Updated: Sun Jan. 25 2009 18:44:32
www.ctvbc.ca
Environmentalists are crying foul that construction of a major
transportation route near Burns Bog is putting an endangered rodent in
peril.
And if the rules established in a recent court judgment apply,
destroying the habitat of the red-backed vole to make way for B.C.'s
Gateway Project could lead to huge fines and even jail time, said Susan
Jones of the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee.
"It's disgusting what they're doing," she told CTV News. "It's the
habitat for this subspecies, and they're about to trash it."
But supporters of the project say it's been through all necessary
environmental reviews, and the province can't afford to delay it any
longer.
"The process has to move now," said Paul Landry of the B.C. Trucking
Association.
The red-backed vole is so rare it was thought to be extinct until
several of them were discovered near Progress Way and 80th Avenue in
Delta a few years ago.
That's along the route of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, one of many
roads designed to link ports south of the Fraser River with highways to
ease congestion and make it easier to transport goods by truck.
In 2004, a private company dumped construction materials nearby, and it
was the destruction of the voles' habitat that moved the judge to punish
Alpha Manufacturing with a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars and
jail time.
"It is a death sentence for the bog (which is) home to at least three
endangered species, including the red-backed vole," said Judge R.D.
Miller at the time.
Jones says the government should think twice -- because if it destroys
the habitat, they could be liable for the same punishment.
"There's two different rules, one for the government and one for the
public," said Jones.
"Build the road somewhere else, don't destroy the Burns Bog habitat,
especially habitat that's irreplaceable," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward