Editor:
The recent LNG demo at the Margaret Patrick Centre extolling the safe, harmless properties of liquid natural gas may have been interesting in a science fair way, but had no relevance at all to the risk faced by residents of our region.
The high volume natural gas pipelines being proposed would only liquefy the product when it reached the Coast. The product piped across our region would be in compressed gas form. If you're unfamiliar with the danger this poses, google the phrase 'natural gas pipeline explosions'. You might be shocked by the devastation they can cause.
The caption in last week's newspaper states that LNG "will not contaminate the...air". Well, not quite. Natural gas, AKA methane, is a greenhouse gas that absorbs heat 20 times as fast as carbon dioxide, warming the atmosphere. I call that a contaminant. It's why scientists are so worried about the vast, permafrozen bogs of the Arctic tundra thawing and decomposing. I'm wary when proponents of these projects resort to distracting or misleading information.
We in central BC have a fortunate future. Being downwind of the Pacific we will continue to have a cool, moist climate, even as droughts and extreme weather ravage other places.
That snow and rain falling on our hills provides the basis of the sustainable economic activities we've been practicing: forestry, fishing, farming, tourism.
Managed properly we can enhance those and do them forever. We don't need climate killing, quick buck, 'do it once and it's gone forever' projects.
Say no to more fossil fuels. Say yes to a decent life for our grandchildren's grandchildren.
Walt van der Kamp,
Burns Lake, B.C.