Editor:
Many years ago and together with a friend, I met with two local business owners over the proposed expansion of one of their businesses. This expansion had a great negative impact on the ecology of Banff National Park, as it brought more tourists, more cars, more consumption, more pollution and more highway-related deaths to our precious wildlife.
During that meeting, I turned to them and asked, likely with a high degree of frustration in my voice, “but why?” They looked at one another, then back to me and said “Because that’s what we do.” That is probably the most honest answer they could have given me. It made me realize they will do or say whatever possible to get their projects approved, while it is the responsibility of our authorities to either approve or disapprove such requests.
So, if the Waterous’, our mayor and most council members tell you the redevelopment of the railway lands will reduce carbon emissions and environmental impacts, I am wondering who else can see the green-wash behind it. How on earth can a new mega-project of this scale that includes new restaurants, retail stores, housing and intercept parking have a positive impact on our environment in a town already over-crowded and maxed out?
When the Town of Banff signed the incorporation agreement so many years ago, they agreed to uphold the ecological values of the national park. How does any of this, including a new parking lot inside the wildlife corridor on the north side of the tracks, which should never even be on the table to begin with, result in upholding such values?
This whole plan is nothing short of absurd and corrupt towards the very nature that feeds us all. Cumulative impacts of other proposed projects in the valley are certainly a huge concern, but this railway lands project by itself is alarming enough.
It is exactly this more and more mentality that killed Nakoda (bear No. GB178) and so many other bears. No matter what alternative energy sources or other misleading false arguments we will use down the road to cloud up the reality of such destructive actions, if we don’t start talking about limits to human use and numbers, an idea not present anywhere in these plans, we will continue to lose our precious wildlife that we all greatly benefit from.
We must start to realize we cannot continue to push our economic agenda against all odds and at the same time hope somehow our kids will be able to enjoy clean water, air and soil, intact functioning ecosystems and maybe a grizzly bear or two in the future.
Reno Sommerhalder,
Banff
