Dear editor,
This letter is being written as a result of the public meeting held at the Filberg Centre in Courtenay on May 30.
At that meeting I asked two questions with regard to the Raven Coal Mine Project. Neither Ms. Shaw of the EAO nor Mr. Rollo of the CEAA gave, in my opinion, a satisfactory answer to either of these questions.
The two questions were as follows:
1. Why have the governmental agencies refused to consider the CO2 emissions that will result from burning the coal after the coal has left Port Alberni?
2. Who in the government, either federal or provincial, has made the decision that emissions produced outside of Canadian borders are not to be considered in any environmental review process?
As per information given by the proponent of the Raven Coal Mine Project this mine will produce almost one million tons of “clean coal” in each and every year.
As per my calculations, and I believe that these are conservative figures, this amount of coal will produce approximately two million tons of CO2 in each of the 16 years when it is burned in places such as Japan, Korea or elsewhere.
Two million tons of CO2 for each of the next 16 years. This is most certainly a staggering legacy to leave to our children and grandchildren.
Even though the coal will be burned in places such as Korea and Japan, the CO2 that this burning will produce will be put into the one atmosphere that protects this fragile planet. We have only one planet. We have only one atmosphere.
Any analysis that does not include the entire life cycle of this Raven Project, and this has to include the overseas transporting and burning of this coal, is in my opinion deeply flawed.
When will honest answers to the above-mentioned questions be given? When will the entire life cycle of the coal mine be taken into account?
Rudy Friesen,
Denman Island
