Wildsight, Sierra Club, CPAW’s are losing support due to their continual opposition to resource extraction in B.C. The latest call to ban new coal mines and a moratorium on expanding existing mines is not new. This is just part of their long term plan to remove at least 50 per cent of the land base from Yellowstone to Yukon and lock it away from human interference and habitation. Their media hype to “ban coal mines” will only hurt the families that depend on resource extraction. These groups are not accountable to anyone but their funders who provide millions to push an anti-fossil fuel campaign. Wildsight, Sierra Club and CPAW’s will cherry pick data to support their ideology and this latest one by Hauer provides ample ammunition for their rhetoric. The report was commissioned by a US National Park for water quality studies on the Flathead River. For a US Government agency to meddle in Canadian affairs via environmentalists is highly questionable. Hauer’s report is based on limited data that does not take into account the historical or natural inputs and it adds nothing to the already known science. Hauer didn’t reference any of the voluminous studies done since the mid 90’s on selenium and water quality. Why would a “scientist” not include data from studies done on the Elk River by Canadian and American selenium experts? Hauer's report only serves to fuel the media hype to ban coal mining and create a Flathead national park. Environmental groups and their American funders have the ability to be constructive and help the coal mines develop solutions to environmental issues, yet they choose the destructive path; using fear and misinformation to push their vision of what the world should be. It’s time we told these environmentalists to butt out unless they have something constructive to add.
Paul Visentin
Cranbrook