Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ingmar Lee, Andrea Morison, Janine Bandcroft August 12, 2015

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

The oil spill disaster, when it comes, can't be ascribed to "the weather," "bad luck," or an "Act of God." Its absolutely predictable arrival is due to the system of moving oil and oil derivative products in and through BC waters currently in place.

That precarious fact was illustrated again on August 5th when a barge loaded with 60,000 litres of diesel and gasoline hit the rocks in Surge Narrows, just off Campbell River. The Coast Guard was able in this instance to "race to the scene" to extricate the floundered barge before the surge tide came, and avert certain disaster.

Kudos to the Coast Guard this time; but, can they be expected to pull it off every time?

Ingmar Lee is a long-time environmental defender, whose efforts to save the forests and watershed ecosystems of Vancouver Island stretch back more than decade.

Listen. Hear.

Ingmar was among the few who took to the trees in the iconic Cathedral Grove, remaining for two years while the law, loggers, and MacMillan Bloedel threatened them every way they could. The fact the Grove remains is due in great part to he and his "outlaw" cohorts. Between campaigns like Cathedral Grove, fighting the destruction of the suburban forest to make way for highways in Langford, scaling the BC Legislature flag pole to garner press in opposition to the Enbridge pipeline scheme, and dismantling seismic explosives in the heart of Sandhill Crane nesting grounds, Ingmar earned a degree in environmental science from the University of Victoria.

Today, he's warning of the present and imminent dangers posed to coastal ecosystems by free-booting, regulation-evading oil transshipment companies, and the failure of government to perform its due diligence to protect the marine environment and the creatures dependent upon it.

Ingmar Lee in the first half.

And; last month, hundreds came out to the annual Paddle for the Peace demonstration of solidarity in opposition to the proposed Site-C Dam on the Peace River. Despite the widespread public opposition to the project in the Peace River Valley, logging crews got busy cutting down trees along the footprint of the proposed site. And, to add insult to injury, as CBC Radio reported Monday, local loggers were frozen out, forestry jobs instead being contracted to out-of-towners.

Meanwhile, the upcoming Union of BC Municipalities Convention will debate at least one resolution dealing with Site-C and the freezing out of the BC Utilities Commission on the controversial project.

Andrea Morison is spokesperson for the PVEA, Peace Valley Environmental Association. She holds a Masters of Natural Resource Management degree and has worked in that field in both Ontario and BC for more than 25 years; the last four years of which has been devoted to the PVEA's involvement with the environmental assessment process for Site-C

Andrea Morison testing the power of resistance to one mega-project too many on the Peace in the second half.

And; Victoria Street Newz publisher emeritus and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us news of the coming week on our city's streets, and beyond there too. But first, Ingmar Lee and running to ground an oil industry increasingly running aground.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.