Letters to the Editor

Friday 12 August 2011

Protester Dr. Julia Linke Took Minister Northrup up on his Open Door Policy Today - Met Privately at his Office to Voice Her Concerns About Shale Gas in NB


The group was escorted to the Minister's conference room, 3rd floor, Hugh John Fleming Forestry Complex. (Photo: Cheryl Norrad)

Dr. Linke goes over her notes before meeting with the Minister. Leblanc is at the ready. (Photo: Cheryl Norrad)

Anti-shale gas protester Dr. Julia Linke (center) met privately today with Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup (left) while blogger Charles LeBlanc (right) looked on. The meeting took place in Northrup's office at the Forestry complex on Regent St. Dr. Linke outlined her worries and ask questions of the minister while bloggers and Northrup staff looked on. Bloggers were prevented at first from joining the meeting, but Dr. Linke put her foot down and said there would be no meeting without the bloggers. It was agreed there would be no video footage of the meeting, but bloggers were allowed to sit in, audio-record it and pose a few questions of their own. The audio-recording will be available tomorrow. (Photo: Cheryl Norrad)

8 comments:

  1. Bruce Northrup's government officials say that the EIA process will protect us. They won't.

    In only a few years, New Brunswick's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has systematically destroyed a total of 9 wetlands in the UNB Woodlot, and allowed a gas station (with underground tanks!) overtop ground water that leads to Fredericton's aquifer.

    And the EIA process DOES NOT include a public consultation meeting with citizens. You will get an INFORMATION SESSION hosted by a third-party environmental consultant who will refuse to answer questions from a general audience. Instead, their representatives will man their individual poster easels and answer one-on-one questions while people surrounding them struggle to hear.

    In March 2009, The Friends of the UNB Woodlot successfully turned an EIA Information Session into an EIA Public Consultation Meeting by simply having the public seat themselves in the middle of the meeting room and then calling out questions to the representations huddled beside their easels, and therefore forcing a real, hour-long group Q&A session for all present to hear.

    Unbelievably, the environmental consultant said that they WOULD NOT TAKE NOTES during the Q&A session. Only written comments from the public would be considered in the EIA process.

    Welcome to NB Department of Environment's EIA process!

    The public must and will change the EIA process.

    Mark D'Arcy
    Friends of the UNB Woodlot
    Fredericton, NB
    friendsoftheunbwoodlot@gmail.com
    454-5119

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here is how the previous EIA process in the UNB Woodlot approved Big Box development beside Corbett Brook Marsh:

    - without the 80m wetland buffer guaranteed to the UNB Board of Governors by the UNB Administration for this stated "Ecologically Sensitive area";

    Commentary: When did 80 become 30?
    http://unbwoodlot.org/2011/04/13/when-did-80-become-30/#more-346


    - without ANY knowledge by, let alone ANY consultation with, Ducks Unlimited Canada. DU Canada had a long-standing co-management agreement with UNB for Corbett Brook Marsh and it is their primary educational marsh for school children in the greater Fredericton, Harvey, Oromocto areas;

    - without ANY knowledge by, let alone ANY consultation with, UNB researchers who has long-standing research forests on this location. Some of these were flattened to make way for Home Depot;

    and

    - without follow-up water quality testing after development as outlined in the Terms and Conditions of the EIA Approval for Corbett Place (Feb. 28, 2007), and additional monitoring requirements (April 14, 2009), of the NB Department of Environment.

    This trainwreck speaks for itself. This is the same EIA process that is going to put in place "strict regulations" for shale gas development.

    Mark D'Arcy
    Friends of the UNB Woodlot
    Fredericton, NB
    friendsoftheunbwoodlot@gmail.com
    454-5119

    ReplyDelete
  3. In only a few years, New Brunswick's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has systematically destroyed a total of 9 wetlands in the UNB Woodlot, and allowed a gas station (with underground tanks!) overtop ground water that leads to Fredericton's aquifer.

    And the EIA process DOES NOT include a public consultation meeting with citizens. You will get an INFORMATION SESSION hosted by a third-party environmental consultant who will refuse to answer questions from a general audience. Instead, their representatives will man their individual poster easels and answer one-on-one questions while people surrounding them struggle to hear.

    In March 2009, The Friends of the UNB Woodlot successfully turned an EIA Information Session into an EIA Public Consultation Meeting by simply having the public seat themselves in the middle of the meeting room and then calling out questions to the representations huddled beside their easels, and therefore forcing a real, hour-long group Q&A session for all present to hear.

    Unbelievably, the environmental consultant said that they WOULD NOT TAKE NOTES during the Q&A session. Only written comments from the public would be considered in the EIA process.

    Welcome to NB Department of Environment's EIA process!

    The public must, and will, change the EIA process.

    Mark D'Arcy
    Friends of the UNB Woodlot
    Fredericton, NB
    454-5119
    friendsoftheunbwoodlot@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
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