WATERSHED UPDATE – October 9th, 2007
Please find below copies of e-mails from Pat Ridgeway, Brad Benson & Dan Bouman regarding the decision handed down today by Justice Butler regarding the appeal by WFP against the LBH order.
Pat - I am passing on Dan's quick take on Judge Butler's decision that he sent off to our board this afternoon. I am running between meetings and have not had a chance to read it yet myself. Sounds bad, but possibly the SCRD can appeal some of it. We will see.
Brad
Hi Everyone,
The decision of the BC Supreme Court has come down today and the news is not good. We are studying the decision and I'll be getting back to you later about the fine points.
Basically the judge found that the local board of health did not have reason to believe that a health hazard exists, largely because the credentialed expertise said there is no hazard associated with this logging.
There are a few bright spots, for example the judge thought that the SCRD's lack of control over the watershed, is unreasonable, but on the whole this decision does a lot of damage, particularly in regard to the phrase "prudent avoidance", the Precautionary Principle in other words.
I'll get back to you with more information as soon as I can. I'm expecting a media on-slaught....
In any case, don't worry; we are still kicking and moving forward!
Cheers, Daniel
Pat Ridgeway’s e-mail
Hi all,
The decision from the Appeal by WFP came down today and sadly it was to throw out the LBH stop work order completely.
The Judge did make a few points which are good for us and our watershed, like recognizing the LBH's right to control our watershed and not be considered biased, but he did not support the stop work order's 60% slope restrictions possibly because of a lack of credentialed witnesses who are active in the industry speaking on our behalf.
There will be further updates on this and the next steps to be taken as the information becomes available. Robin Gage will be looking at potential further legal action, and we all will have to just keep on making ourselves heard. I guess we have to speak up! More letter writing, more demonstrations, and more activities to increase awareness.
Our regional board did a great job, as did a lot of people in the community, but we can and must all learn from this and get stronger and wiser. The real people in this world are on our side, we just need to be heard!
Pat
I have forwarded the above e-mails along with my own e-mail (see below) to Linda White France (The Local newspaper) at her request for information, etc.
Hi Linda,
I did receive e-mails from Pat Ridgeway and Brad Benson/Dan Bouman; I will forward these to you.
In the mean time, yes the decision came down today and the LBH order was thrown out in its entirety.
Not good news for our community but we will just have to re-focus our demands at the Provincial level and also try to support our SCRD directors in their attempts with the Provincial government to negotiate a "settlement" that will provide local control over the watershed.
Also I plan to continue my discussions with the SCRD staff & directors regarding the issue of the Chapman Creek watershed reserve granted in 1975 and which is still in effect today as an "active" registration of the watershed reserve in the Provincial Integrated Land and Resource Registry (ILRR) data base.
If we are not successful in negotiating a "settlement" with the Province, perhaps the SCRD combined with the support of the community (i.e.: referendum or some other method) to set aside sufficient public funds to conduct a "judicial review" of the watershed reserve documentation and the circumstances and intentions behind granting the Regional District this watershed reserve by the Province under the Land Act back in 1975.
Lets also see what steps the SCRD may wish to take in terms of any "appeals" of this decision by Justice Butler today.
I have attached a copy of Justice Butler's reasons for judgment, etc
Regards
John Bebbington
So while this is not the news we had hoped for, as a community we must continue to strive to try to obtain from the Province, the control over our watershed.
In the coming months we must continue to make our voices known and in this way our SCRD directors will be in a “stronger position” when negotiating with the Province.
Thanks for all of your help and support these past few months and hopefully we will have some positive news from the Province with respect to our watershed in the near future.