Opposing coal
Protesters will gather in boats on the Sabine Channel and on the very south end of Lasqueti Island to ensure that government hears the message communities in the Strait of Georgia want no thermal coal in the Salish Sea.
Occupy the Sabine Channel is a protest scheduled for 2 pm Saturday, October 4. The channel is the narrow body of water between Texada and Lasqueti islands.
“We are deeply concerned that the shipping and handling of so much thermal coal will release coal dust into the air and the marine environment,” said Andrew Fall, from Coal Dust Free Salish Sea. “The province of BC did not require an environmental impact assessment, and neither the province nor Port Metro Vancouver required a health impact assessment, despite requests from the public and health authorities. This is unacceptable.”
There are plans for open-topped barges to transport coal from the Lower Mainland to the Lafarge Canada Inc. limestone quarry on Texada Island, to then be loaded onto freighters to Asia.
Bylaw passes
City of Powell River Council has given final reading to its skateboard bylaw.
At the Thursday, September 18, council meeting, Councillor Maggie Hathaway said the bylaw had been drawn in consultation with several people in the neighbourhood where there had been a problem and in consultation with some of the youth.
“It just gives the police a little more teeth to provide enforcement,” she said.
The motion to finalize the bylaw carried unanimously.
The bylaw to regulate skateboards, in-line skates and scooters specifies: safety equipment, such as helmets and reflective equipment; proper conduct on sidewalks, public walkways and paths; use of devices on roads or other public rights-of-way; road closures for skateboarding, in-line skating, scooters or other apparatus.
The bylaw also specifies impoundment of equipment and fines for riders not in compliance with the bylaw.
