Editor:
Opinion letters such as the one submitted by Mr. Cloherty (Aug. 9) express concerns about “wasting taxpayers’ dollars” on the Sue Big Oil campaign. Criticism of taxes is a familiar refrain and it should not be a surprise that the taxation issue has come to the forefront for some Coast Reporter readers. However, it would be helpful if letter writers like Mr. Cloherty included in their letters their view on the big issue––climate change. After following stories of towns destroyed in part (Jasper) or in total (Lytton) by fire in recent years, we should all be concerned about the costs arising from extreme weather and the warming atmosphere. Supporters of SBO have made the connection between these costs and climate change––climate change caused in large part by burning fossil fuels. After reading Mr. Cloherty’s letter, I then went ahead three pages to an article “Drought-stressed trees more likely to fall on power lines,” a report that connects drought and “changing climate.” I learned that BC Hydro’s budget for managing vegetation climbed from $50 million annually (2012) to $75 million in 2024 and that cost is projected to rise to $150 million a year by 2026. A $1 allocation of tax revenue to support a class action suit that would hold the fossil fuel corporations accountable for the damage and costs that we’ve seen arising from climate change seems like an affordable approach. If Mr. Cloherty has any doubts about climate change science and its denial by “Big Oil,” I suggest reading the section of John Vaillant’s “Fire Weather” book entitled “the Reckoning.”
Sincerely,
Dave Diether
Gibsons
