A group formed against allowing clearcutting in the Port Blandford area calls a recent appeal court ruling against them “upsetting” but say they won’t give up the fight.
The Citizens Against Clearcutting challenged the provincial government’s 2022-2026 harvesting plan, not once, but twice.
The group argued before the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador that the minister’s approval of clearcutting in Port Blandford and nearby Southwest River Valley was unreasonable because he failed to consider evidence of “significant public concern” that would have required an environmental assessment before the release of a five-year plan in 2022.
The minister disagreed that there was “significant public concern” and the panel of judges agreed that that decision was his to make.
The court ruled against the coalition and in favour of government.
A protest by residents of Port Blandford in 2018
Area residents vowed as far back as 2018 not to give up their fight to save the Southwest River Valley area from clearcutting.
Allan Hann of Citizens Against Clearcutting told VOCM Open Line that to suggest that there’s no “significant public concern” is absurd.
He says they’ve had standing-room only public meetings, petitions, media releases, a community boil-up and protests, but still the judge assessed the public concern “anemic.”
He says the initial court ruling gauged the level of public concern on an online public engagement session, something they appealed, but lost.
“They were looking at the 35-day window from EngageNL” a process that resulted in few, if any, responses.
Hann says he’s meeting with Ecojustice this Wednesday to discuss possible next steps.
