Tree-hugger 101

Eddie and the other levels of Government should learn to make nice with tree-huggers! While being friendly is the right thing to do , politicians should understand that environmentalists have vast resources and people they can draw upon across North America to make politicians'lives hell. And they do NOT go away. They can get out their numbers in short order and have the facility to inundate with letters, emails and phone calls.

There is no doubt that if my City EA BLOG is correct, then Ojibway is at risk. Everyone knows it and knows that there will be a war. I hope the Mayor and Council understand the consequences in an election year of holding an EA where the target is Ojibway even if it is an underground tunnel.

The whole debate is becoming absurd when pollution control devices on trucks and new fuels are being developed.

Politically, there will be games played to try and split the ranks of the environmentalists...like the Green Party endorsing Schwartz. I would be shocked if anyone in the Green Movement would fall for that this time around.

Here is a letter sent to the Carolinian Canada Newsletter that proves my point. Note the tunnel reference.

• Lorraine Johnson
  Editor, Carolinian Canada newsletter
  
  Dear Ms. Johnson:
  
  I read your fine article in the Spring edition of Carolinian Canada about the impact of a truck bypass in Ojibway Complex in west Windsor. One particular statement leaped off the page. The mayor of Windsor "does not rule out a tunnel underneath a portion of Ojibway." This has been his mantra since the release of the Schwartz Report in January 2005.
  
  Notwithstanding the fact that the federally financed Cansult Report released in 2005 declared tunneling too expensive ($300 million), any truck route incursion would damage important ecosystems found in the Ojibway Prairie Remnants Area of Natural and
  Scientific Interest (ANSI). It consists of Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve, Ojibway Park Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park, Black Oak Heritage Park and Spring Garden Natural Area.
  
  As Carolinian Canada is aware, these lands are special because they contain the last and largest remnants of the original landscape of this region. What is found
  here is found nowhere else. It has richer biodiversity than Walpole Island, Point Pelee or Pelee Island.
  
  Rare animals and birds take refuge in this ecosystem. Over 117 plants considered species at risk thrive in this remarkable ecosystem. Governments at all levels
  and private conservation organizations have cooperated to identify, purchase and protect the Ojibway Complex.
  
  Some fear the tunneling suggestion will result in a "compromise"---a road at grade level. This too would be devastating to the Complex ecosystem. Any route whether above or below these areas would impact them by changing the water table and damaging root systems, setting aside all the devastation of the construction process itself.
  
  Finally, substantial expenditures of public money have been made in order to protect these environmentally sensitive areas from development by their former owners. For the public sector to implement the Schwartz proposal would be a gross violation of public trust.
  
  Best wishes to you and the staff at Carolinian Canada.
  
  Yours for a better environment,
  
  Public Advisory Council of the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup