ARESST ACTION:
- CHECK BACK TO OUR STOPABADPLAN WEBSITE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS
LETTERS:
- NO NEED TO UPGRADE SEWAGE TREATMENT
- COLUMNIST WAS RIGHT ABOUT TREATMENT PLANT
- COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS MISSING ON SEWAGE
- SEWAGE ARGUMENT BASED ON SENTIMENT
- SEWAGE HAS CHANGED REGION'S SEABEDS
- THINK OF THE POISONS THAT GO INTO SEWAGE PIPES
- LETTER ABOUT OUTFALLS NOT SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE
- CRD SHOWS COURAGE BY STICKING WITH PLAN
CRD-RELATED SEWAGE NEWS:
- SEWAGE PROJECT CLEARS KEY HURDLE
- CFAX/STANFORD COMMENT ON BYELECTION
- LIBERAL PROUD OF HIS CAMPAIGN IN VICTORIA BY-ELECTION
- BYELECTION SHOWS GREENS ARE STRONG (SEWAGE MENTION)
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CONTENTS:
ARESST ACTION:
VIDEO CLIPS SHOWING ARESST MEMBERS IN ACTION AT CRD MEETINGS
CRD rejects delaying sewage treatment (ARESST's Brian Burchill too!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
CHEKNews 27 November, 5pm:
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CHECK BACK TO OUR STOPABADPLAN WEBSITE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIONS
More videos, audios and articles being uploaded! Check STOPABADPLAN website for new uploads: http://stopabadplan.ca/
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LETTERS:
NO NEED TO UPGRADE SEWAGE TREATMENT
Vancouver Sun
November 28, 2012
Re: Mr. Floatie resurfaces; Sewage issue raises stink in Victoria byelection, Nov. 23
This article asserts that oft-repeated falsity: Victoria does not treat its sewage.
The strength of sewage is broadly characterized by two parameters: Suspended Solids (self-explanatory and incidentally only constitute typically 0.2 per cent of sewage; more than 99 per cent is water) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (an indirect measure of the amount of biodegradable organic matter present.)
Also, in broad terms, there are three main levels of sewage treatment.
1) Preliminary: Treatment by fine screening which removes say, 25 per cent of the SS and BOD;
2) Primary: Treatment by sedimentation which removes say, 50 per cent of the SS and BOD and
3) Secondary: Treatment by adding biological processes which removes say, 90 per cent of the SS and BOD overall.
As Victoria does use fine screening, they do treat to about 25 per cent removal; but also importantly, the screening removes floatable and other visually objectionable material. "Mr. Floatie" is a contrived campaign weapon and not a reality.
As cubic kilometres of water sweep past the Victoria outfall twice a day, there is no environmental justification for going beyond the present preliminary treatment.
However, the NDP support for millions of dollars to be spent on treatment as a make-work project for its unions does have validity in this economy.
David Poole
Surrey
COLUMNIST WAS RIGHT ABOUT TREATMENT PLANT
Dale W. Read
Times Colonist
November 27, 2012
Re: "Byelection caught up in sewage dispute," Nov. 22.
Les Leyne's column was dead on target. Of course we need sewage treatment.
I would like to add, though, that no one who has commented on this topic has mentioned the effect of future population growth in this area. The more our population grows, the greater is the urgency for sewage treatment.
Dale W. Read
Sooke
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COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS MISSING ON SEWAGE
Mike Day
Times Colonist
November 27, 2012
Re: "Sewage-dumping hurts region's image: tourism group," Nov. 24.
The head of Victoria's tourist organization is concerned that our current sewage disposal system is giving Victoria a bad image. And maybe it is.
But is $1 billion a reasonable amount to spend to fix the problem? The benefit and the cost are totally out of whack.
Here's another way to think about it. Vagrants on our downtown streets are a more obvious turnoff to tourists. Does the Tourist Association think the taxpayers should spend a billion dollars on them? Fact is we could take care of all the homeless people in Victoria for much much less than this sewage plant is going to cost. We'd all like to live in a perfect world, but that's unrealistic. Cost has to be a factor in deciding what is good public policy. This sewage proposal has never been analyzed for cost versus benefit.
Mike Day
Victoria
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SEWAGE ARGUMENT BASED ON SENTIMENT
Michael Hill
Times Colonist
November 27, 2012
Re: "Byelection caught up in sewage dispute," Nov. 22.
In yet another example of a commentator expressing a case for secondary sewage treatment based on sentiment, columnist Les Leyne offers us his non-scientific opinion on sewage treatment: We should proceed with treatment because not doing what other communities are doing with regards to treatment "doesn't feel right." His argument proceeds from there without a substantiated case for the proposed treatment plan.
The column adds nothing to a discussion that has for far too long been based on sentiment rather than on fact. It is simply irresponsible to decide large public expenditures without basing them on a factual understanding of the issue and the most effective means of achieving desired outcomes.
Michael Hill
Esquimalt
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ARESST: Letter probably means storm sewers which are much closer to waterfront shorelines than our long ocean outfalls?
SEWAGE HAS CHANGED REGION'S SEABEDS
Allan Crow
Times Colonist
November 27, 2012
Much of my more than 35 years of commercial-fishing experience has been spent diving for octopus along the murky shorelines of the Victoria waterfront and adjacent areas. Perhaps more than any other person, I have observed the damaging effects that the discharge of untreated sewage through outfalls off Clover and Macaulay Points has had on the local seabed and marine environment.
Just a casual glance at a current atlas for Juan de Fuca Strait shows the currents running along the Esquimalt and Victoria waterfront are consistently weak and variable. A more critical analysis of our local current patterns and geography reveals that, rather than disperse the effluent into oblivion, they actually work effectively to settle thousands of tonnes of contaminated sediment on the local seabed in both an upstream and downstream pattern from the outfalls.
This is exactly what has been happening for decades. The evidence of this persistent siltation can be seen on the seafloor from Becher Bay in the west all the way around to Gordon Head in Haro Strait and is truly staggering in places.
Sad to say, I have also witnessed the steady loss of biodiversity that has accompanied it. Many areas, once colourful and vibrant marine habitat, such as the entire Esquimalt waterfront, are now dull remnants of their former selves, where only the most silt-tolerant marine life can exist.
Allan Crow
East Sooke
THINK OF THE POISONS THAT GO INTO SEWAGE PIPES
William Jesse
Times Colonist
November 29, 2012
Sewage treatment. Do we need it? I was always in favour and after just finishing a bathroom renovation, I used toilet bowl cleaner. On the label it warns "Danger. Corrosive to eyes and skin. Harmful or fatal if swallowed."
This is the stuff, among many other such substances, that we are pumping into the ocean. Do we need sewage treatment? Think about it.
William Jesse
Oak Bay
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=b4b0c329-6f6a-4d4c-8125-d887a30c982c
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LETTER ABOUT OUTFALLS NOT SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE (SCIENTIST LETTER)
John Dower
Times Colonist
November 29, 2012
Re: "Sewage has changed region's seabeds," Nov. 27.
I take issue with this headline. It's anecdotal, totally subjective, not supported by any actual evidence (in fact, it contravenes the actual scientific evidence) and yet it appears on your website under a headline that gives it the appearance of being fact.
The letter is wrong on at least three points about the oceanographic conditions and circulation around Victoria.
Suppose I were to write a letter expressing my fervent belief in the existence of Santa Claus - would it be greeted with a similar level of blind acceptance?
John Dower
Department of Biology and School of Earth & Ocean Sciences University of Victoria
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=96d09808-fa6c-468f-847b-bb42d4b8886c
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CRD SHOWS COURAGE BY STICKING WITH PLAN
Lynn Hunter
Times Colonist
November 29, 2012
Re: "Sewage project clears key hurdle," Nov. 28.
When I arrived in Victoria 35 years ago, a debate was raging over sewage treatment. The same arguments against the plan were used then as we are hearing now. Over the intervening years, costs have increased dramatically and we have learned more about the toxicity of some elements of the sewage.
Over the past six years, the Capital Regional District has worked hard to come up with a plan acceptable to the region and to the federal and provincial governments who will share equally in the costs of treatment.
I am relieved that CRD directors have held firm to the plan for treatment. I am also pleased that the only candidate in the recent federal byelection who demonstrated political courage and supported treatment, was successful.
Sometimes, political courage is rewarded.
I hope the current CRD directors who voted in favour of proceeding with the plan will also be rewarded. It is well past time to get on with it.
Lynn Hunter (MORE ABOUT HERE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hunter)
Victoria
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=e6df64f7-1cef-4d8f-b139-20d011b2a78c
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CRD-RELATED SEWAGE NEWS:
SEWAGE PROJECT CLEARS KEY HURDLE
Capital region politicians reject bid to suspend work until 2040
Rob Shaw
Times Colonist
November 28, 2012
Greater Victoria's contentious sewage-treatment project survived its latest challenge Tuesday when a motion that would have suspended work until 2040 was rejected.
Politicians on the Capital Regional District's sewage committee voted 10 to four against demanding that the federal government reclassify the region as at a lower risk for sewage pollution.
That means the $783-million treatment project will continue, with completion of a secondary-treatment plant at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt by 2018.
"I was disappointed, obviously," said Saanich Coun. Vic Derman, who had introduced the motion.
"I'll keep trying to put forward a voice to let the public know what I think are concerns."
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton and View Royal Mayor Graham Hill supported Derman's motion, but were outvoted by representatives from Victoria, Saanich, Langford and Oak Bay.
Some expressed concern that a delay could imperil the project's two-thirds funding from the federal and provincial governments.
"What I'm very concerned about is if we drag our feet, and today we say no, we will lose the very significant contribution from the other levels of government," said Victoria councillor and CRD board chairman Geoff Young.
"That's not a risk I'm prepared to take."
Even with the funding, the treatment project could add between $232 and $391 to homeowners' annual taxes, depending on where they live.
View Royal's Hill warned that the committee lacks public confidence.
"Unless we have a greater majority of people in our region supporting what we are trying to do here, we ...will have a very significant issue with the public," Hill said.
"The elephant is awake." Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen refused to support a delay, pushing unsuccessfully for a vote on a full environmental assessment.
After deciding not to suspend the project, the sewage committee debated whether to turn over control of day-to-day decision making to a commission of unelected experts.
Removing squabbling politicians from the contract and procurement phase of the megaproject was a condition of federal and provincial funding.
The committee ultimately voted to create the commission, but not before passing a vote to give itself more power to approve tender documents.
It also asked that chairwoman Denise Blackwell meet with provincial Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Bill Bennett to express dissatisfaction with the absence of elected representatives on the commission, among other things.
"I think we need as much control as possible, because at the end of the day, if this goes sideways, we are going to wear it, not the commission," Jensen said.
Derman questioned how the current treatment plan could be improved once the expert commission takes over.
Meanwhile, a group critical of the CRD's sewage plan said it plans to continue putting pressure on the committee. "There's a provincial election coming up next that will be a focus of our action," said Richard Atwell, organizer of Stopabadplan.ca.
"There will be a municipal election in two years ... and people aren't going to forgive these decisions if they aren't in their best interests."
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CFAX/STANFORD COMMENT ON BYELECTION (SEWAGE MENTION)
Frank Stanford
November 27 2012
Certainly I was delighted to see sewage treatment emerge as the most talked about issue in the Victoria by-election campaign...it's nice for once to have a legitimate local issue. But in the end, did anything turn on it?
No. If people had made their choice for Member of Parliament based on the candidates' views on a local giga project; if people had been truly angry about it, it would have been apparent in heavy turn-out at the advance polls.
Astute observers took note of the fact the early turn out was routine, and knew then that the issue that seemed to have every's tongues wagging was not really resonating. Therefore, the outcome would be as predicted at the outset.
It's a New Democrat riding, with a serious and growing Green presence. You knew the Green party would do well because there is no "strategic voting" element in a by-election. Nothing that Victorians did yesterday would affect the fact the Conservatives would have a majority government at the end of the day and the New Democrats would be the official opposition. So you might as well vote with your heart, and for a lot of folks that meant it was finally time to mark a ballot Green.
Astute observors also predicted 3rd and 4th places, in order. There are certainly a not inconsiderable number of Conservative supporters in Victoria. That Summerville, the Liberal, did not do better despite his being the most unequivocal pledge to stop the sewage treatment project was not an endorsation of the project as much as a formful outcome.
This is Frank Stanford
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LIBERAL PROUD OF HIS CAMPAIGN IN VICTORIA BY-ELECTION (SEWAGE MENTION)
Frank Stanford
November 27, 2012
Despite his 4th place showing, Liberal Paul Summerville has no regrets about his campaign strategy...that focused heavily on the scheme to treat sewage in Greater Victoria...
"We positioned an issue in this campaign that by all accounts, umm, forced the other campaigns to come to that issue and talk about it"
Summerville says Green candidate Donald Galloway enjoyed the support of a "very charismatic" party leader.
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BYELECTION SHOWS GREENS ARE STRONG (SEWAGE MENTION)
Les Leyne
Times Colonist
November 27, 2012
The nip-and-tuck race that Greens and New Democrats played through the early count in the Victoria byelection makes one thing clear.
The Green Party is for real. They may or may not hit a grand slam home run by actually winning the constituency and stealing it away from the NDP, but the party certainly hit a solid triple.
Candidate Donald Galloway, a University of Victoria professor who answered leader Elizabeth May's call almost on a whim, dogged the New Democratic Party's Murray Rankin through three hours of counting and traded the lead multiple times as the first few thousand votes were counted.
The conventional wisdom prior to the vote gave the race to Rankin, with most of the arguments centring on the ordering of the runners-up.
Instead, Greens kept pace with the NDP through three solid hours of counting, while the Liberals and Conservatives fell on their faces.
A nervous crowd of more than 100 New Democrats got periodic updates over the early going. Anxious calculations were the common reaction.
A few dozen Greens gathered at a Yates Street meeting place and greeted the numbers with increasing jubilation.
The early showing was a far cry from the last few performances by either party.
Former NDP MP Denise Savoie won three elections going back to 2006, increasing her count and her margin each time. She won 2011 with a simple majority, a rarity in multicandidate races. Some of that was attributable to the surge generated by the late Jack Layton.
That wave has crested in Victoria. And Greens polled between eight and 11 per cent over that period. But May is earning a national reputation from the neighbouring riding. And she threw everything into the race. It didn't go unnoticed that she was the only leader to pay a lot of attention to the local contest.
That contributed to Liberal Paul Summerville's poor showing. In the last election, Liberal candidate Christopher Causton finished well back, dragged down by the poor showing of former leader Michael Ignati-eff. Summerville's 12 per cent share in the early count shows the only thing worse than a poor leader is no leader at all.
Greens campaigned partly on the byelection advantage - nothing much turned on the result, so sympathizers would throw a vote their way without worrying about national implications.
A party official spelled it out last week: "The byelection will have no consequence on which party forms the government ... So you don't need to vote strategically based on who you don't want to form government.
"In other words, you can actually vote for the candidate that really represents your values, instead of using your vote to prevent a candidate that doesn't represent your values from being elected."
Around the same time, the NDP were mass emailing voters, warning them about the danger posed by the threat of electing the Conservative.
But Dale Gann finished well back.
It turns out the NDP were worried about the wrong opponent. There were mutterings at NDP headquarters that the federal Tories pulled a fast one in the late stages and urged their voters to go Green after reading the writing on the wall and seeing a loss was inevitable.
Analysis today will centre on whether the hot-button sewage treatment issue decided things.
Rankin was the only candidate to stand in favour of the expensive treatment plant that will jack homeowners' tax bills up by hundreds of dollars.
The Conservative abandoned his government's stand on treatment last week. The Liberal condemned it from the outset, and the Greens surprised many by engineering a careful flip-flop from previous years and coming out against the current plan.
Whether it was sewage treatment, the byelection freedom to vote as you please, or May's reputation, it turned the former fringe party into a solid performer Monday on turf the NDP used to own.
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END.
