B.C. moves ahead with study on bridge to the Sunshine Coast

Langdale ferry terminal, Sunshine Coast
So long, Langdale

THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, UBC sticks with fossil fuel investments and B.C. man builds the  world’s fastest motorized log

Bridge financing
Last week the B.C. government decided that a bridge between Gabriola Island and Vancouver Island is not economically feasible. Today it announced that R.F. Binnie & Associates will study the feasibility of a highway link from the Sunshine Coast to the Lower Mainland. The contract is worth $250,000, and the study is expected to be completed in fall 2016.

The study will explore number of potential connections ranging from a highway link around Jervis Inlet to direct bridge connections along the coast. It will also assess the costs and benefits of each option and compare them with existing ferry services, as was the case with the Gabriola-Vancouver Island study.

Fossil fuel debate
The UBC board of governors has decided to reject a proposal by students and faculty to divest from from fossil fuel companies as that would not necessarily meet the objectives of addressing climate change or influencing corporate behaviour and would be inconsistent with the board’s fiduciary obligation to endowment donors. Instead the board’s finance committee recommends creating an alternative investment fund for donors that is low carbon and meets best practices for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, according to a release.

In another release, Divest UBC campaigners expressed frustration that “the committee would seek to override the results of decisive student and faculty referendum votes in favour of divestment last year,” unfavourably comparing UBC to the University of Toronto where a presidential advisory committee recommended in December that the university should divest “in a targeted and principled manner” from investments in companies that “blatantly disregard” climate change targets.

“We’re talking about my generation’s future on this planet,” says Roxanne Hasior, fourth-year engineering student and Divest UBC campaigner. “Divestment is not a difficult decision. Every major constituency across the university has shown its support. Does UBC really plan to ignore its own students, faculty and staff, in order to do the wrong thing?”

Divest UBC is holding a “Divestment Teach-In” on February 9 at 5pm in the Wesbrook Building (Room 201). Featured speakers will include Marc Lee, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Anjali Appadurai of West Coast Environmental Law.
      
Rapid cedar
Not surprisingly, the world’s only motorized log car is also the fastest. Bryan Reid Sr., owner of B.C.’s Pioneer Log Homes and a star of HGTV’s Timber Kings, took the car he built out of a giant log for a spin on an Arizona race track to qualify for a Guinness Record. The Cedar Rocket will be auctioned off for charity. (via Arizona Republic)