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Speedbump Judgment
Disappointing ruling in a Sierra Club lawsuit to protect a nationally Important Bird Area from a gas station. Sierra Comox Valley vows to protect Courtenay River estuary despite "speed bump".
The Supreme Court of BC on Thursday handed down the judgment in the Sierra Club of Canada case to protect the Courtenay River estuary from a gas station slated to be built on seismically unstable ground.
"We are disappointed but not discouraged" said Mike Bell, chair of Sierra Comox Valley.
"Our ultimate goal is to protect and preserve the Courtenay River Estuary. In this light the court decision is just a speed bump along the way."
Read the story in the Comox Valley Record.
In early 2008, the Comox Valley Regional District issued a development permit allowing a businessman to develop a gas station on the Dyke Road along the edge of the Courtenay River estuary. This is right in the middle of a high-risk earthquake area, only a few metres from the Courtenay River estuary - an ecologically sensitive area designated a Canadian “Important Bird Area”.
In August, Sierra Club of Canada took legal action to protect the estuary.
Sierra Comox Valley will continue their work to protect the estuary and have some more ideas for action. The group's executive will meet next week to consider their options.
"We will continue to oppose the development of a gas station on the Dyke Road. We are not going to go away - we are here for the long haul," Mike Bell said.
The Courtenay River Estuary has the second highest concentration of over-wintering waterfowl in BC, including the Trumpeter Swan, and has been designated a Canadian “Important Bird Area”—a site providing essential bird habitat that contains threatened species, endemic species and a highly exceptional concentration of birds.
