May 27 2008 | News Clippings | The Northern View (Opinion)
Hundreds gather at summit to protest CBM development
By Brooke Ward - The Northern View - May 27, 2008
Over 350 people attended a summit to protest CBM development.
The campaign to “get the shell out” of the Klappan grew legs over the weekend with a regional summit put on by the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition and the Friends of Wild Salmon that attracted more than 350 frustrated residents from all walks of life looking to put an end to the coalbed methane development (CBM) in an area known as the Sacred Headwaters.
With discussion themes surrounding the protection of water quality and the potential effects on the salmon resource, those in attendance quickly established common ground with the belief that it was time for the residents of the watersheds to come together. They did just that, unanimously passing a resolution requesting the immediate cessation of any drilling, explorative or otherwise, in the Klappan-Groundhog tenure area pending “comprehensive consultations with all residents of the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine watersheds and estuaries” and “compelling evidence of environmental safety”, to the point where “residents of the region are satisfied such development does not jeopardize their values and existing economic activities.”
Formulated before the summit, the resolution has already received support from the Skeena Queen Charlotte and Kitimat-Stikine regional districts, who passed and signed the document last Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Acknowledging that this is the latest in a series of resolutions on the issue Des Nobels, area director for the SQCRD and member of Friends of Wild Salmon, says that this one is different in that “it’s coming directly from the people who will be impacted.”
“What’s probably very important is that it’s giving local and provincial governments a heads up that this is going to be an election issue,” he predicted.
“That’s about the only place we really can affect change anymore and it’s going to play itself out as the people of the region make it understood that this is not acceptable development near our salmon bearing streams and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
In addition to having the resolution introduced to both the provincial and federal government through local elected representatives, next steps include spreading the information from the summit throughout the individual communities and continuing to garner greater support for the initiative through even more signatures on the resolution and petition, which can be found at the Fishermen’s Hall and MLA’s office, respectively.
One of the benefits of the summit, says Nobels, was the presence of University of Montana professor Jack Stanford, PhD, who was able to outline what had taken place in regards to CBM in Wyoming and Montana, give insight into river hydrology and draw the connections between surface and ground water.
“And as [Stanford] pointed out, this is the first time that CBM has been done in a salmon bearing system. In every respect, this in an experiment in which our fish and rivers are guinea pigs.”
Nobels says a Shell representative was also on hand for the Summit and spent the day observing and listening, speaking out towards the end of the day to say that she had heard some “significant and interesting” comments and would be taking them back to her colleagues for further discussion.