam - a city with excellent transit service - are made by bicycle).

In rural areas, it means building separate bike paths that are not accessible to motorized vehicles and which have priority at crossings where motorized vehicles travel. One example would be the extension of the E & N Trail, that only currently exists in the City of Nanaimo, to
Courtenay and Victoria.

Not only would these investments pay for themselves in less than 10 years, they would be politically viable and hugely popular.

If the half billion dollars is not available from the previous or next budget surplus, then it must be taken from the capital and maintenance budgets designated for highways.

2) to spend the $10 billion earmarked for the Gateway project on public transit around the province.

The bulk of this money needs to be spent in Metro Vancouver on doubling the bus and skytrain fleet this year. Yes, this year. This will cost $1.5 billion on buses, $1 billion on skytrain cars, and another $1 billion on the operations of the system, which will allow 10 minute service everywhere in the region and which will allow all the fareboxes to be removed.

To get the majority of motorists out of their cars and into transit requires that all barriers be removed: the farebox, infrequent service, lack of dedicated bus lanes 24/7.

Another $1 billion needs to be put aside for the following year, for bus and skytrain replacements, expansions and operating expenses, after which a long-term, sustainable funding scheme will have been put in place.

The remaining $5.5 billion needs to be spent both on more buses and on expanding bus service in every city and town with existing bus service (25 centres). The existing 250 buses must be quadrupled to 1,000 costing less than $1 billion. Adding the infrastructure to support these new
buses (maintenance and storage areas, dedicated bus lanes) will cost less than $1 billion as well. Removing the fareboxes and ensuring service frequencies are 10 minutes will take about $1 billion over the next two years.

In fact, we can create the best transit systems in the entire world (best, meaning free to use and too frequent to require people to read a schedule) in every urban area in the province and still have well over $2 billion dollars left in the Gateway piggy bank. This can and should be used for communities wishing to begin public bus service.

(3000 Characters Max)

UPDATE: The results of this survey are now blogged at: bc-transport-budget-planning.html