Wednesday, August 20, 2014

This Day In British Columbia...Credit Where Credit Is Due.

UnlessItIsALimited
HangoutVille


What's with the credit-where-credit-is-due/snark-free header, you might be asking?

Well...

By all accounts it looks like Mt. Polley spill investigation might actually have a degree of independence.

And this is a tentative conclusion that is backed-up by the support of the local First Nations in the sludge zone.

Stephen Hui of the GStraight has the story.


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But...

Why are those same local First Nations and an environmental steward doing the only demonstrable truly independent water and sediment testing?

And then there is the matter of the 'blue film' on the lakes.

Go read Alexandra Morton for full 'on-the-ground' reports with pictures that you are not seeing on the six o'clock news or the front pages of newspapers.


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The twinge about the investigation is the long timeline (Jan 31st for reporting)...That gives it a sniff of the 'limited hangout' about it, especially if the ol' turdstormer starts spouting things like, "I can't comment because there is an investigation underway"....And don't forget that the Snooklandians used the limited hangout tactic before to get them through the 'quick wins' thingy, because, you know, six months is an eternity in politics...


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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree the relative independence is encouraging, and the FN collaboration is a great thing...but the other problem is pointed out by Rafe in his blog today: ..There seems to be no investigation of the political realm, or the responsibility of lawmakers to regulate and enforce.

Those issues will have to be tackled as well. - Merv

Ed Seedhouse said...

But Rafe Mair certainly has a problem with the terms of the inquiry: http://rafeonline.com/2014/08/ass-well-and-truly-covered/

Don F. said...

Whoa! Not so fast there fellas!
The actions, or rather, the inaction of this government and their responsibility in all of this needs to be examined also.
Here we have a situation where their complete lack of competence and absolutely criminal neglect of the public health must be addressed.
Mr. Bennetts total disregard for evidence and testimony from witnesses who have come forward.
Mary Polaks complete disregard for the health and welfare of the effected people and environment is mind-blowing.
Again, not so fast there fellas!

G West said...

Ed has beaten me to the punch Ross.
'Independence' isn't much more than a 12 letter word if the regulatory failings of the ministries with the authority to regulate aren't under scrutiny too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Ed for pointing out Rafe's rebuttal.

The announcement about the inquiry into the Mount Polley Dam disaster is outrageous!

As a matter of fact I find it hard to write this article because I simply can’t believe the dishonesty of the minister Bill Bennett and the minister Mary Pollock.

By careful but not very clever design, this inquiry from the outset exonerates Mr. Bennett’s and Ms. Pollock’s ministries.


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I used the word dishonest – I’ll close with it. It is outrageously dishonest for a government to set up an investigation into a catastrophe which from the very beginning exempts those, themselves, who may have been responsible for that catastrophe happening in the first place.

How long are the people of British Columbia going to put up with this?

Anonymous said...

In oil rail disaster ,in Quebec all sides got blamed.

Anonymous said...

The citizens of BC, have always had to take the governments lying crap and, that includes Gordon Campbell and Harper. Such as, Premier Clark's whopper lie, families first. BC's ship building contract was given to Poland. Christy gave the jobs, building the LNG plant near Prince Rupert to Communist China.

This Mount Polley disaster sits right on top of Christy and Harper. Resource barons are bottomless pits of greed. Who does all of the deregulating of safety standards, environment standards? Permitting mine, oil and gas barons, to operate with acute shortages of staff?

This catastrophic dam burst, is out of pure unadulterated greed, as always.

Both Harper and Christy Clark, need to resign. I am so sick of their, lies, deceit, thefts, corruption and their cheating to win.

Anonymous said...

Can public sue and or petition BC to stop withholding information to public,in general.?

Don F. said...

The video link below is very powerful and honest. It is of Alexandra Morton speaking from Hazeltyne creek.
I have sent a link of this video via email to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska asking her to forward it to all concerned about BC mining practices and BC government involvement. I do not want to see this swept under the rug with these ridiculous appointed panels. PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO AS IT IS VERY MOVING!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpZOLkIaOnY

North Van's Grumps said...

In the Vancouver Sun, Dene Moore, "... The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will discuss the failure of the tailings pond .... in the interim, the Commission has asked the uranium mining and milling operations and monitoring it oversees to ensure that all necessary inspections and monitoring are in compliance with license conditions."

My question: Was the $30 million (worth only $2 million) payment by Minister Rich Coleman to Boss Energy regarding Blizzard's uranium mine, which was decided on the court house steps, ... is Boss Energy required to submit to an inspection via the CNSC? and of course the Pit in which the uranium core samples that are buried, upstream, from Beaverdell's drinking water source?

RossK said...

Anon-Directly-Above--

Interesting claim.

Especially when it is backed by links to sites with such blinkered perspectives.

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Thanks all--

As alluded to in the post, I realize that this is very likely a limited hangout, but it I found it interesting that they appear to have gone out of their way to have what appears to be a truly independent aspect to the inquiry...I mean, compare this to, say, the Dyble inquiry into Quick Wins, for example.


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Anonymous said...

Speaking of Stewart Muir...

a Director at Resource Works...

New BC Think Tank's Findings Remarkably Helpful to Clark
by Donald Gutstein, The Tyee

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/08/22/New-BC-Think-Tank/