Sep 5, 2018 - Island Leaders in Canada and US Call on Prime Minister to Abandon Trans Mountain Expansion

Extracted text (beginning)

Bowen, Denman, Gabriola, Galiano, Gambier, Hornby, Lasqueti, Mayne, N. Pender, Salt Spring, Saturna, S. Pender, Thetis 
 
 
News Release 
200 - 1627 Fort Street Victoria BC  V8R 1H8 
Telephone  250.405.5151 FAX:  250.405.5155 
Toll Free via Enquiry BC in Vancouver 604.660.2421.  Elsewhere in BC 1.800.663.7867 
information@islandstrust.bc.ca     www.islandstrust.bc.ca 
 
September 05, 2018         2018-09-IT 
      
Island Leaders in Canada and US Call on Prime Minister to Abandon Trans Mountain Expansion 
 
VICTORIA  In light of the Canadian Government’s purchase of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and stated commitment to 
expanding it despite a court ruling quashing the expansion permit, elected representatives from the islands in the Salish 
Sea, on both sides of the Canadian-U.S. border, have written an open letter urging Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon 
the expansion project. 
 
The expansion project would result in 400 more oil tankers passing the island communities which the Islands Trust and 
San Juan County represent. In their open letter, signed by 22 trustees from the Islands Trust and the three San Juan 
County councilors, the locally elected officials describe how the Salish Sea region will be put at risk by the project, and 
how its protection – along with the orcas that live in the region – should be of national importance on both sides of the 
border. 
 
“As elected leaders in the Salish Sea we are compelled to speak out,” said Islands Trust Council Chair, Peter Luckham. 
“Every day we witness the negative impacts that ever-increasing levels of marine shipping are having on this region. It 
takes one accident, one mistake, to devastate this internationally important place. The orca’s decline sends a chilling 
message on the state of the world and humanity’s choices. At this historic moment, we urge the Prime Minister to pause, 
listen to the message and develop more visionary and less risky ways to generate jobs for Canadians and tax revenues.” 
 
“The impact of a bitumen spill on the lives of our island constituents is unfathomable,” added Bill Watson from San Juan 
County. “Our economies – so reliant on tourism and a healthy environment – would be ruined; the social fabric of our 
communities torn apart. The wild salmon and the orca of the region would be in peril. We stand with our fellow Salish Sea 
representatives in Canada in opposition to this project.” 
 
The Salish Sea is the inland sea that includes Washington’s Puget Sound and British Columbia’s Strait of Georgia. It is one 
of the most biologically rich inland seas in the world. Together the Islands Trust and San Juan County represent the 
interests of more than 642 islands within the Salish Sea. 
 
- 30 - 
Notes to media: Joint open letter 
 A webpage with reports and evidence substantiating the concerns 
 
CONTACT:  Peter Luckham, Chair, Islands Trust Council, 250.210.2553 
 Bill Watson, Chair, San Juan County Council, 360.622.9324 
 
The Islands Trust Council is a fed

First 3,000 characters. Open the original for the whole document.