International Town Hall Meeting

The Georgia Strait Alliance is hosting an international town hall meeting taking place simultaneously on both sides of the strait next week. Wednesday, August 21 at noon, be on the beach at Arbutus Cove in the suburban Saanich neighbourhood of Victoria BC -- or over on the American side if that's closer to home. The agenda is a public discussion of the proposed route for oil tankers to carry oil from the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
The issue of oil tankers in our home waters is an important one for kayakers and other small boat users -- get information to make yourself informed.
I'll correct the GSA note below with the information that Arbutus Cove is accessed by Arbutus Cove Lane off Gordon Head Road or by a footpath off Arbutus Road near its intersection with Gordon Head Road. There is a small sign at the top of the steep footpath and stairs. The closest BC Transit bus route is #12 and both the #27 and the #11 get you a few blocks from the beach access. Wear shoes you can walk in, and bring a jacket even if the day is warm, as Arbutus Cove can be cool even on a hot day. The nearest public restroom and drinking water would be at the University of Victoria or at Cadboro Bay Road and Sinclair Road.

From the GSA website http://wildernesscommittee.org/latest, we quote:

Cross-border Town Hall Meeting: Could the Salish Sea Become a Climate Change Highway?

August 21, 12 noon, Greater Victoria

Arbutus Cove Park, Arbutus Cove Lane, Saanich (off Gordon Head Road on the 12, 13, + 27 BC Transit routes)
Join us for an international town hall meeting, taking place simultaneously on either side of the Kinder Morgan tar sands tanker route through the Salish Sea near Victoria, BC and on San Juan Island, WA.
Kinder Morgan’s plan to build a new tar sands pipeline to the coast and proposals to increase coal shipments from ports on the Lower Mainland and the US could turn the Salish Sea into a major corridor for fossil fuel exports. A massive increase in tanker and coal ship traffic would drastically raise the threat of a catastrophic oil spill that would devastate the marine environment, coastal communities, and the regional economy. The ocean, the marine life it supports, and our shared atmosphere that are all threatened by these proposals don’t recognize the Canada-US border. In our opposition to these shortsighted, climate-changing projects and our advocacy for a better, cleaner future, we must also treat the Salish Sea as a single region, and that means organizing across jurisdictional boundaries.
Join us on August 21 to learn more about fossil fuel export proposals that will affect the Salish Sea, what’s happening on both sides of the border to protect this region, and how you can get involved.

Presented by Wilderness Committee, Georgia Strait Alliance and (in the US) Friends of the San Juans.
Contact for more info: torrance@wildernesscommittee.org / 250-516-9900