UNESCO Can Revoke World Heritage Site Status

Though it is rare, it has happened. On June 28, 2007 Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary (Oryx is a kind of antelope) had its World Heritage status revoked. Oman had greatly reduced the size of the park and UNESCO decided this diminished the park’s value (source). UNESCO's reason for this being the Omani government's decision to open 90% of the site to oil prospecting.

In today's Telegram Bill Callahan writes that Gros Morne status could be reconsidered. That's very real.

According to UNESCO.org, "The World Heritage Committee deleted the property because of Oman's decision to reduce the size of the protected area by 90%, in contravention of the Operational Guidelines of the Convention. This was seen by the Committee as destroying the outstanding universal value of the site which was inscribed in 1994."

64 km of up to 600 feet wide of clear cutting through Gros Morne would hideously scar a key characteristic which qualified the park for World Heritage Site consideration in the first place, pristine beauty. UNESCO has already sent a message to developers not to tamper with such designated sites, but Gros Morne could be considered in the future to be removed from World Heritage Site status. Don't forget Mealy Mountains in Labrador. NALCOR's plans involves mauling part of that park as well.

In recent weeks this blog has posted a few graphical conceptions of how towers across our parks would look, and for a real eye opener, here's a St. John's version with wires and towers providing the icing on top. Transmission lines and steel towers don't mix well with UNESCO World Heritage Sites, it is transmitting the wrong message.

NALCOR Plan for Transmission Line To St. John's

There should be no opposition to this, or the transmission line through Mealy Mountains National Park, or Gros Morne National Park. It's all good, hey b'y!

NL National Parks - Yours to Discover, Ours to Ruin

We have Have status - off equalization for now, and have a World Heritage Site, and another proposed. We cold lose both stati&trade if transmission lines ru(i)n through a couple of spectacular national parks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

A vision of what could be.Proposed transmission lines through Gros Morne and Mealy Mountains (a proposed World Heritage Site) National Parks. It does not Have to be!

Transmission Trouble

People describe the drive through world heritage Gros Morne National Park as out of this world. However, if NALCOR's plan to run heavy power lines through the park gets the go light you might look up to see other unheavenly sights. Viewer feedback on Here & Now indicated that people want to see a reverse on this otherwise standard transmission plan, automatically.

Premier Gets a Bumpy Reception in Labrador

It's not surprising that Premier Williams and the Minister for Labrador Affairs, and Transportation, John Hickey, were put on the defensive regarding the province's energy plan. People, including mayor Leo Abbass of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, residents, and local councils, oppose Williams' plan to run the Lower Churchill transmission line to the island portion of the province.

"So what's going to happen is that industries are going to look more to Newfoundland than Labrador to set up because there's not going to be no grid or anything for industry to set up to get cheap power," said resident William Burden

Williams' response was "When it comes to this new power, I can tell you categorically that that industry is going to be here in Labrador." (see CBC article. The report did not say whether the Premier elaborated with further details, but the assumption may be, not.)

Yvonne Jones, Liberal critic for Natural Resources, also spoke out against the Williams' plan for the Lower Churchill energy. She also reminded listeners on VOCM this morning, as has been repeatedly made known by the highly researched, and incisive WJM, that very little progress has been made on the Trans Labrador Highway, despite many pronouncements and promises from Minister Hickey, that more much of the TLH would have been completed by this time. WJM and others have pointed out that there were/are plenty of words, and pronouncements that sound good, but have been misleading, and failed to deliver.

It will be interesting to see if Hickey can hold onto his seat given his record among Labradorians.

Historical and Geographical Speed Bumps

For the Williams government, the disgraceful deal struck with Quebec in the 1960's on the Upper Churchill, and hence the physical existence of Quebec itself, are the major impediments to the Lower Churchill development. The Upper Churchill development was a lopsided Quebec-winning absurd deal. The federal government at the time did not intervene to assist Newfoundland and Labrador in getting a fairer deal. It has often been said that Quebec threatened separation if the federal government intervened to allow NL to build transmission access across Quebec, therefore, NL was left with little choice but to go by PQ and Hydro Quebec rules for development. That is the injury that every premier since Smallwood has not wanted to suffer again. Williams doesn't want to repeat that. Unfortunately, our province is low on options. Dean MacDonald of NL Hydro recently said that undersea electrical transmission route for Lower Churchill power was a realistic option, but Simon provides some information to make that claim sound doubtful and disappointing.

Ontario wants the clean energy power, but Quebec is in the way.

"We have an air quality problem. We have a need for new power. We think the east-west energy grid is the railroad of the 21st century." - Dwight Duncan, Ontario Energy Minister.

It still seems unclear how the project will be financed. Will the federal government give NL loans to "go it alone", or will, Hydro Quebec, Allah forbid, be involved again to finance it? Of course, there are other proposals out there, that has so far been rejected by Williams. In any case, what would the deal look like now in the likely case of going across Quebec? What will the cost be of using Quebec territory again? It would be a great time for the federal government to intervene this time to help Newfoundland and Labrador be compensated for the ludricous deal that gave Quebec virtually all benefits from the Upper Churchill.