HOME | TRASHIN' THE BOG | TRASHIN' YOUR HOOD | PULLING THE WOOL OVER YOUR EYES | F.A.Q.

A few details for the Second Public Consultation:

Sunbury Neighborhood Association members have been looking into the details attempting to wring out any kind of evidence that MoT will not pass the Assessment. To no Avail. THe discussion papers are merely a summary of questions from various municipalities, government agencies and individuals followed by the summarized response from MoT (Ministry of Transport/Gateway). In an alarming number of cases, the response was a weak kneed placation beginning with "MoT is committed to working with..." Amounting in reality to an admission that they have no ansewer, nor are they intending to find one. One of the most infuriating of these is the specific request for mitigation of Noise by residents and Corporation of Delta for Neighborhoods that will be destroyed by the SFPR. Ministry Transport have basically told us by this comment that they are not prepared to do any extraordinary mitigation, and that we just get to suck it up and live with it for the good of, well, no one in the end, since if less than five years the SFPR will be as badly congested as River Road is now.

Well, here are some comments for you to ask about in this round of public consultation:

Noise:

MoT states repeatedly that they will work with communities to find the best means for mitigation. However they will only consider noise barriers, tree planting, burms and quiet pavement. The original application documents indicate that for areas where residences are up a slope from the highway none of these means are effective. Further mitigation as requested by Delta and Surrey have been dismissed as too expensive. They have offered no alternatives that work. This is sufficient means to deny the application or at least require a contractual agreement that the provincial government study and pay for mitigation of any type required to meet all jursdictional requirements.

Send an email to the Assessment office on this issue

Air Quality:

Details to Come...

Burns Bog:

Details to Come...

Socio-Community:

Details to Come...

Agriculture:

Details to Come...

Assessment Process:

Details to Come...

Public Consultation Sham:

Details to Come...

Environmental Assessment Office Announces Another Round of Public Consultations

The EAO is reopening the Assessment for the South Fraser Perimeter Road (read:Truck Highway) for Public Comment on Gateway's current round of back-peddling. Due to the excessive costs of Expropriation, SFPR had to be re-aligned slightly by Gateway to avoid paying residents of Delta for the right to hack and destroy their community. Kevin Falcon has already begun the spin on "Saving the Bog" as the reasoning for the realignment but in actual fact this change in the location of the Highway 99 interchange will HAVE NO BENEFICIAL CHANGE OF IMPACT to Burns Bog.

This reassessment has also given Gateway a chance to correct the glaring errors and misinformation that Sunbury Neighborhood Association and many other diligent members of the public unearthed in the first assessment application. Thus far, the various communiques between Environment Canada, Environment BC and Gateway have show a terrible lack of effort in correcting the errors or answering the questions. Even in the responses from Gateway to Specific concerns about the project from EC and EBC there is rhetorical spin-doctoring. Who do they think their fooling?!

On or Before April 20th, the Environmental Assessment office will Post Gateway's official response documents on the ePic website. You can expect to find (according to officials at the EAO) discussion papers of approximately 15 pages for Agriculture, Noise, Air Quality and Socio-Community issues, and a more lengthy response paper for Burns Bog.

As noted in the Invitation to comment, "Form letters" will be disregarded. As a result, SaveDelta's pre written email campaign will be prepared differently. I will post a link to a page for each area of concern in the assessment with specific matters from both the original and from the current submissions. You may select any of the information presented to include and comment on in your email to the EAO. The email form will only include the correct address and a common salutation (which you should feel free to edit). You should create a personalized subject line so no subject is included on the email form.

If ever you wondered if our public consultation on environment works, this is the time to truly test democracy. Pull together every one you know, ask them to SaveDelta.ca and send an email for every issue they are concerned about.

We must exercise our democratic right - if it fails we are caught in a system that must be changed, and you can contribute to that too!

Gateway Application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate

We have one last opportunity to call the Ministry of Transport to task for the South Fraser Perimeter Road. A highway of destruction through Delta and Surrey.

30 Days ending May 19th 2007 - Get your comments In soon!

If it all seems too stupid to believe, then it probably is. Don't wish for a better answer, demand it from your representitives in all levels of government.