Liquid Natural Gas for Texada
Ray Grigg
Shades of Green
Campbell River Courier-Islander
August 21, 2007
An educated and discerning senior citizen, who is bright enough to quickly do a couple of cryptic crossword puzzles before sitting down for afternoon tea, said recently, “The best strategy is to oppose everything.” Before she is dismissed as a cynic, her strategy warrants some careful consideration.
Evidence is accumulating from a large number of scientists and a broad range of notable thinkers that our socio-economic system is not viable in its present form. We ravish the land and seas for raw materials; we frenetically manufacture mountains of consumer goods, much of which gets dumped as waste; we burn so much carbon based fuels that we threaten to incinerate the planet; we pollute the biosphere with all manner of chemical concoctions; and our population is skyrocketing — by mid-century about 9 billion of us will be dreaming of plentiful food, big houses, luxury cars and international travel.
If this is a bluntly accurate assessment of our current state of affairs, then a strategy of opposing everything begins to look more helpful than cynical. Indeed, such a wholesale opposition to the thrust of our civilization would seem to be a practical response to a pervasively materialistic value system that increasingly seems dysfunctional and unsustainable. Someone has to register objection to this possibly suicidal plunge of progress.
The proposal for a $2 billion liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal and gas-fired electrical station at Kiddie Point on Texada Island is a perfect example of things going wrong. WestPac LNG Corporation, a business with money to invest, sees an opportunity for profit. America’s insatiable demand for energy needs servicing. And here is a handy island with deep water access, with nearby electrical and gas lines offering connections to a hungry buying market. All the components are here to further promote an unsustainable system that seems to be luring us toward our demise.
The habitual thinking that drives the unsustainable system makes its usual self serving arguments: 75 permanent jobs for an economically depressed community, electrical independence for BC, an opportunity to offset carbon dioxide emissions, the safe operation of such plants, the worry-free transit of 36 LNG tankers per year through the Strait of Georgia. These are all presented as demonstrable benefits to the public and to our way of life, with no environmental risks. At no cost and only with benefits, the economic opportunities are too good to be missed. Until we start asking questions.
Who makes the profits? Are the 75 jobs worth the other costs? Do we want to further industrialize the Strait of Georgia by adding Kiddie Point to Roberts Bank, several cities and six other pulp mill ports? How can importing LNG from Russia, Asia or the Middle East create electrical independence for BC? Why is it necessary to produce up to 3.8 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide on Texada to justify offsetting it elsewhere? If such terminals are so safe, why is Boston harbour closed down for the arrival of LNG tankers? Why do some regulatory authorities require a two mile exclusionary zone for LNG tankers? Is the crowded and confined Strait of Georgia the appropriate place for LNG tankers carrying the explosive equivalent of small nuclear bombs? Would ferries and cruise ships have to be cleared from shipping lanes when these tankers arrive? Will such tankers pass through Seymour Narrows? Are LNG sites targets for terrorist attacks? Does BC want to become an indispensable partner in the transfer of crucial energy to the growing desperation of America’s national insecurity interests? Would this linkage eventually rob us of our political autonomy? Is it already doing so?
Our economic system has an exorable logic and a momentum of its own. Making, distributing and consuming more of everything is good. Development is praiseworthy. Progress is beneficial. More production makes more people happy. To live is to consume. The planet is here for our use. Things only have value with reference to our needs. Nothing but ourselves has intrinsic worth. Erich Fromm, the famous psychologist and philosopher, noted that as long as we believe it is more important “to have” than “to be”, we will continue down the dark tunnel of consumerism until we discover that the light at the end is not the sun but the train.
It’s this pending head-on collision that is beginning to worry people, to cause the growing uneasiness that continual industrial expansion eventually becomes self destructive. Climatologists are predicting catastrophe if we don’t dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean ecologists are worried about the collapse of global fish stocks. Toxicologists are worried about rising levels of pollutants. Biologists are worried about massive species extinction. Almost everybody is worried about almost everything these days.
And we want to blithely carry on as if it’s “business” as usual? We want to build an LNG terminal on Texada Island because the old logic of a fatally-flawed system can’t compute consequences beyond the irresistible opportunity for corporate profits?
T.S. Eliot, one of the most scholarly and significant poets of the 20th century, observed that, “Human beings cannot bear much reality.” Well, we are being told in a rising crescendo of alarms that we are fast creating a reality that we will find very disagreeable. To avoid this looming threat, we must renovate our expectations, our behaviour, our values and our economic system. We need another way of evaluating our worth, of finding prosperity and of measuring success.
We can begin by resisting temptations such as a $2 billion LNG terminal on Texada Island. We can quit assuming that every opportunity to make money is a good idea. We can prohibit LNG tankers in the Strait of Georgia. We can stop accommodating energy-wasting policies — in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.
The first thing we can do is oppose everything. Then we can encourage a new paradigm by embracing all those measures that will get us to a sustainable future.
Shades of Green
Campbell River Courier-Islander
August 21, 2007
An educated and discerning senior citizen, who is bright enough to quickly do a couple of cryptic crossword puzzles before sitting down for afternoon tea, said recently, “The best strategy is to oppose everything.” Before she is dismissed as a cynic, her strategy warrants some careful consideration.
Evidence is accumulating from a large number of scientists and a broad range of notable thinkers that our socio-economic system is not viable in its present form. We ravish the land and seas for raw materials; we frenetically manufacture mountains of consumer goods, much of which gets dumped as waste; we burn so much carbon based fuels that we threaten to incinerate the planet; we pollute the biosphere with all manner of chemical concoctions; and our population is skyrocketing — by mid-century about 9 billion of us will be dreaming of plentiful food, big houses, luxury cars and international travel.
If this is a bluntly accurate assessment of our current state of affairs, then a strategy of opposing everything begins to look more helpful than cynical. Indeed, such a wholesale opposition to the thrust of our civilization would seem to be a practical response to a pervasively materialistic value system that increasingly seems dysfunctional and unsustainable. Someone has to register objection to this possibly suicidal plunge of progress.
The proposal for a $2 billion liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal and gas-fired electrical station at Kiddie Point on Texada Island is a perfect example of things going wrong. WestPac LNG Corporation, a business with money to invest, sees an opportunity for profit. America’s insatiable demand for energy needs servicing. And here is a handy island with deep water access, with nearby electrical and gas lines offering connections to a hungry buying market. All the components are here to further promote an unsustainable system that seems to be luring us toward our demise.
The habitual thinking that drives the unsustainable system makes its usual self serving arguments: 75 permanent jobs for an economically depressed community, electrical independence for BC, an opportunity to offset carbon dioxide emissions, the safe operation of such plants, the worry-free transit of 36 LNG tankers per year through the Strait of Georgia. These are all presented as demonstrable benefits to the public and to our way of life, with no environmental risks. At no cost and only with benefits, the economic opportunities are too good to be missed. Until we start asking questions.
Who makes the profits? Are the 75 jobs worth the other costs? Do we want to further industrialize the Strait of Georgia by adding Kiddie Point to Roberts Bank, several cities and six other pulp mill ports? How can importing LNG from Russia, Asia or the Middle East create electrical independence for BC? Why is it necessary to produce up to 3.8 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide on Texada to justify offsetting it elsewhere? If such terminals are so safe, why is Boston harbour closed down for the arrival of LNG tankers? Why do some regulatory authorities require a two mile exclusionary zone for LNG tankers? Is the crowded and confined Strait of Georgia the appropriate place for LNG tankers carrying the explosive equivalent of small nuclear bombs? Would ferries and cruise ships have to be cleared from shipping lanes when these tankers arrive? Will such tankers pass through Seymour Narrows? Are LNG sites targets for terrorist attacks? Does BC want to become an indispensable partner in the transfer of crucial energy to the growing desperation of America’s national insecurity interests? Would this linkage eventually rob us of our political autonomy? Is it already doing so?
Our economic system has an exorable logic and a momentum of its own. Making, distributing and consuming more of everything is good. Development is praiseworthy. Progress is beneficial. More production makes more people happy. To live is to consume. The planet is here for our use. Things only have value with reference to our needs. Nothing but ourselves has intrinsic worth. Erich Fromm, the famous psychologist and philosopher, noted that as long as we believe it is more important “to have” than “to be”, we will continue down the dark tunnel of consumerism until we discover that the light at the end is not the sun but the train.
It’s this pending head-on collision that is beginning to worry people, to cause the growing uneasiness that continual industrial expansion eventually becomes self destructive. Climatologists are predicting catastrophe if we don’t dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean ecologists are worried about the collapse of global fish stocks. Toxicologists are worried about rising levels of pollutants. Biologists are worried about massive species extinction. Almost everybody is worried about almost everything these days.
And we want to blithely carry on as if it’s “business” as usual? We want to build an LNG terminal on Texada Island because the old logic of a fatally-flawed system can’t compute consequences beyond the irresistible opportunity for corporate profits?
T.S. Eliot, one of the most scholarly and significant poets of the 20th century, observed that, “Human beings cannot bear much reality.” Well, we are being told in a rising crescendo of alarms that we are fast creating a reality that we will find very disagreeable. To avoid this looming threat, we must renovate our expectations, our behaviour, our values and our economic system. We need another way of evaluating our worth, of finding prosperity and of measuring success.
We can begin by resisting temptations such as a $2 billion LNG terminal on Texada Island. We can quit assuming that every opportunity to make money is a good idea. We can prohibit LNG tankers in the Strait of Georgia. We can stop accommodating energy-wasting policies — in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.
The first thing we can do is oppose everything. Then we can encourage a new paradigm by embracing all those measures that will get us to a sustainable future.
posted by Friend of Texada at
12:42 PM
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