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BC should keep Shell’s gas drills out of the Sacred Headwaters for good: Skeena Swimmer
One year after the BC government put a moratorium on Shell’s coalbed methane drilling project in northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters, support for permanently protecting the area remains strong.
That’s what southern British Columbians are hearing this week from Ali Howard, the 33-year-old who in August became the first person to swim the length of the 610-kilometre Skeena River. Howard is in Vancouver and Victoria presenting a multimedia show of her trip.
“Our communities applauded the government’s move to put a drilling moratorium in place last year,” said Howard. “Now, with our province in the global spotlight, the BC government has the perfect opportunity to implement permanent safeguards for this remarkable area.”
The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers – three of British Columbia’s most important wild salmon rivers. Shell wants to drill over 1,000 coalbed methane gas wells in the Headwaters’ sensitive subalpine ecosystem, which residents fear will harm wildlife and salmon spawning habitat.
“Northwest residents have clearly demonstrated that they will not allow a project such as Shell’s to proceed under any circumstances,” said Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “Permanent safeguards for the Headwaters would be welcomed by a broad cross section of our communities.”
This is a message Howard heard many times over the course of her historic swim.
Read More: Here
.
BC should keep Shell’s gas drills out of the Sacred Headwaters for good: Skeena Swimmer
One year after the BC government put a moratorium on Shell’s coalbed methane drilling project in northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters, support for permanently protecting the area remains strong.
That’s what southern British Columbians are hearing this week from Ali Howard, the 33-year-old who in August became the first person to swim the length of the 610-kilometre Skeena River. Howard is in Vancouver and Victoria presenting a multimedia show of her trip.
“Our communities applauded the government’s move to put a drilling moratorium in place last year,” said Howard. “Now, with our province in the global spotlight, the BC government has the perfect opportunity to implement permanent safeguards for this remarkable area.”
The Sacred Headwaters is the shared birthplace of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine Rivers – three of British Columbia’s most important wild salmon rivers. Shell wants to drill over 1,000 coalbed methane gas wells in the Headwaters’ sensitive subalpine ecosystem, which residents fear will harm wildlife and salmon spawning habitat.
“Northwest residents have clearly demonstrated that they will not allow a project such as Shell’s to proceed under any circumstances,” said Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition. “Permanent safeguards for the Headwaters would be welcomed by a broad cross section of our communities.”
This is a message Howard heard many times over the course of her historic swim.
Read More: Here
.
