Save Our Shorelines
Posted September 13, 2018 at 5:49 am by Tim Dustrude
Here’s a note from Safe Shippers…
Proudly, our San Juan County Council Members recently joined their Canadian counterparts, the Islands Trust Council, in calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to abandon the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project, once and for all. As Safe Shippers well know, if approved, this project would increase tanker traffic by 700% and could bring irreparable harm to our commonly shared Salish Sea. You can read their letter here.
Let’s say Thank You to our Council Members for standing up for our fragile marine environment, our economy, the Southern Resident Killer Whales, and all of us who call these islands home.
While we are saying thank you, we need to urge our county lawmakers to take action right here in San Juan County. Our County Council Members need our encouragement now, while they are in the Shoreline Master Program (SMP) update compliance process. Ask them to protect the critically endangered orca by protecting the Chinook salmon they need more of to eat, and the forage fish that feed the salmon, and the shorelines that provide forage fish and juvenile Chinook salmon habitats.
Please tell Council Members:
- Thank you for opposing the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion in support of the Southern Residents and all of us who call these islands home!
- Please fulfill your requirement to update the SMP to ensure no net loss of our shorelines’ ecological functions that the Southern Resident orcas depend on for their food, including meaningful analysis of the cumulative effects of development on shoreline conditions.
Contact San Juan County Council:
- Bill Watson: [email protected]; (360) 370-7473
- Rick Hughes: [email protected]; (360) 298-5103
- Jamie Stephens: [email protected]; (360) 378-2898
Thank you, Safe Shippers! This is our county’s chance to do what is needed to provide food for the orca’s survival.
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More info:
The importance of shorelines and other actions we can take to protect them:
http://sanjuans.org/action-center/
http://sanjuans.org/2018/08/15/smp-hearing/
The SMP Appeals and the Growth Management Board Decision:
Petitions, Briefs and the Final Decision and Order
https://www.sanjuanco.com/1505/SMP-Appeal
State Upholds San Juan County’s Shoreline Master Program
http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/news/state-upholds-san-juan-countys-shoreline-master-program/
Islands Trust opposition to Trans Mountain project:
http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/trust-council/advocacy/opposition-to-trans-mountain/
Trans Mountain Pipeline in the news:
August 30, 2018. Canadian court quashes approval to build pipeline
August 31, 2018. Canada buys pipeline from Kinder Morgan
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San Juan Islanders for Safe Shipping is a diverse group of San Juan Islands’ citizens who call these islands home. We are united in our concern about the likely adverse impacts to our economy and our environment from the increase of vessel traffic and the transport of fossil fuels through the Salish Sea.
https://islandersforsafeshipping.org
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Categories: Animals, Environment, Government, Nature, Wildlife
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