Tan Newsletter #3

archived: Tan Newsletter #1 or Tan Newsletter #2

"...perfectly safe, makes your kids smarter, makes you more fit, and takes care of you in your old age!!"

Results of the Petition Opposing the Westpac LNG Proposal
Of the estimated 780 Texada residents eligible, 661 have signed the petition. Our door-to-door volunteers also logged 19 people in favour of the facility and 59 people undecided.

From our off-island ratepayers, we have received 77 signatures in the mail for a total of 738 signatures on this petition.

In 2006, the Federal census had 775 adults age 20 and over living on Texada. If we estimate the number of residents eligible to sign the petition (19 years old and over) at 780, then 84% oppose the WestPac
LNG proposal.

A BIG Thank You to the 33 on and off- island petition volunteers. A great job so well and efficiently accomplished.

Regional District and Referendum
After legal consultation, the Regional District was unable to find the correct wording for a referendum. We have an irrefutable petition response to influence them and, if it will further our cause, TAN will arrange to have a referendum conducted by an unbiased third party.

Fundraising News
193 people have bought paying memberships and many folks from near and far have sent donations.
Marika and the staff of the Treefrog Bistro and Bruce and Fran of Beadzerk! have been very generous. TICS has also informed us that it will be sending the funds which have been held in trust from the previous incarnation of TAN. This financial support allows us to concentrate on the fight and we extend our gratitude to the many contributors.

Do not be fooled, WestPac may be delaying their proposal but they are not going away – witness their recent newsletter. (which was only sent to Van Anda residents).
N E W S F L A S H ! Ongoing fundraising includes raffle tickets – 1st prize – a BIG truckload of firewood logs, 2nd prize – a “Kitchenaid” mix master and 3rd prize – a facial by Pauline. See the Express Lines for details on availability. Bumper stickers and Save Kiddie Point shopping bags are also available at Manyana and Holtenwood.
Beadzerk!, at 4116 Gillies Bay Road is featuring beautiful fused glass art, decorative tables and other art and craft items with proceeds going to TAN. Please continue to support all these efforts!!

View from the Chair

A BIG THANK YOU! The Petition results are in and they look great. Wow! 84% of Texada residents are opposed to WestPac’s
plant proposal. Not wanted, not needed, not green.

Local communities should have the right to determine what their communities look like. If the city of Vancouver can say no to Wal-Mart then Texada should be able to say no to Westpac!

Westpac has been active sending out a mailer to Van Anda residents and announcing the move of their office to Vancouver. My take is that they feel they need to be closer to the action for round two of this fight. Westpac probably feels that their mail-out satisfies the ‘public consultation’ requirements of the permitting process. The Westpac mail out confirmed our greenhouse gas emission numbers by saying that each 300megawatt(MW) facility could produce 900,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. In an earlier mail out they said they would build a 600 MW unit, and then expand to 1200 MW. Therefore emissions could be between 1.8 and 3.6 million tonnes per year. (We have been saying 2 million tonnes.) 1.8 million tonnes equals the emissions put out by 327,000 cars. So if Westpac ran 600MW full time and another 600MW about half the time, the emissions would be the same as 490,000 or almost half a million cars-so much for car pooling to solve global warming!!
I have been asked why TAN is not calling for a boycott of businesses that support Westpac. Where to spend money is an individual’s own decision. TAN does however encourage supporting those businesses that are wise enough to support the cause.

TAN is not sitting still. We are working with Georgia Strait Alliance, Dogwood Initiative and several other groups to form an Alliance whose primary focus is to stop the Texada LNG proposal. We are also taking the wishes of Texada to the media and government at all levels. We can’t sit still and neither can you if you want to help Texada win this battle. Affordable Paradise –let’s keep it that way! Thanks again-Chuck Childress

www.texadaactionnow.org