First the BC provincial government announced that all forests in BC -- including old-growth rainforests -- were "open for business". More recently, the same government announced that they would begin logging in provincial parks to stop the pine beetle infestation -- a move that was criticized for having little to no effect on the beetles.

Now, the BC government has announced plans to remove 1,000 hectares of land from Graham-Laurier provincial park for oil and gas exploration. According to an article on Canada.com, the government went ahead with this decision without consulting stakeholders in the area.

Okay, I wanted to just report this on my blog for everyone to read, but now I feel a good ol' rant coming on. What is with these ignorant, short-sighted, money-grubbing bastards? Since they won the election, we've seen nothing but a stream of self-serving legislation that essentially screws over everyone for some immediate money-making scheme for private business.

Yes, Premier Campbell, you could rape the land for its resources and the province would be moderately more wealthy... for a couple of decades. Then what? Then we live in a polluted wasteland and the world will be without hundreds of species of animals and plants, and what precious little forest will be gone, and the world will be that much closer to cooking itself in a greenhouse of carbon dioxide.

Don't try to tell us that the forests are being managed and replanted. In the terminology of the forest industry, "forest management" means systematically replacing old-growth, natural forests with artificially planted stands of trees. You can't plant an ecosystem. Replanting trees just gives you a really big farm.

I'm simply stunned by the level of unabashed greed and inhumanity exhibited by this government as a whole. The only thing more disgusting to me than this travesty of a government is that British Columbians were stupid enough to elect them in the first place, and they'll probably re-elect them next time around, because I live in a province of red-necks and greedy businessmen.

Link: Canada.com: "B.C. to open 1,000-hectare corridor through park west of Fort St. John for oil and gas exploration"