Gateway, sucky
To: barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca
cc: premier@gov.bc.ca
Dear Barry Penner, BC Minister of Environment,
As a BC citizen concerned about the environmental impact of the proposed Gateway project, I urge you to not sign the environmental certification that is currently before you.
The environmentally responsible path when, as your own website states, "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", is to channel scarce transportation funding away from the road-heavy Gateway project and invest it into improving public transportation infrastructure instead. This will have the beneficial side effect of encouraging denser development in the Lower Mainland instead of low-density sprawl - which will be easier to serve by public transportation in the future. Many European cities have refused to expand their automobile infrastructure for decades, and the result has beens healthier, less congested cities.
Rapidly increasing oil costs that were unanticipated when the Gateway project was designed dramatically change its expected outcomes. Now is the time for the BC government to rethink this project. Citizens may not be able to afford to drive their daily commutes much longer, and we will need other options for transportation more than ever. The lower mainland's already overburdened public transportation infrastructure will need to move much greater numbers of people as oil prices continue to rise.
In a similar vein, I believe the Gateway Project's plan to create a South Fraser Perimeter Road, paving over and intersecting irreplaceable farmland, is environmentally irresponsible in the extreme. This fertile farmland, located so close to the province's most densely populated area, will only become more important in the future.
Please make a brave decision and stop the madness - refuse to allow the environmental certification of the Gateway project. The future development pattern and quality of life in our province will benefit greatly.
Sincerely,
You suck!