"to refute the incredible lies which pass for “truth” or “news” in the blogosphere, that often never receive a well-earned rebuttal (and in some cases a well-deserved beating).”AGT
Translation: to make up his own truths and make sure the NDP are alluded to in any wrogdoing. Gary E
The self righteous wannabe blogger AGT has banned me from his sight.
This pompous ass seems to want to use the threat of lawsuits against people who have a different opinion than he does.
He reminds me a the typical little boy who owns the football and syas "it's my ball and we'll play by my rules or I'll take away the ball. Wah, wah.
But before I was banned, and I knew it would happen, I asked him a simple question about his name being on any deeds for Britannia Minesite Properties. Following is his reply:
3) My former ownership of Britannia Beach is a matter of public record. I was President of Copper Beach Estates and owned every share until I partnered up with the now late Ian Hagemoen–then he became President and I was soon thereafter bought out (happily!). As for the ‘Millenium Plug’, we did it with the equal partnership of Dr. John Meech (a wonderful guy!) and Dr. Brennan Lang (another wonderful guy!) from CERM 3 at my old alma mater UBC )+(who were fabulously co-operative). It was HIGHLY effective, but the enviro-fascists in the Ministry of Water, Land and Air thought we were in the parks business and made unreasonable demands, eventually saddling the taxpayer with a bill for over $100M for remediation. We, on the other hand, offered to pay the govt $20M of a reasonably estimated $28.5M dollar bill (we actually hired AMEC and they did the study just after cleaning up the World Trade Center Towers site, post-bin Laden). But the bureaucrats, as they are want to do, went OVERBOARD on clean-up proposals and screwed the taxpayer, all through our objections as owners.
So I decided to actually look up some records in the public domain. Some of which I already had the answers
On Dec.7 2001 Agt lost control of his company
Letter to the Editor The Chief Sep 8, 2004
....[snip]"At the same time these projects began, Copper Beach Estates had emerged from
receivership, but still carried considerable debt. The company could not be considered
viable and sustainable by any reasonable measure. It continued to operate the town, but
on a caretaker basis only, with little regard for the long-term needs of its tenants. CBEL
had been in default on its mortgage since 1992 and the stability of any remediation
agreement between CBEL and the government was uncertain. Past experience with the
company regarding site remediation did not provide much trust or hope. There was need
for this situation to change should the remediation be implemented with confidence"....[snip]
From UBC Urban Studio Fall 2003
.
Running From Responsibility - An estimated 1.2 billion dollars has been extracted from the land
and mine. Following closure of the mines, ownership flipped from Anaconda to ARCO to Copper
Beach Estates. Previous owners of the mine were sent remediation orders from the provincial
government, yet they continued to evade responsibility. In 1990, Copper Beach Estates sold an
uncontaminated portion of the land for $14.8 million, none of which went towards remediation.
However, several years later Copper Beach proposed to cover remediation costs by charging fees
to dump contaminated soil into the open pits. It was hoped that filling the open mines wouldreduce exposure to air and water, and mitigate the toxic discharge leaching through the mines. In
1999, the developer proposed to Britannia residents that he would give them clear title to the land
their homes rested on in exchange for their consent to the proposal. This was attractive to the
residents, since the land has always been company-owned and many were otherwise unable to
afford property. However, the community strongly voiced their distrust of the developer’s
intentions and wanted to be involved in a democratic process. Copper Beach Estates then went
bankrupt and the land became the subject of court battles. In the meantime, UBC Engineeringinstalled the ‘Millennium Plug’ to block toxic effluent from entering Howe Sound. In 2001 the
provincial government released all former owners of liability in exchange for $30 million, in an out
of court settlement. Remediation costs have been estimated at $75 million or more. Ownership
reverted to Rob Macdonald when Copper Beach Estates defaulted on their mortgage, owing him
over $17 million. Macdonald then decided to donate all but 202 ha of the land to the province, 162ha of which he intends to develop. A portion of profits from the development will be spent on
remediation. The provincial government is also seeking remediation funds from Ottawa, since the
mines operated as federal crown corporation during WWI and WWII.
Community Strength – The estimated 400 residents of Britannia share a love of the landscape,
and know all of their neighbours, and their neighbours’ pets. Doors are left unlocked. Due to the
circumstances of ownership, they do not have any political representation, but they want to be
involved in a democratic process of determining the future of Britannia.
On Aug. 18, Macdonald's numbered company, 400091 British Columbia Ltd., was granted an order by B.C. Supreme Court Justice John Sigurdson, awarding the firm ownership of the Britannia lands.
The court had pronounced an order of foreclosure on the private property after the former owners, Copper Beach Estates Ltd., defaulted on a first mortgage held by Macdonald, who was owed more than $17 million.Excluding mineral rights, the 4,047 hectares of land had an appraised value of $10.2 million.
While signing over title to most of the property to the B.C. government -- the deal closed Tuesday -- Macdonald indicated he intends to redevelop about 162 hectares, probably for residential uses.
So we see Mr Meech has a different take on this. Hegemoen sued. And MacDonald forclosed on a defaulted mortgage being owed 17 Million And the people of Britannia Beach couldn't trust Mr. Wonderful.
I wonder if Alex knows the law about dumping toxic waster on or near a waterway?
All this from the public record that Tsakumis is so proud of.
Too bad I can't debate Alex on this. Because as long as he is banning me from his sight I am banning him from mine. Fair is fair Alex.
ps: there is a heck of a lot more information out in the public domain pertaining to Britannia's remediation, the townsight, and the trials and tribulations of the residents.
