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Welcome to Westpac’s Texada!

Texada Action Now (TAN) is opposing the Westpac proposal which is to build an LNG facility on Texada, together with a 600-1,200 MW gas-fired generation facility and transmission links down Texada Island. We think it threatens our way of life and how we want our island to be.

We are to be known as the Texada Action Now Community Association (TAN for short). Our aim is to preserve and enhance the environmental, economic and social fabric of Texada. We have an interim committee in place under our Chair, Chuck Childress.

Public Meeting Sunday, Oct 14th at 7pm

T.A.N. will hold a public meeting on Sunday, Oct 14th at 7pm at the Community Hall in Gillies Bay. The purpose is to approve the constitution and hold an election for the executive. We have called for a referendum on Texada on the Westpac proposal, so the meeting will decide whether we should have one, and if so, how we should proceed.

We have invited Margo McMillan, a staff lawyer from the Westcoast Environmental Law Foundation, Vancouver. She will address us on how we should organize ourselves to deal with the key environmental assessment of the Westpac proposal.

Westpac LNG Corporation
WestPac LNG Corporation is a private company with 30 equity investors. It is a company promoting projects. It has no current projects in operation. It has no operational cash flow and no track record.

What would this project mean for Texada and communities on the Georgia Strait?

LNG tankers

It means very large LNG tankers the size of 3 football fields (950 ft) moving past Victoria, the Gulf Islands, the beach towns and communities along Vancouver Island’s east coast up to Qualicum Beach and Comox, and on Texada’s west coast.

There is a long-standing Canadian moratorium against oil tanker traffic in coastal waters off BC yet Westpac is proposing that LNG tankers in inland waters would be acceptable.

The Canadian government is currently trying to prevent US bound LNG tankers from passing through the Passamaquoddy Bay between New Brunswick and Maine. Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernie said “this passage is internal waters and it’s very important for us…we want to protect our people and our environment …the Prime Minister has been very clear on this”. (CBC Sept 9-07)

Transmission Lines

It will mean a new high-voltage hydro power line through the heart of Texada. A “Cheekeye Dunsmuir” set of towers on a swath of clearcut from Coho Point past Van Anda and on to the B.C. Hydro Reactor site near Bob’s Lake on southern Texada. The immediate impact of Westpac’s announcement is the immediate devaluation, perhaps by hundreds of thousands of dollars, of all properties close to or crossed by the proposed transmission line.

Gas-fired electricity generation
Westpac plans a large 600MW gas-fired electricity generating plant, expandable to 1,200 MW . A proposed 252MW gas-fired plant at Duke Point near Nanaimo would have emitted 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The coastal community resisted this project successfully all the way to the BC Court of Appeal. Westpac have not told us the plant emissions but based on Duke Point, a 1,200 MW plant will throw out 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and 54 tons of fine particle concentration (PM2.5/TSP). (source: Duke Point Hearings).

The four operating pulp mills on the Strait of Georgia reported a combined total of 459 thousand tones of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. If Westpac were to build a 600 MW gas-fired plant the projected carbon emissions would be about 4.35 times the emissions of all the pulp mills combined!

Re-gassiification Plant
It would mean a massive re-gassification plant to bring the LNG to air temperature and reduce the energy content of the gas to pipeline specifications. We are promised 2 massive storage tanks and more are bound to follow.

There are no LNG import facilities on the US Pacific coast. Many have been proposed, none has been approved. Justification for the Westpac project rests with the ability to sell gas to the US, so one asks; if the US needs the gas, why build the plant here?

What does it really mean for us?
A vast number of communities in BC's most populous areas will be affected. If anything goes wrong a number of communities would be at risk including Powell River. The damage could be extensive given the energy involved. The exclusion zones around the plant and the LNG tankers will mean disruption to local shipping and recreational fishing. How can we be sure that our essential ferry services to PR and Comox will operate normally? And security?—northern Texada and the waters off Coho Point will be high security zones.

Westpac proposes sea water cooling so there will be consequential effects on marine life. How can BC describe itself as the "best place on Earth", busy promoting tourism, cruise traffic and lifestyle, while having LNG tankers moored in our backyard? We cannot have it both ways. The visual impact of the plant, the effect on real estate and lifestyle through environmental degradation and the impact on health costs from the pollution will far outweigh any dollar signs on the Powell River tax base. This tip of our island is a renowned fishing spot and the waters around Texada are the cleanest in the Georgia Strait

Westpac will need Federal and BC environmental and BCUC approvals, and the support of the BC Government. As it intends to import LNG it will also need NEB approval. Communities along the Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island will be affected; we have many allies.

Write, be involved
Please write in the first instance to Dave Murphy, our Regional District representative, giving your views (dmurphy@prcn.org) at 5776 Marine Ave, PR, V8A 2M4. Please make sure you write also to the Chair of the Powell River Regional District, Colin Palmer, at the same address. administration@powellriverd.bc.ca

Write to our MLA, Nicholas Simons. 4595 Marine Avenue, Powell River, V8A 2L2. Nicholas.simons.mla@leg.bc.ca

Please also contact the Minister of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources, the Hon. Richard Neufeld, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, BC, V8V 1X4. Richard.neufeld.MLA@leg.bc.ca

It is important also to let the Minister of the Environment, the Hon. Barry Penner, know how you feel. He can be contacted at: env.minister@gov.bc.ca.

The outcome will rest crucially with the federal government. Our MP for West Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast, is Blair Wilson, 4595 Marine Avenue, Powell River BC, V8A 2K7. wendy@blairwilson.ca . So please write to him and explain how our Sea to Sky Country will be damaged by this project. Write also to our Conservative and NDP opposition. There may be an election due.

Donations
Donations can be made at the Credit Union in Van Anda, or by cheque made payable to Texada Action Now, PO Box 128, Van Anda, V0N 3K0

If you want more information, please go to our website www.texadaactionnow.org.

If you want to help please ensure that Paula has your details: Paula Brunelle. 604-486-6774

Thank you .