Vernon Needs Our Help

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Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00

Written by editor

When a community tells a resource extraction corporation ‘No!’, it should mean No!

Yet, less than a year after the Vernon community reached out to CodeBlue to help stop Tolko from clear cutting 500 meters above Duteau Creek, Vernon’s drinking water intake for 50,000 residents, Tolko is at it again!

In response to an action we set up last year that resulted in nearly 500 letters from Vernon residents sent to the Minister of Forests and the Vernon MLA, Tolko altered their plans for the cutblock. However, last week residents reached out to us again, as Tolko is requesting to log that same cutblock, this time 800 meters from the Greater Vernon water intake.

The North Okanagan Regional District still opposes this cutblock, as do community members, all of whom lack the decision-making power to stop this logging from occurring.

This cutblock could be potentially "catastrophic" if a debris flow or landslide were to be triggered and could end up costing Vernon residents more than $300 million spent on impacts to the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant.

Healthy British Columbians and clean water must take precedence over industry profit and local residents should have the power to decide what activities are occurring in their watersheds, and where.

Send a letter to the Minister of Forests, Katrine Conroy, who has the authority to stop this cut block and tell her to defend Vernon's drinking watershed now.

Your letter will also go to the following:

• Vernon MLA Harwinder Sandhu

• The city of Vernon

• The Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman

• Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship Josie Osborne

Join me and take action to defend Vernons watershed.

Thank you for speaking up,

Alyssa, on behalf of the CodeBlue BC Team

CodeBlue BC
http://www.codebluebc.ca/