This morning I ran in to someone who actually likes to read my not-so-consistent column and he asked why I hadn’t written anything lately. I responded with, “Nothing’s really made me that mad lately.” Then I opened up the Tribune website and there it was … inspiration!

So here’s a big thank you to David Williams and the Friends of Nemaiah Valley for curing my writer’s block. Once again, another misinformed, arrogant, and poorly delivered left hook from way out in left field. Please forgive the mixed metaphor. Anyway, Darren, this one’s for you.

As staunch opponents of the Prosperity Mine and continued insulters of the intelligence of the people of Williams Lake and area, Mr. David Williams and his Friends of Nemaiah Valley have overlooked a few fatal flaws in their “logic.”

As is often the case when any special interest group weighs in on a touchy subject like this one, Mr. Williams assumes things that haven’t happened yet. He has to in order to give his argument credit. Taseko has spent many years and millions of dollars determining, through science, what will be the environmental outcome of the Prosperity Mine.

Mr. Williams, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed expert on the Chilcotin, so none of that science hokey-pokey is really required for him to back up his standpoint.

He can obviously tell the future, no research needed, and is prepared to get up in public and do so. Must be nice to have that kind of superhuman insight. Imagine what Barnum and Bailey could have done with all that talent.

First flaw — I find it hard to believe, having followed the Prosperity Mine debate from the very beginning, that all 280 people David Williams mentions as being directly affected by the proposed mine location are also his supporters.

Surely some of the residents of the area see the great potential for economic growth provided by this project, even though they won’t actually be able to see any of the mine from where they live.

If the nearest people are 25 or 27 kilometres from the mine site, the curvature of the earth would have taken any view of Prosperity away — even if it were in the middle of Saskatchewan.

On the other hand, nobody wants to be held hostage by a noisy gang of outlaw quad riders. There goes the neighbourhood.

Mr. Williams makes many Nostradamus-like predictions about the “totally destructive” nature of this mining operation with “potentially” this and “could be” that and “what if Taseko’s experts are wrong?” What if you’re wrong, Mr. Williams? Being the president of a non-profit organization located smack in the middle of the biggest clear cut on Vancouver Island — 600 kilometres away from the subject area — with no flashy TLA’s behind your name hardly gives your opinion any weight in our community or elsewhere for that matter.

You talk about the social implications of the mine for the surrounding area. You fail to mention the myriad of studies that directly correlate family income with social well-being.

Second flaw — The fact that some of these outraged residents and lodge owners are “trying to build” a sustainable economy out there is a nice thought and I know it gives all you dreamers that warm, fuzzy feeling deep in your left side — but that doesn’t mean that they will succeed. Eco-tourism is not going to sustain an economy of any size, anywhere. Simply look to the great rain forests of South America as proof of this — if eco-tours were a viable alternative for logging and mining, the big multi-nationals would be trading in their faller-bunchers and giant electric shovels for khaki shorts, Range Rovers and bullhorns. Great idea but no cigar, Dave.

Hippies don’t spend money — at least not generally their own money — and certainly not enough to fund hospitals and schools.

And who are these lodge owners anyway? They were referred to by Mr. Williams separately from the “residents” so I have to assume that they are interlopers and therefore a special interest group whose not-in-my-back-yard agenda is as much a part of their business plan as draining Fish Lake is part of Taseko’s. I bet their own stock portfolios contain more than Ballard fuel cells and The BodyShop.

Third flaw — Mr. Williams compares the Prosperity Mine to a “nuclear waste dump,” even though the mine is still just a concept and he’s probably never seen a nuclear waste dump. Have any of you ever actually seen a nuclear waste dump? And you gotta ask yourself why would anybody go anywhere near a nuclear waste dump for a look-see if they are so horribly dangerous. George Dubya couldn’t have said it any better. But I suppose it could kill all of the salmon. Excuse me? If this mine is going to be so hard on the pacific salmon, maybe we should try to look at the salmon issue from a different perspective — a more practical one.

Fact — The proposed mine would generate roughly three times the GDP of the entire commercial fishery in B.C. while posing only a “potential risk” to the salmon stocks in the event of an unforeseen, unpredicted disaster. Hypothetically speaking, we could shut down the whole fishing industry, which poses a significantly higher risk to these very same salmon (100 per cent in fact) and open this mine and still be $200 million ahead.

We could create employment and save millions of salmon at the same time, not to mention all of those big fish boats burning diesel fuel and creating greenhouse gasses. The lefties would argue that this would just put fishermen out of work instead.

This would be true, but they only work a few days a year as it is and anyone who’s paid any attention to the B.C. salmon fishery over the years — even David Williams — must know that a total curtailment of commercial fishing would be the best answer to our declining salmon stocks. What if we did this for the 20-year duration of the proposed mine? Our salmon populations could conceivably rebound to “turn of the century” levels and then all those boats in the Inner Harbour could wreck them all over again. How about that, Mr. Williams? Conjecture, maybe …hocus-pocus, not.

And what about the stern volley at Williams Lake and it’s residents. We are not boom-bust addicts. We like to work for a living. We work in industries that are not only globally necessary but are cyclical in nature — kinda like the pine beetle or climate change. If we don’t produce the gold and copper here, where the process can be regulated, somebody else is going to, and what if it’s China or Brazil or India?

I’d like to know the extent of the environmental studies needed to operate in the low-rent countries of the world. Are all of the people of the Chilcotin prepared to starve out the people of Williams Lake?

The people of the Chilcotin seem content to send their kids to our schools and their sick and injured to our hospital. If proximity equals possession, as Mr. Williams suggests in his criticism of our townspeople, then maybe a few hundred lock-blox stacked up on the Sheep Creek bridge would keep us out of his private zoo and him out of our waiting rooms, grocery stores, car dealerships, golf courses, airport … . Fortunately, the people of Williams Lake are not built that way — we’re everybody’s friends — we don’t pick just one valley to be friends with.

Mr. Williams, your arguments are just ridiculous — have a nice day.