Province seeks intervener status on Shanker's Bend Dam
March 31, 2009
The provincial government has responded to the proposed Shanker's Bend Dam days after the in-depth Monster Guide feature which raised the question as to why governments in Canada were not registered as interveners.
On March 31st, in a press release, the B.C. government stated it has filed a request for intervenor status with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the United States regarding the proposed Shanker’s Bend water storage project.
Environment Minister Barry Penner, on behalf of the B.C. government, is seeking to have the Province added as a party to any future proceedings concerning the proposed Shanker’s Bend development, when and if those proceedings take place, to express B.C.’s position on the proposed options.
A preliminary permit was issued by FERC on Dec. 18, 2008 to allow the study of three proposals for the construction of a water storage and hydroelectric dam at Shanker’s Bend on the Similkameen River, less than two kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border. These include an 80-metre-high dam, a lower height dam and a run-of-the-river project.
The B.C. government supports the responsible use and development of hydropower when such projects are appropriately sited and designed to avoid unacceptable environmental impacts. However, the government opposes construction of the 80-metre-high dam because of the anticipated environmental and community impacts in British Columbia. It has been estimated that the high dam proposal could flood an area covering more than 9,000 acres in British Columbia, including sensitive habitat.
The flooded area would impact First Nations lands southeast of Keremeos, two provincial protected areas, Snowy Protected Area and South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area, at least 20 provincially declared blue- and red-listed species, a potential national grasslands park and valuable agricultural land.
The potentially flooded area is home to 16 listed species at risk as defined by the Canadian federal Species at Risk Act. The act prohibits any action that threatens, damages or destroys a threatened or endangered species or its habitat.
In its intervention motion, the B.C. government says the impacts of the high dam on Aboriginal communities in British Columbia must also be considered. The Province has an obligation to consult and accommodate, as appropriate, any potentially affected Aboriginal group who may be adversely affected.
Penner noted the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District is a high-value agricultural area with product sales throughout British Columbia and the world.
Careful consideration and environmental scrutiny are necessary before a decision is made regarding the other two, smaller options being considered.
Penner has already engaged his counterpart in Washington state, the director of the Department of Ecology, about the potential development at Shanker’s Bend, to express British Columbia’s concerns.
While the press release states that the government has filed for intervener status, there is still no word whether the application was accepted. There remains an indication that deadlines have passed for such applications. There is still no statement from the Federal Government regarding Shankers Bend.
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New Reason For Bee Hive Collapse:
Ecologists Tease out Private Lives Of Plants and their Pollinators
May 8, 2008
ScienceDaily - The quality of pollen a plant produces is closely tied to its sexual habits, ecologists have discovered. As well as helping explain the evolution of such intimate relationships between plants and pollinators, the study -- one of the first of its kind and published online in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology -- also helps explain the recent dramatic decline in certain bumblebee species found in the shrinking areas of species-rich chalk grasslands and hay meadows across Northern Europe.
Scentists found that without exception, plants that rely solely on insects for pollination produce the highest quality pollen, packing 65% more protein into their pollen than plant species that do not have to rely on insect pollinators. They also discovered that bumblebees prefer to visit plants with the most protein-rich pollen.
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Smaller culinary footprint: French send wine by sailing ship
By Peter Allen – New Zealand Herald
April 8, 2008
French vineyard owners are returning to a slower pace of life by starting to export their wine by sailing boat - a method last used in the 1800s - to reduce their carbon footprint.
This month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland in a 19th-century barque, saving 22,680kg of carbon.
Further voyages to Bristol and Manchester in England and even to Canada are planned soon afterwards.
The three-mast barque Belem, which was launched in 1896, the last French merchant sailing vessel to be built, will sail into Dublin after a voyage from Bordeaux that should last about four days.
The wines will be delivered to Bordeaux by barge using the Canal du Midi and Canal du Garonne, which run across southern France from Sete in the east, via Beziers in Languedoc.
Each bottle will be labeled: "Carried by sailing ship, a better deal for the planet."
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New resort sets building permit record
KISS FM - April 8, 2008
At $55 million, its by far the largest building permit ever issued by the city of Vernon. It's been taken out by the Austrian investors behind the Sparkling Hill Resort--a luxury wellness hotel, formerly called the Kristall resort, being built next to Predator Ridge Golf Resort. President and CEO Hans Peter Mayr says construction is underway, with an opening set for the winter of 2009.
"We will have about 150 rooms, 300 beds. We will have meeting facilities, a great dining area, restaurant, and we'll have a very special and new treatment-wellness spa beauty concept for North America."
The total development is expected to cost $100 million, and will have a staff of around 150. Clients will come from Canada, the US, Europe and Asia. Resort chief operating officer Jim Radford says one of the challenges was getting services to the 174 acre site which overlooks Okanagan Lake.
"The biggest thing was to get water here, and we have a reservoir which we expanded by 50 percent two years ago. So now there is more fire protection not only for the hotel but for all the neighbors in the Okanagan Landing area.
"We also contributed a half million dollars to the new gravity-sanitary sewer with Predator Ridge and the City, which goes all the way to the main treatment plant." Mayor Wayne Lippert was on hand for the announcement made at the building site. "It's great for Vernon and the area. It shows our economy is still strong and that Hans Peter's company believes in us and sees the potential."
Other noteworthy permits granted by the City of Vernon include the BC Transmission Corporation building ($21m), the Vernon Jubilee Hospital addition in 1982 ($21m), the Strand Development ($20m) and the new Tolko building ($16m).
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David Rockefeller Sr. sure knows how to pick a winner
By Ernest Beck
February 18, 2008
In 1960 the banker and art collector bought a painting called "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)" by abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. The price: around $10,000. Fast forward to May 2007, when the work was sold after a bidding war at Sotheby's -- and an anonymous buyer paid an eye-popping $72.8 million for the brightly colored work. This fabulous return on investment suggests that buying the right art at the right moment can significantly enhance your net worth. It might -- but don't rush to cash out your 401(k) for some canvas stretched on a wooden frame.
Kevin Radell, senior financial strategist at artnet, a Web site that tracks the fine-art market for collectors and investors, says the art market can be a good -- if sometimes highly risky -- investment as an alternative asset category. But, he adds, "you have to understand the nature of the market."
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UBC Discovery Unlocks Tree Genetics,
Gives New Hope For Pine Beetle Defense
February 1, 2008
UBC researchers have discovered some of the genetic secrets that enable pine and spruce trees to fight off pests and disease, uncovering critical new information about forests’ natural defense systems.
Assoc. Prof. Joerg Bohlmann says this genetic analysis will allow forest stewardship programs to reinforce a forest’s inherent strength, breeding trees that could in time repel insects such as British Columbia’s notorious mountain pine beetles.
Bohlmann and his research associate Christopher Keeling explored the genetic makeup of oleoresin within spruce, discovering a sophisticated ability to produce complex blends of chemicals that continuously evolve to protect the tree from changing conditions and challenges.
“Conifers are some of the oldest and longest living plants on the planet,” says Bohlmann. “We’ve opened the book to understanding how they can survive in one location for thousands of years despite attacks from generations of insects and diseases.”
Their study examines the molecular biochemistry of conifers interacting with genomes of bark beetles and bark beetle-associated fungal pathogens. Bohlmann’s study appears in today’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Figuring out how these naturally occurring defenses work has important implications for the long-term sustainability and health of our forests,” says Bohlmann, who’s working with the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, the forestry industry and the Canadian Forest Service.
Bohlmann is also co-leader of the recently announced $4-million project that Genome BC and Genome Alberta is funding to investigate the mountain pine beetle infestation at the genomic level.
Insect pests and pathogens cause annual losses of billions of dollars to conifer-based forest economies in North America and Europe. In B.C., the mountain pine beetle epidemic has killed about 40 per cent of the pine forests since its first appearance in the mid 1990s.
This is the largest recorded bark beetle outbreak in Canada, leaving B.C. with 13 million hectares of grey and red dead pine – an area four times the size of Vancouver Island and a volume of dead timber equivalent to 530 million telephone poles.
Bohlmann is leading UBC’s and international research programs on forest health genomics. In 2006, Bohlmann and a team of international scientists completed the world’s first physical map and sequencing of a tree genome – the third plant ever sequenced.
He is based at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories, a multidisciplinary research facility. Bohlmann also holds teaching appointments in the departments of Botany and Forest Sciences and is an associate at UBC’s Wine Research Centre.
Bohlmann and study co-authors are members of the Treenomix project, Canada’s first large-scale forestry genome project. Their work received support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Genome BC and Genome Canada.
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Report slams chronic 'underfunding' in BC schools
January 18, 2008
A report says in some instances special needs students are left "wandering the halls" because resource room teachers are unavailable and appropriate courses are not open to them.
”I feel that these children are being punished, whether it is by ignoring, dismissing, or isolating, or a lack of resources, for something that came with birth. Why do we make the uphill battle even more difficult for them?" -- Parent of a special needs student, quoted in Langley Special Education Inquiry Report.
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Pluses and Minuses for Conservative Prospects
December 15, 2007
Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun
Although the Harper government registers robust support in a new poll, the next election won't be a cakewalk for Conservatives.
That analysis flows from two related articles in the December issue of Policy Options, published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a non-partisan think-tank in Montreal.
The assessment follows a Liberal warning that the official Opposition will attempt to trigger a vote in the new year.
One of the articles summarizes a cross-Canada poll carried out in early November by Ottawa's Nanos Research. It shows "the country is in a very good mood," with two-thirds of Canadians liking the direction Conservatives are taking the country.
However, the same poll warns support is decidedly less solid among women, seniors angry about the taxing of income trusts, and Ontario voters.
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Okanagan ranchers forum addresses agriculture issues
December 11, 2007
Don Elzer - The Monster Guide
New provincial meat regulations continue to impact ranchers in BC. Now there’s a big question as to whether the provinces goal is to protect consumers from tainted beef or to further administer provincial sales tax.
That’s one of many questions an upcoming meeting of Okanagan cattle producers will address today (Tuesday) in Vernon.
“There’s complicated issues, and I really don’t have the answers, but I do know that it’s time for ranchers to become proactive and begin to find solutions to the many problems the cattle industry is facing”, said meeting organizer Lee Hesketh.
Hesketh’s family ranches in the Lumby area and is the president of the North Okanagan Livestock Association.
The association is holding an educational forum Tuesday, December 11th. The event, will run from 12:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Best Western Vernon Lodge, and will feature several speakers discussing cattle markets and trends, regulations around abattoirs and farm gate sales, and range, water, and the environmental farm plan.
In an interview with TOB, Hesketh spoke in plain terms about the complicated issues impacting his industry.
“In some ways I can appreciate what the province is trying to do with more stringent regulations, many provinces already have such rules and BC is playing catch up”, said Hesketh.
“If we had more certified meat processing facilities that could be easily accessed by ranchers then they would be able to access more markets, but it’s not panning out that way, instead there’s fewer facilities and given low commodity prices it’s becoming a further financial burden on ranchers”.
Hesketh added that if the economic climate was different with higher cattle prices, then there might be a warmer welcome to the new regulations.
There’s a new concern circulating that questions the motive of the new provincial policies.
“There’s a lot of people in the agriculture sector wondering if the government is actually trying to further track provincial sales tax from a ranchers farm gate sales and from hobby farmers selling small amounts of food they produce.”
In rural areas communities often depend on local farm gate sales, many of which are hobby farmers with transactions being cash and without provincial sales tax.
“Many of these producers fly under the radar because most often it’s a marginal amount of money. But if the government adds up such transactions throughout the province, they may have the idea that they can further provincial revenues by collecting sales tax on those transactions.”
Hesketh suggests that the rural lifestyle is certainly being impacted, but complaining should be replaced with proactive solutions presented to government from the agriculture community.
“The cattle industry now faces many challenges including higher input costs and lower returns along with new regulations and guidelines around a variety of issues that affect our day to day operations.”
NOLA has a membership of 70 ranchers covering from Nakusp to the east, Salmon Arm to the north and south to Kelowna and represents local ranchers to the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association.
The event is free and the public is welcome to attend.
For more information, contact Hesketh at 547-6586 or Cheryl Altwasser at 547-9979.
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