Editor:
Re: All coal concerns addressed: port, Aug. 26.
On Nov. 3, 2009, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 per cent of BNSF it did not already own – a deal valued at $44 billion.
Later, there was a deal between Buffett and Jimmy Pattison, owner of Westshore Terminals, to ship dirty Wyoming coal out of B.C. These two key players apparently share the biggest chunk of the deal privately.
What we are left with, as mentioned in the article, is around 25 direct and 25 indirect jobs. In my opinion, a more reasonable share of the deal should be transferred to the region they use for transportation, as it affects us a lot. Instead, they give us fenced access to our promenade and may have all shoreline blocked up to the U.S. border. How convenient they avert attention towards ‘safety issues.’
The fencing they plan to progress will be primitive and ugly. And it still leaves track accessible to those who intend to get there.
Why doesn’t BSNF cover their track with plastic transparent tube, as they do in Japan, to efficiently address the trespassing and give a bit of modern view for protection?
People need to know that for sake of two shareholders’ interests, we get really nothing back – 25 jobs is a miserable part, considering they exploit our land, and affect the integrity of the region’s wellbeing.
Michael Volansky, Surrey