I just want to thank all the caring and passionate Yukon people who participated in the two-day electric thermal storage workshop.
I have to admit, I was worried it was going to be a tense showdown between defensive utilities and enraged consumers who felt they had not been educated about the alternatives to Yukon Energy’s liquefied natural gas plans, with powerless government workers stuck in between.
But once again, the wonderful Yukon community modeled collaboration, inclusion, understanding and innovation in united affirmation that there are better ways to move forward and away from fossil fuels. I sat around the table with people across the spectrum of our community and we opened our minds to the possibilities and our hearts to each other’s struggles.
Energy affects us all. Not only do we all use it, need it, rely on it, but the type of energy we use affects our water, our air, our climate and our very ability to exist.
Around the table, looking at each other eye to eye, sharing our concerns, our hopes, we didn’t see the enemy, the miner, the environmentalist, the bureaucrat, the politician. We saw ourselves.
Most of all, I want to thank my caring community as well as my partner JP Pinard, who did not tell me last night that the Yukon Utilities Board had accepted Yukon Energy’s $40 million LNG project with no conditions. Our regulator had swallowed Yukon Energy’s LNG delusion hook, line and sinker.
Thanks to my friends withholding the utilities board decision, I had a night to bicycle under a beautiful full moon feeling full of promise for the future. I had a sound sleep feeling the peace of knowing the Yukon people were going to lead the way into a renewable energy future and the leaders would have no choice but to follow.
But then this morning, on this unforgettable blue morning, I booted up my email and learned the utilities board decision ignored all of the concerns; they had accepted all of Yukon Energy’s LNG game plan. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that there could be such a disconnect between humanity and the very Earth that it needs to survive!
What is it going to take to get our collective consciousness to realize that this is a finite planet?
I’ve been in town for the whole winter writing, filming and learning about this problem, and I just cannot do it anymore. I’m going home and I’m pretty sure the CEO of Yukon Energy will be relieved to hear that.
OK, Mr. Morrison, you won, you got your legacy, your LNG retirement plan. Now you could you please hurry up and retire and give me some peace?
Sally Wright
Kluane Lake