Stand up for our beautiful coast

This is a picture of Coles Bay about a week ago as the tide came in over the flat beach and warmed the water up so families could splash around in the water. Can you picture this scene with the water covered in oil?

Here's another beach, this one at Malcolm Island, a place where Humpback whales have recently been congregating. And below it the the ferry dock at Sointula at the north end of Vancouver Island.

Up Next is Hornby Island. Have you ever been there? It's stunningly beautiful.

I just can't bear to think about an oil spill here. Or even worse diluted bitumen which is sludge that sinks combined with toxic chemicals. You know I'm talking about Kinder Morgan's pipeline plan. And we need to stand together to stop it.

Here are some photos from my beloved Saturna Island.  This channel is particularly vulnerable to oil spills as most of the tankers go through here.

Maybe you think that because BC now has the NDP in power that it's going to be stopped. Premier John Horgan campaigned on using every tool in the toolbox to stop it, but he's under enormous pressure from big oil companies to back down. He needs to hear from everyone who cares about our coast that we support him in stopping Kinder Morgan.

Maybe you have a beach you like to visit....  Like Willows Beach where you can see geese with goslings swimming around.

Or maybe you live in Vancouver and like to sail or visit the harbour and walk along Spanish Banks.  If you do, please consider writing a short note to John Horgan to tell him how important this issue is to you.  I'll give you details of how to do this at the end of this post.

If the pipeline is built it means a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic on our coast. That means seven time more chance of an oil spill. 

Last night I went out rowing on the Gorge Waterway here in Victoria. As the sun set a seal popped its head out of the water to say hello and again I thought about what an oil spill would mean to Victoria. 

I thought of how it would affect the sea birds, the orcas, the seals and otters, not to mention the fishing and tourism that depend on our ocean.  

I woke up at 3:00 am and wrote a letter to John Horgan telling him how important this is to me and to hundreds or thousands of others in British Columbia.  I volunteer with Dogwood, a group of people who are working to stop Kinder Morgan. They've been talking to MLA and to the premier and it seems that people have not been showing much support for his efforts to stop the pipeline. We need to let him know how important it is to us.

It's easy to do. Here's a link to a page where with one click you can write an email to him.

http://johnhorganmla.ca/contact/

And here's the letter I wrote. It's short and supportive.

Dear John Horgan,

First of all, thank you for keeping your promise and getting intervener status for British Columbia to oppose Kinder Morgan’s pipeline plan.  Just this evening I was out rowing in the Gorge waterway as the sun set and a seal popped its head out of the water and was reminded again what a beautiful coast we have here on Vancouver Island.  I know that I speak for hundreds, if not thousands, of people here who cannot bear the idea of a bitumen spill and what it would do to our beaches and our marine environment.

I know that it’s hard to stand up to concerted lobbying efforts from oil interests, but I hope you know that we are behind you all the way. We want to stop Kinder Morgan and other oil interests from putting our coast at risk but it’s not just about protecting our waters. We want to see British Columbia leading the way in making the shift to renewables rather than expanding shipments of dirty oil. 

There are so many people counting on you to take the steps needed to stop the pipeline. Some of them don’t bother writing letters but we are all hoping that you can be strong enough to be the leader we need at this time and show a new way forward for British Columbia and the world.  Please don’t let us down.

Sincerely,

Joanna Pettit

I urge you to take a few minutes today to write to him yourself and let him know that you're supporting him in this effort. Maybe you could include in your email a photo of a beach or the ocean here that's special to you. He really needs to hear from everyone who cares about our coast.

For final inspiration I give you a few more photographs.

Thanks for reading through to the end of this long post. You can tell it's close to my heart. I hope you feel the same way and will take the time to contact John Horgan.  Here's the link again to send him an email:  http://johnhorganmla.ca/contact/

We can't let the fossil fuel lobby be the only voices heard by our new provincial government.