Bidding adieu to biomass

Now, if the All Politics is Local crew got together to clink glasses every time a local government idea fell flat, Dr. Drew might be called in to stage an intervention.

But for the anti-biomass crowd, the pre-Thanksgiving news that the proposal to build a plant in downtown Vancouver was dead was cause to celebrate.

About 35 to 40 people met at the Brickhouse in downtown Vancouver on Monday evening, said Sarah Collmer.

It was billed as a funeral, and there was a coffin but no tears were shed.

The French flag draped over the biomass plant costume is a nod to the French parent company of Schneider Electric, which pulled the plug on the project.

Collmer said her mother, Edie Cotton, wrote a eulogy:

“Dearly beloved,
We gather today to put to rest this biomass costume, knowing full well that the issue, itself, isn’t yet dead.

We know that we live in a time wherein whoever pays the piper plays the tune, and we are seeing that writ large in the halls of Congress, in college and university research endeavors funded by commercial interests, as well as in the corporate media.

Nevertheless, the termination of the downtown biomass project stands as a testament to a remarkable achievement as well as a symbol of solidarity — a magic word if ever there was one!

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, we’ll dig you out costume if ever we must!

Somebody say, ‘Amen!’

Amen!”