Bellingham Comments from Digital Recorder - EISs for the Proposed ...

GATEWAY PACIFIC TERMINAL EIS SCOPING HEARING VOL. I
COURT REPORTER: GWEN BRASS PROCEEDING DATE: October 27, 2012
Page 24
resource for our endangered chinook salmon, which is the
mainstay of our endangered Orcas. No creature better
symbolizes -- we cannot imperil, therefore, in that study for
Gateway Pacific, BP, and all the oil carrying into Canada must
be included in the environmental impact statements.
Now, I presume if I found this study, you guys have
this study.
MS. HULL: Thank you.
THE SPEAKER: I'm James Wells.
You have heard and you're going to continue to hear a
lot about many impacts people are very concerned about. The
question is compared to what? Is the baseline question. One
concern that I have is that this proposal might be compared to
other theoretical projects that themselves would create
degradation. It could create the perception that this project
is only, say, marginally worse than some other thing we might
imagine might occur.
So the starting point is the project must take full
responsibility for all the impacts that it does create. And
further, because the coal ports and the west coast are choke
points, then there's a clear connection. It's causal. There's
coal that would not be mined, that would not be moved, that
would not be loaded, that would not be shipped except for this
coal export terminal. There's very clear because of its choke
point nature.