Nechako Diversion
The river is silent, the waters almost gone
It’s making aluminum in a distant town
The energy diverted
the lifeblood gone astray
and the economic interests are keeping it that way
Alcan takes over half now, has a license to take more
the river defenders are getting tired and wore
They won’t sit around a table
pretend that it’s alright
that KCP is over or that they won the fight
The Nechako has not been saved, let me tell you that
Alcan owns nine tenths of her and all that holds them back
Is the need to save some water
For it’s a salmons lot
to turn belly up and perish if the water gets too hot
When the heads come out of the sand and see what really happened
How proud are we going to be of all this inaction
We know who will benefit
when the salmon are all gone
Then will there be any reason for a river to live on?
Don’t they read the fine print, don’t they know it will get worse?
Politicians have betrayed us and all we can do is curse!
Can’t rivers live forever
is there nothing we won’t wreck
can we rely on Mother Earth to put the river back?
There could be a natural disaster, a tunnel sealing shake
She could make a small earthquake, drop the coastline, save the lake
Let her sink the turbines
to the bottom of the sea
Let her drown Kemano and set the river free
Life never really ends, so please don’t take this personal
We’re kinda sad that a curse is all that’s in our arsenal
What else can we do
and still keep our sense of humour
Seems like a simple way to finally make it over
Will we ever have enough aluminum to simply start reusing it
Or maybe even wiser we could just start refusing it
Or do we love aluminum
enough to pay the cost
of rivers mismanaged and other values lost?
Janet Romain