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The BC government does it again!

A letter to the Editor from Alex Hanson of Fernie.

I wake this morning. The eastern sun rises, illuminating my eyes as I peer over the mountains toward some additional land Teck is purchasing. Over 7,000 hectares of pristine wilderness, but it’s not for mining. The press release proclaims they spent $19 million out of the greenness of their environmental hearts.

I wonder if it’s actually a part of the Pacific Carbon Trust’s (PCT) carbon offset plan: selling our trees to corporations while pollution continues. Worse yet, the balance sheets of companies showing carbon offset assets of ever increasing value, rather than actual liabilities. In the end, getting paid for nothing.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a coal miner who is for responsible industrial development. But credits for carbon capture? Monetizing then privatizing the environment by proxy?

Elk Valley residents angry over the prospect of a public national park, while a corporate private profit park sails right past them. Taxing schools and hospitals through the PCT, further destroying our social infrastructure while an oil company in Alberta gets $1.1 million in subsidies. Insert vomit here.

Another B.C. Liberal scam: feigning green while privatizing our environment and ripping off the next generation. Is there no end to the blind rape and pillage of British Columbians' collective wealth? Or do we cower in fear of a government that has gone so far off course that we are now too afraid to turn back?

I guess while watching a senate scandal obfuscated by a crack smoking mayor, I think anything is possible.

Alex Hanson

Fernie, B.C.