NEWS RELEASE posted on November 25, 2010 by edoherty
Lawsuit Launched against Gateway Freeway
For Immediate Release:
LAWSUIT LAUNCHED OVER ROAD CONSTRUCTION ON BURNS BOG
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 – Delta, B.C. – The Burns Bog Conservation Society announced today that it has delivered a statement of claim to Federal court office. The Society claims that the Federal Government has violated the conservation covenant to protect Burns Bog.
“The construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road will have a significant impact to the health and well being of residents, plants and animals alike,” said Eliza Olson, President, Burns Bog Conservation Society. “Our Governments have failed to conduct a thorough and credible analysis of the environmental impact of paving a highway through Burns Bog, over valuable farmland, and along the Fraser River.”
The freeway will cause irreparable harm to critical habitats of the Fraser delta including the bog,farmland, and the forests and wetlands located in Surrey and North Delta. As such, Burns Bog Conservation Society, with a grant from West Coast Environmental Law, has hired Vancouver lawyer Jay Straith to advocate on their behalf.
“The governments have failed to honour their commitment to protect Burns Bog under a Conservation Covenant and Management Plan signed by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and the Corporation of Delta,” said lawyer Jay Straith. “They must be held accountable fortheir actions and negligence.
Further, the Federal Government has violated public trust, and ignored their fiduciary duty to protect the environment, by carrying out the development of the South Fraser Perimeter Road. The development contravenes the laws outlined in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Federal Species at Risk Act in the following ways:
• Fails to ensure that the Federal Environmental Assessment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road was considered in a careful and precautionary manner, to avoid adverse environmental effects
• Fails to disclose the use of Federal lands for the purpose of enabling the project to be carried out
• Fails to protect endangered species such as the Pacific Water Shrew
• Fails to meet the legal requirement of assessing the overall cumulative effects of the South FraserPerimeter Road, in combination with related Gateway Projects such as the Delta Port expansion and Golden Ears Bridge.
It’s not too late for our governments to do the right thing.
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For more information, please contact:
Eliza Olson
President of the Burns Bog Conservation Society
604-572-0373
info@burnsbog.org
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