[LookOutSugarLake] Kokanee Resort Development - Sugar Lake

[Eveline Wolterson]

I have been monitoring the information and feedback to this development
since I last emailed to you my opposition to this.  It's clear now that
several agencies, at least two local governments, and many of the
residents in the area have concerns with how the development is
proceeding, but that you and BC Environment are not prepared to support
or even respond to those concerns.

I also understand that one of BC Environment's chief concerns is that
the sewage discharge is a regulated activity, under the BC governments
results-based regulatory regime.  In this case, the regulation, the
Municipal Sewage Regulation, and how it is supposed to work is being
challenged because of concerns identified in other nearby communities
(Shuswap and Okanagan Lakes) and because Sugar Lake is currently a
pristine environment.  

With respect, I remind you that the MSR requires an EIA process that
analyses and suggests management strategies for potential impacts from a
sewage discharge.  This has been done, but the EIA assumed, as is usual,
that the development is a single discharge and does not need to consider
the cumulative effect of the discharge  - i.e. what is the impact on
Sugar Lake, the Shuswap, and downstream lakes and rivers, of this
discharge if it is added to other either existing or possible future
discharges (these can be from point sources, such as the Lumby sewage
treatment plant, marinas, or perhaps a future resort development, as
contemplated here, and non-point sources, such as boating, golf courses,
forestry and range activities, agriculture, stormwater, and multiple
residential septic systems).  

Scientists and environmental policy makers now widely agree that this
conventional EIA process suffers from a lack of credibility, since it is
largely concerned with single-project development.  It does not address
the management of cumulative effects associated with multiple
developments.  

Cumulative effects assessment is recognised as a major challenge to
scientific predictive modelling on which policies are developed.
Decision makers are starting to realise that, as the pace and scale of
development increase, impacts can extend far beyond the influence of
individual activities. To some extent, ecological and social systems can
adapt to these influences, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that
cumulative effects associated with multiple activities can create
irreversible changes that are different from those caused by any single
activity or impact.

Your own government recognises the cumulative effects issue.  Decision
makers want to know, for example, how many new salmon farms can a marine
ecosystem support without impact; or how many new heli-skiing operations
can an alpine area support, without impacting the tourist values of
existing operations.  

I encourage you to consider the impacts of this development, not only as
a single development (and we're not only talking sewage, but also noise,
light, marina related impacts, traffic concerns, among others), but also
in the context of the cumulative developments that exist and are
emerging in the entire Okanagan and Shuswap basins.  You are aware, I am
sure, that the Okanagan and Shuswap regions are facing huge development
pressure, and environmental impacts have occurred at great cost to
taxpayers: for enhanced waste water treatment, improved fresh water
treatment, restricted agriculture practice, shoreline protection and
enhancement, storm-water management, health concerns related to poor air
quality, loss of green space and wildlife habitat, and impacts on food
security.  Sugar Lake currently is at the end of this development chain,
relatively pristine, and thus has huge recreational and habitat values.


It is your and our choice - we either protect those values through smart
growth or allow this development to proceed as currently contemplated,
changing the area forever and settting the precedent to enter into the
same development cycle that is now plaguing other regions under your
political jurisdiction.

I understand you are meeting with NORD and some of your local
constituent citizens to discuss this issue on Monday.  I hope you will
consider what I have said above. and trust you will be able to at least
acknowledge to those attending the meeting that the development has to
be delayed until the concerns of agencies, local governments and
residents have been addressed.  


Kind regards,

Eveline Wolterson, 925 Shuswap River Drive, Lumby, BC

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