25-Nov-2016
Background
Since the building of the Sun Mine on brown lands left by
the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, the East Kootenay has drawn the attention of international
Solar developers.
A total of 10 applications for use of crown land have been
received so far in the East Kootenay by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and
Natural Resource Operations
· Seven
have been 'offered' to the proponent,
· one
'accepted' and
· three
more are being considered
The Regional District (RDEK) has given their support to all
applications coming across their desk, with a minority of the board opposing.
Crown lands requested are around Skookumchuck, Galloway,
Wycliffe, Ta Ta Creek, Mayook, Elkford.
The
companies requesting crown land usage are Node Engineering, Company
0887581 BC Ltd., Innergex, and Sea Breeze Holdings.
The only district in
BC where solar arrays are planned is the East Kootenay.
The projects are on
· essential
ungulate winter range
· native
grasslands and valley bottom lands – very rare habitats
· where
many rare wildlife and plant species occur such as on the Important Bird / Biodiversity
Area at Skookumchuck
· rangeland
for cattle
· enhanced
/ restored areas
By one
estimate, 1.2 million has already been spent on these lands for enhancement and
restoration through the Ecosystem Restoration program.
The main problems
These solar
arrays would alienate the land from all wildlife and human user groups, some
would impact Species-at-Risk. There are
many other impacts both positive and negative, of course.
The Provincial government does not appear to have any
guidelines in place for placement of solar arrays.
Tell the governments what you think
I, personally, am opposed to solar arrays on
these lands, so am focusing on the negative impacts and redirecting ‘greening’
efforts (to areas and methods more beneficial to all).
You may want to say:
· these
lands are more valuable ecologically and economically purposed and managed as they currently
are, as functioning ecosystems
· conversion
from their current use to single-use solar power generation is not necessary
nor desirable
· I
ask the governments to develop, implement, and enforce a policy specifically
for developing solar power generation in the Province of British Columbia
· I
ask the provincial government to declare a moratorium on utility grade solar
power facilities until policies are in place
· Priority
should be given to the decentralization of solar power generation – such as on
rooftops, which would give direct benefit to more people
· The
first tracts of land converted to solar arrays should be those which have already
been depleted by industry and/or areas with little life-sustaining potential
Submit your comments, concerns, thoughts – to
·
http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/index.jsp?PrimaryStatus=any&keyword=solar&Submit=Submit
·
This
link takes you to all the solar applications currently being processed.
·
Go
through each application to get to the online form for commenting. Online comments are limited to 4000
characters and they have a deadline.
·
Land Officer,
Christine Lohr at Christine.Lohr@gov.bc.ca
MFLNRO
845 Columbia Ave
Castlegar, BC V1N 1H3
·
Director of Authorizations, Ray Morello at Ray.Morello@gov.bc.ca
MFLNRO
1902 Theatre Road
Cranbrook, BC V1C 7G1
a. MLAs
·
Norm
Macdonald, Columbia River-Revelstoke, norm.macdonald.MLA@leg.bc.ca
·
Hon.
Bill Bennett, Kootenay East, bill.bennett.MLA@leg.bc.ca
·
Hon.
Steve Thomson, Minister FLNRO, steve.thomson.MLA2leg.bc.ca
·
Hon.
Donna Barnett, Minister of State for Rural Economic Development, donna.barnett.MLA@leg.bc.ca
·
15
members, contact via http://www.rdek.bc.ca/about/board_of_directors/
The
companies and the Land Office insist these applications are ‘for investigative
purposes only’. But, these are large
tracts of valley bottom land. They are ‘staking
their claims’. Monitoring equipment to
see how sunny it really is, could be placed on any existing infrastructure in
the vicinity.
For more
information and updates, keep checking for new posts.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
